It seems like for many of us, 1989’s Batman directed by Tim Burton, and it’s follow-up, Batman Returns from 1992 really resonated with John Jackson Miller. With Batman: Resurrection, Miller takes us to the intervening years, and explores some of the ideas that nag a lot of viewers about the events of Batman.

And to be completely fair to Miller. He tells a good tale, and not only ties both films together into a single realized world, he also introduces more possibilities for new takes on familiar characters both allies, and villains. Some of it feels akin to the Batman ’89 comic series, but Miller works to make this tale his own, while planting it firmly into the art-deco/gothic reality of Tim Burton’s Gotham City.

And that’s where the novel stumbles a bit. Batman has always been a visual creation, so by trapping him in text it is up to the reader to conjure the sets, and moments that the characters find themselves in.

All well and good. But there’s only one Tim Burton. And the visual look was such a large part of this incarnation and appeal of Batman that its glaringly missing from the story.

But it’s still a great ride!

Bruce Wayne , months after squaring off against the Joker at Gotham Cathedral is still haunted by the encounter, and possible anomalies that may suggest that the Clown Prince of Crime survived. These are things I remember talking about with my friends – where did Joker’s men come from in the cathedral? We only saw Vicki and Joker enter. Who turned on the laughing box on Joker’s body? Did Joker know who Batman was when the villain said he was a kid when he killed Batman’s parents?

All these wonderful little possibilities are explored by Batman/Bruce even as a new victim of Smylex gas rises to threaten Gotham, and perhaps something more, someone (or a few someones) moving behind the scenes to orchestrate events.

We read about the development of the bat-a-rang, a vehicle called the Roost, which should have been scrapped altogether, and the bat-copter, though that’s not what it’s called in the story.

It’s a sweeping expansive tale that hints at what is to come, both in Batman Returns, and in the next novel in the series, due out in Fall of ’25. I loved it, and to help me get in the mood, I had Danny Elfman’s scores for both films on repeat.

I like what Miller has done, expanded the film, paid homage to the comics (there are some nice nods) and, even if it’s only in the theater of the mind lets Michael Keaton’s awesome interpretation of the iconic character carry on.

I eagerly await the next installment.