Title: Batman: The Long Halloween
Author: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Tim Sale
Genre: Superhero / Action / Adventure
Year Published: 1996
Year Read: 2013
Series: Batman
Publisher: DC Comics
Source: Purchased
Content Rating: Ages 13+ (Some Language, Death, and Violence)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
The Origins of Harvey Dent has begun!
Introduction:
Now, I have been reading many
Batman comics whose stories dealt with Batman defeating one of his greatest
foes, the Joker. But, I had always
wanted to read some “Batman” stories
that dealt with another one of Batman’s greatest foes, Two-Face! I got interested in Two-Face’s story when I
saw one of the episodes on “Batman: The
Animated Series” that dealt with the origin tale of Two-Face and I was
amazed at how well that episode portrayed the relationship between Batman and
Two-Face. So, this caused me to pick up
a Batman comic book that deals with Two-Face and lo and behold, I found “Batman: The Long Halloween!”
What is this story
about?
Carmine “The Roman” Falcone was Gotham City’s
untouchable Crime Lord and District Attorney, Harvey Dent, Batman and Captain
James Gordon were all trying to take down this crime lord for months now. However, the actual story starts when “The
Roman” was throwing a wedding party for his nephew Johnny Viti, but later on,
it turns out that somebody had murdered Johnny Viti and later on, a gang called
“The Irish.” This then leads to many
murders that are directly involved with “The Roman’s” family and the serial
killer became known as “Holiday” since the
killer only kills people on various holidays such as Thanksgiving and
Christmas. Can Batman, James Gordon and Harvey Dent catch this serial killer
before it is too late?
What I loved about
this story:
Jeph Loeb’s writing: Now, I had seen many different
versions of Harvey Dent’s origins including the animated series’ version and Nolan’s
famous “Batman” film, “The Dark Knight,” but I really enjoyed
Jeph Loeb’s version of Harvey Dent
and how he made his character mysterious.
Jeph Loeb had done an excellent
job at writing this story as the serial killer starts killing certain members
of “The Roman’s” family on holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas
and New Year’s Eve and I loved how all thirteen chapters in this book is titled
a different holiday like Chapter Two is titled “Thanksgiving” and Chapter Three
is titled “Christmas.” I also loved the
way that Jeph Loeb made this story
similar to a crime noir as the mystery of the story involves Batman, Harvey
Dent and James Gordon trying to figure out who the “Holiday” serial killer is
and how they will stop him from killing anymore victims and I loved seeing the
scenes of the “Holiday” serial killer murdering people as there are no words
accompanying the evil deeds and the artwork pretty much does the talking for
those scenes. I really enjoyed the
turbulent relationship between Catwoman and Batman as we are left in the dark
about Catwoman’s true motives for helping out Batman even though she is a world
class burglar and it was interesting trying to figure out what her true motives
are. The way that Jeph Loeb portrayed Harvey Dent’s mysterious and intense character
was extremely well done as Harvey Dent also wants to protect Gotham City
from crime, but he seems to want to do things the hard way to get the job
done. What was so amazing about this
story was the fact that Jeph Loeb
introduced many of Batman’s greatest enemies (the Joker, Solomon Grundy, Poison
Ivy, The Scarecrow, and the Mad Hatter) into this one story and they all play a
huge role in Batman trying to discover “Holiday’s”
secret identity.
Tim Sale’s artwork: Tim
Sale’s artwork in this graphic novel was just astonishing as the artwork is
dark and gritty and it really fits well with the dark tone of this story! I loved the way that Tim Sale drew Batman himself as Batman looks large and intimidating
in every image and I loved the way that Tim
Sale drew Batman’s cape as twirling around Batman, giving a frightening
feel to Batman’s presence. I also loved
the way that Tim Sale drew the shadowing
around the characters’ bodies during the night scenes (although the majority of
this comic takes place at night) which really made the images extremely creepy
to look at. What I really loved about Tim Sale’s artwork is when the scenes
of “Holiday” murdering various victims are in
black and white colorings which really made these scenes truly stand out from
the other scenes.
What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:
Since this story deals with the murders of several
characters, there are many scenes where characters are killed off in gruesome
ways, which they are mainly shot in the head.
These scenes are also graphic as there is blood everywhere where the
characters are shot. Anyone who is
uncomfortable with violence in graphic novels might want to steer away from
this graphic novel. Also, there is some
brief language in this graphic novel, although the language is not as strong as
you would sometimes see in mature stories
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “Batman: The Long Halloween” is one of the best “Batman” stories about Two-Face
ever told and anyone who is a fan of the “Batman” comics should definitely
check this graphic novel out! Also, if
you want to read some other great “Batman” comics, here are some
recommendations:
Batman: Year
One
Batman: The
Killing Joke
Batman: The
Dark Knight Returns
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