Summary: After almost thirty years of waiting the Batman of the Tim Burton films Returns...again!
Plot: I've really been enjoying these kinds of "What if..." comics that have been coming out lately, from "The Star Wars" based on George Lucas' original draft of Star Wars to the unproduced script for Aliens 3 these books have given fans glimpses into what almost was and this book by Batman and Batman Returns screen writer Samm Hamm gives us an even better look into what a third Burton Batman movie could have looked like...because he was the one writing it! While not my favorite interpretations of Batman the Burton films were none the less really fun and this book was no different as it gave us some really great divergent looks at some classic Batman relationships. While we're used to District Attorney Harvey Dent being Batman's ally, here we see him feeling decidedly anti-Batman which was interesting to see and made total sense as a DA would find a vigilante ruining his cases to be annoying. On top of that I really enjoyed the way Hamm brought in Robin here, some may remember that Marlon Wayan's was cast as Robin but was cut (smartly) by the producers in Batman Returns because it was felt that the film was already too crowded, but Hamm keeps to the idea of a black Robin here and the introduction works well. Here he's not Batman's sidekick or ward he's a teen who's decided to be his own kind of vigilante and take care of his own neighborhood and it puts him in conflict with Batman in this first issue as he takes offense to Batman intimidating one of his neighbors who only stole diapers and formula to take care of his child. While I'm not normally a fan of the social justice criticisms of Batman there's certainly something there that can be developed and I think the idea of the little guys wanting justice too is interesting so I'm looking forward to that playing out.
Art: Joe Quinones has long said he was a fan of the look of the Burton Batman films and how the style influenced his own work so it's fitting that he got the art duties here in bringing the film that almost was back to life after all these years. He does a great job not only in bringing that "gothic" look to Gotham but he also nails the likenesses of the actors which really makes you feel like you're experiencing a film. The one exception here is strangely Jim Gordon, why the likenesses of Keaton, Gough and Billy Dee Williams were used but not Pat Hingle for Gordon is a bit of a head scratcher. Maybe they just don't care for the more bureaucratic look of the golden age Gordon that Burton went with? Or perhaps Hingle's estate objected to his likeness being used? What ever the reason it did stand out a little but was certainly not a deal breaker.
Grade:10/10