Batman '89: Echoes #1
Kevin Rossi
Recap
THE BATMAN '89 SEQUEL ARRIVES, REUNITING SAM HAMM AND JOE QUINONES! You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts! After Harvey Dent’s crusade against Gotham and Batman, the Caped Crusader has disappeared without a trace. In his place, ordinary citizens have taken to the streets to root out crime. As innocents get hurt, the question on everyone’s mind is the same: Where is Batman? Sam Hamm, screenwriter of the 1989 Batman movie, and Joe Quinones reunite for another tale in Gotham!
Review
The world of 1989’s Batman has had an interesting few years with the release of the six-issue series simply titled Batman ‘89 that came out between the summers of 2021 and 2022. On top of that, Michael Keaton reprised the role in 2023’s The Flash, though that wasn’t necessarily a continuation of his original appearances in Batman and Batman Returns. However, that is just what Batman ‘89 does as well as its follow-up series Batman ‘89: Echoes. Batman ‘89: Echoes #1 picks up nearly two years after the events of Batman ‘89 and follows Barbara Gordon as she tries to uncover the reason behind a slew of Batman copycats turning up dead and the criminals that killed them showing signs of extreme fear of just the sight of Batman. With Bruce Wayne supposedly missing, Barbara is running out of leads but readers are in for a few surprises.
The original film’s appearance of Harvey Dent portrayed by Billy Dee Williams planted the seeds for Two-Face’s appearance in Batman ‘89, so his inclusion was a great way to ease readers into transitioning from the screen to the pages of a comic book. With Echoes, the classic Batman villain will most likely be Scarecrow, considering he is on the cover and the issue features Jonathan Crane, but there was no on-screen casting or portrayal of the character. The art by Joe Quinones with colors by Leonardo Ito does an excellent job capturing the likenesses of the characters whether it is characters that were in the films or newly “casted” actors without constantly feeling rigid and stiff, which adaptations of this nature sometimes feel. Quinones manages to translate accurate depictions while blending them with their own style which in turn does an incredible job bridging the gap between the film universe and this new comic universe.
Final Thoughts
Sam Hamm’s direction for Batman ‘89 and now Batman ‘89: Echoes is rare in the sense that it doesn’t feel like an outlet to show scrapped ideas if there was another film or two, and there now has been enough time passed for this series to do some interesting things building off of the collective Batman content across all mediums since 1989. It is fun to see a big swing with such an established property with ideas that generally wouldn’t work on film but the possibilities are endless in comic book form.
Batman ’89: Echoes #1: Big Swings and Bat Wings
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 8/108/10
