From Batman: The Official Comic Book Adaptation of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture (1989)
In 1989, Batman was everywhere. Tim Burton’s Batman film hit like a pop culture bomb in the summer of that year. Licensed products of all shapes and sizes followed in its wake. From Bat Symbol t-shirts to coffee mugs to video games, just about anything that could be tied to the film was tied to the film. As had been done for several movies in the past, including blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark, a comic book adaptation of the film was commissioned. Written by Denny O’Neil with art by Jerry Ordway, this book was amazing.
Jerry Ordway choose a photo-realistic style with which to tell this tale. His drawings of the Joker, Bruce Wayne, Vicki Vale, Alexander Knox, and all of the minor characters were drawn to look exactly like the actors playing them. Though this could have resulted in the book looking very static and staged, it flowed well and was engaging. This final splash page, clearly showing Michael Keaton in the Batman suit as he was swinging through Gotham City, showcased the high level of workmanship and detail that Ordway excelled at in this special issue. If DC Comics can create a project like Batman ’66, here’s hoping we see Batman ’89 drawn by Ordway sometime in the future.
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I remember picking this up when I was 9yrs old and thinking it was the greatest thing ever, I must have read this at least a 100 times. Great memories
Reminds me of one of the hundreds of Batman figures I had as a kid, all of them with different colors and attachments but basically the same. It’s clear looking at this image alot of them were modeled after Keaton’s Batman.
Just by seeing the thumbnail image on my phone I could tell that was Jerry Ordway. Tell me why DC won’t give this guy a steady gig anymore?
My dad brought this home for me one day when he came home from work. He took out the sports page and surprised me with this comic that was hidden inside. Pretty sure he picked it up at the newsstand in the subway station. I read this thing over front to back a thousand times and thought it was sooooo cool. I still have this book…one of my prized pieces. We all went as a family to see that movie, and I think my dad was more excited than i was to see Batman in a movie. =)
One of my favorite childhood memories.
I remember this coming out when I was at high school, and in those days big movies didn’t make it into UK cinemas until months after their US release, so spoilers be damned I must have read this thing about twenty times before I even saw the film. Da Ordster sure did himself proud on this book- it was just gorgeous. I think the problem with a lot of movie adaptations that followed it was that they were cheap cash ins in most cases, thrown together by creative teams who were a) not spectacular, and b) not particularly invested in the material. I would love to see movie adaptations make a comeback, but only if they were of a calibre similar to this, Al Williamson’s beautiful Empire Strikes Back and Blade Runner works, or , to pick a more recent example, the Django Unchained book, every issue of which has been a pick of the week contender for me.
I remember dudes had the batman logo shaved into their hair. It was supersaturation. And it was great haha.
I need to get that. Would love to read it.
Oh boy, I must have read this and Detective #600 hundreds of times that summer. I also remember being really hung up on DC not making Bats’s costume all black like in the movie for a couple years afterward, no appreciation for the classic Grey/Blue until adulthood…
I’m surprised it took DC until the New52 to change the appearance of the suit with the cloth look, when this movie suit had a more bulletproof look…not that I had a major problem but it kinda nagged me especially when the costume was torn and you saw skin.
Oh, I would really like a DC ongoing in Nolans Dark Knight universe! I know, continuity wise there is not much to tell, but they could just pretend that stuff happened in the 8 year gap between the second and third movie and have him meet nolanized versions of his rogues gallery (they could explain that he had a few adventures after TDK for at least a while before the city didn’t need him anymore, or something like that) or between Begins and TDKR, which was a year or something like that. That would be so great. I would love to see something with that version of Batman.
Why not John Blake after TDKR?
Oh man! The summer of ’89 was such a definitive year for me and my geekdom. Oh how I fawned and sighed over every offering of Batman leading up to that warm anticipated night on June 23.
I collected everything my job could. (My job consisting of collecting cans on the way back home from the local swimming pool)
I fondly remember both sets of Topps collector cards, the second with behind the scenes and production art. I remember swimming through my issue of the Topps Official Movie Magazing and dogearing the hell out of that sucker. For my birthday my Dad got me the Batmobile model kit based on the movie and I played with that thing forever. The toys, the Happy Meals, the magazines, the cup, THE CEREAL with the Batman penny bank!! EVERYTHING!
What a great summer to be a lover of Batman!
It should read…I collected everything my job would ALLOW.. 🙂