Michael Reaves
American writer and screenwriter (1950–2023)
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.
The public source identifies “Michael Reaves” as american writer and screenwriter (1950–2023). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Michael, Reaves and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1191315. VIAF identifies the subject as 7599620. The Library of Congress control number is n83167066. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 2023, 1993 and 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “Michael Reaves” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.