Batman: Resurrection

Batman: Resurrection by John Jackson Miller is an upcoming novel set in the Tim Burton Batman universe with Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne / Batman as its protagonist. It is set to be released on October 15, 2024, by Penguin Random House. The novel serves as a direct sequel to the movie Batman (1989) and is set between the aforementioned film and its sequel, Batman Returns (1992).

Premise
After the events of Batman, Gotham City is still in the clutches of The Joker, even after his death. What's left of Joker's gang continues to terrorize the city, and opportunists such as greedy millionaire Max Shreck come out of the woodwork. Victims of Joker's toxic chemical Smylex crowd the city's main hospital. Bruce Wayne's obsessive need to protect Gotham drives a wedge between him and his newspaper journalist girlfriend Vicki Vale. Batman discovers an ever-growing evil being organized and orchestrated behind the scenes. This also leads him to investigate the biggest mystery of all – could Joker have somehow survived?

Background
On April 11, 2024, it was announced exclusively by the web site io9 that a new book based the 1989 film Batman would be written by author John Jackson Miller. Miller was quoted saying, "There are dream projects, and then there are projects you never dreamt were possible [...] People always ask what world I wanted to get the chance to write in; I never named Burton's take on Batman because I never imagined it could happen. But [PRH] editor Tom Hoeler found a way." Miller further revealed that the 1989 film shaped the writer he had become, mentioning that he saw the film in the theater twelve times and wrote college papers and comics magazine articles about it.

Unlike the ongoing Batman '89 DC Comics comic book series, which serves as an alternative continuation of Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Resurrection explores the events following the 1989 film and before the events of 1992's Batman Returns. Miller revealed that the book's timeline enables characters such as Vicki Vale, Alexander Knox, Selina Kyle, and Max Shreck to appear.