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Really exciting news, at least for those of us who regard Batman Returns as a Christmas classic.  The film is to get the same treatment as Die Hard and see the release of an illustrated tongue-in-cheek children's Christmas book.  Check the link for details: https://13thdimension.com/batman-returns-to-be-adapted-as-childrens-christmas-book/

In the satirical vein of A Die Hard Christmas...

Is Batman Returns a Christmas movie, or not? According to Insight Editions, it most definitely is: The publisher in 2022 is planning Batman Returns: One Dark Christmas Eve: The Illustrated Holiday Classic, by writer Ivan Cohen and illustrator J.J. Harrison.

The book is a satire of both the flick and kids' Christmas books, and follows on the success of 2017's A Die Hard Christmas, which turned the bombastic actioner — subject of its own endless debate about whether it's a Christmas movie — into a hilariously bloody picture book.

The cover of the 32-page Batman Returns hardcover hasn't been released yet, but here's the official description from an Amazon listing:

Batman Returns: One Dark Christmas Eve: The Illustrated Holiday Classic

Batman returns to save both his hometown and the holiday season in this adult storybook adaptation of Tim Burton's Super Hero classic.

Just as three wise men once conspired to honor a baby, three deranged villains in Gotham City have hatched a clever plan of their own. But rather than traveling to Bethlehem and offering gifts, these narcissistic ne'er-do-wells are going to seize control of Gotham City's government and power supply instead. Once again, the Dark Knight Detective is the city's only hope for salvation—but defeating the combined forces of the Penguin, Catwoman, and unfettered capitalism is going to take a Christmas miracle! (And possibly a Bat-Plane.)

Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Batman Returns with this tongue-in-cheek retelling of Tim Burton's delightfully disturbing film. Reimagined into catchy verse and beautiful illustrations, this cautionary tale of identity, ambition, and the importance of work/life balance is guaranteed to get you into the Christmas spirit!

STUNNING ILLUSTRATIONS: This one-of-a-kind tale features more than 30 colorful pieces of original artwork by renowned illustrator JJ Harrison.

FAN FAVORITE CHARACTERS: The Dark Knight goes up against iconic villains like The Penguin and Catwoman in this action-packed Gotham City adventure.

PERFECT GIFT FOR BATMAN FANS: This tongue-in-cheek homage to Tim Burton's classic is the perfect gift for the Batman fans in your life.

A NEW HOLIDAY TRADITION: Written in verse and meant to be read aloud, Batman Returns: One Dark Christmas Eve is a wonderful way to create a fun new Christmas tradition.

— A Die Hard Christmas was so successful, it spawned a Christmas ornament and a special gift set including a Bruce Willis/John McClane plushie.

— The 32-page Batman Returns book lists for $18.99 and is due in September 2022. It's already available for pre-order.

— Ivan Cohen is known to DC readers for all-ages series like The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries, which is one of my fave mags. J.J. Harrison — who illustrated A Die Hard Christmas — is popular for his wonderfully subversive cartooning. Just check out a couple of pages from A Die Hard Christmas — as well as a print on his website titled Batman: The Brave and the Bloody (unrelated to the Batman Returns book):

Shall we already declare this the best Batman book of 2022?

New image links for Batman '89 #3

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBM6L7LWQAQnb0w?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBM6L7IWQAoPL7i?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBM6L8RXMAYJmp5?format=jpg&name=large

I don't want to spoil things, so I won't post the images here but interesting to see that Dent's race into the inferno, was not the origin story for 'Two-Face' as I, and probably a good few readers, expected...unless this turns out to be Harvey's dream.

For anyone who's interested, some new Lego sets for The Batman have been previewed at the following Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/batsource/?hl=en

Some of these sets give us a clue how the characters might look, and possible plot points.

Nice! Looks like we have a fully bearded Alfred, and The Riddler's symbol/question mark looks very much like The Zodiac's symbol, which should be of no surprise, since his costume looks like it, too.

The Batcave looks very much like what we saw in the first trailer, too.

Good stuff. Can't wait to see more merch come out when we get closer to the release.

Since my last post, they've put up all four forthcoming Lego sets on the main Lego site.

You can see them all here:

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/the-batman-batmobile-42127

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/batcave-the-riddler-face-off-76183

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/batmobile-the-penguin-chase-76181

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/batman-selina-kyle-motorcycle-pursuit-76179

I don't think too much is given away here that we didn't already know from the trailer (but the 'Riddler Face-Off' set does appear to confirm that Andy Serkis' Alfred will have a beard, and, for what it's worth, I think the Bruce Wayne, James Gordon and Selina Kyle minifigs look particularly good), still, it's nice to get a clearer idea what The Batmobile and The Batcave will look like, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were any Easter Eggs in the 'Riddler Face-Off' set.

For anyone who's interested, some new Lego sets for The Batman have been previewed at the following Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/batsource/?hl=en

Some of these sets give us a clue how the characters might look, and possible plot points.

This is honestly one of the best live-action interpretations of Batman I've ever seen.

[happening]

Written by Sam Hamm and drawn by artist Joe Quinones, this new comic book series promises the return of Pfeiffer's Catwoman, Bill Dee Williams' Two-Face and the debut of a new Robin. This more or less confirms the reports that the upcoming Keaton movie(s) will separate the Burtonverse from the Schumacherverse. The comic launches digitally on July 27th and will be published in chapters, followed by a hardback collection in October.

With filming on The Flash scheduled for spring and the new comic launching in summer, I think it's fair to say that the second era of the Burton Batman is about to begin!

I don't mind us treating this like a new thread, and ignoring the old one (since ithis is finally happening).  I just wanted to get some credit for being the first with the scoop. 

If it's just Hamm's script for Batman II, I'm gonna be very upset.

I understand that it's supposed to take place after Batman Returns.

https://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=3291.msg63053#new

It's happening!

https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2021/02/16/the-movie-worlds-of-superman-78-and-batman-89-are-heading-to-comics-in-two-all-new

https://deadline.com/2020/12/lee-wallace-dies-broadway-actor-in-zalman-or-the-madness-of-god-was-90-obituary-1234661529/

I really liked this guy's performances as the quintessential NYC type mayor in films like The Taking of Pelham 123 and, of course, Batman, where he played Mayor Joe Borg.  As many people have pointed out, it helped that he bore a striking resemblance to real-life long-time mayor of NYC, Ed Koch.

RIP