Batman: The Long Halloween

Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Someone is killing off associates of Gotham City's crime lord, Carmine "The Roman" Falcone but only only holidays. Can Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent stop Holiday before the entire Falcone crime family is dead?

I first read Batman: The Long Halloween in that mythic time before I felt compelled to write reviews for everything I read. I didn't care for it at the time but when a copy fell into my lap last week, I decided to give it another go.

Batman: The Long Halloween is a 13 issue murder mystery. Someone is knocking off criminals with a .22 pistol and Batman and the law are stumped. Who is Holiday, aka The Holiday Killer, and why is Catwoman nearby every time Batman tries to investigate The Roman? And what does Calendar Man have to do with it? And what's up Harvey Dent's ass? All of these questions and more are answered over the graphic novel's nearly 400 pages.

I don't normally go for retellings of stories I already know but The Long Halloween fleshed out a chapter in Batman's early days, Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face. While Tim Sale's artwork isn't my favorite, its cartoony, moody, dark feel perfectly suited the story. I've never been a huge fan of Jeph Loeb but he did a great job here. The mystery was great and even solveable if you were paying close attention. I wasn't and was surprised by the reveal, even though I read the Long Halloween before back before the world moved on.

The Christopher Nolan Batman movies borrow a lot from the Long Halloween. I once said Grant Morrison's Batman felt the most like movie Batman but I think I'm going to have to issue a retraction for that. The Batman in Long Halloween IS the Batman from the Christopher Nolan trilogy.

I will say that some of the story felt like filler. The bit with Poison Ivy was a little unnecessary and the whole Sofia Falcone Gigante thread could have been cut. It felt like the book was slightly stretched to fill thirteen issues instead of twelve. Those are pretty much my only gripes with it. Batman felt more like a detective in this and less an uber-prepared scientist super soldier, as it should be.

Batman: The Long Halloween is right up there with Batman: Year One in the upper echelon of Batman books. 4.5 out of 5 Batarangs.

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