In 1989, one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters was a live action Batman film starring an actor just a year off from giving a killer performance as an insane, manipulative zombie-man named Beetlejuice: Michael Keaton. ’89s Batman received mostly positive responses upon its release, but through the years has stood as one of the best live action Batman films not directed by Christopher Nolan. And just a year off of Keaton’s film resurrection with Birdman: Or (An Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which snagged him a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Male Lead, he’s back in the comic book world with an Imagine Agents film adaptation, in which Newsarama.com reports that he will be producing and starring in.
Birdman, as the film played through, inched closer and closer to ridiculousness and insanity by the end credits. So, Keaton wanting to fund a premise as insanely ridiculous as that of Imagine Agents isn’t all that shocking. Just check out this synopsis and cover art for issue one (via boom-studious.com):
“Ever try to wrangle an illiterate, 30-foot tall rock monster away from his 5-year-old best friend? Or calm down a 400 pound muscle-man rag-doll during her daily temper-tantrum? For Dave and Terry, it’s all in a day’s work. As agents for I.M.A.G.I.N.E., they are responsible for keeping your imaginary friends in-line… Little do they know that six-year-old Elliot and his best bear-friend, Furdlgurr, are about to be entangled in a plan to change everything!”
Written by Brian Joines and with art by Bachan, Imagine Agents looks like a lot of fun. But, what is it? Where the Wild Things Are meets Men in Black? Will this be a children’s movie? Can Keaton bring some more potent weirdness to the table, up the ante after Birdman?
The idea of this film leaves this writer with many, many questions.
Imagine Agents was a simple four part mini-series for BOOM! Studios that ended in January 2014. Reviews have been generally very good for the books. This creates another question: Will Keaton be using the Imagine Agents universe to expand and create new storylines, or will it be a true adaptation to the source material? Unfortunately, it’s just too soon to know.
So, this writer will leave you the confirming statement by Joines:
“Imagine Agents has been the most rewarding project I’ve worked on and the fact it’s going to be a movie with Michael Keaton, whose work had a huge impact on my teenaged years and indirectly played a role in my decision to become a writer, is just a mind-blowing continuation of that reward.”
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