Writing

Michael Reaves

James Michael Reaves (September 14, 1950 – March 20, 2023) was an American writer, known for his contributions as a script writer and story editor to a number of 1980s and 1990s animated television series, including Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series. He also wrote media tie-in novels, children's books, and original fiction, and was one of four credited screenwriters for the animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. His work was often done collaboratively, notably with his then-wife Brynne Stephens (for numerous TV episodes in the 1980s and 1990s), and with Steve Perry, Neil Gaiman, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, and his daughter Mallory Reaves for various novels. Reaves won a 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program for his work on Batman: The Animated Series. Reaves had Parkinson's disease, and for a time maintained a blog concerning his experiences dealing with the disease and its effects, which included difficulty typing and loss of coherent speech. In 2013, Reaves raised $85,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to fund the filming of a feature-length script he had written called Blood Kiss, with the picture set to star Neil Gaiman in his acting debut. Despite exceeding the stated fundraising goal, the film was never made. Reaves died in Los Angeles on March 20, 2023, at the age of 72.