Trade Tales! - Batman: The Long Halloween

Recently, I’ve been on a bit of a Batman kick. A few weeks ago, I found Batman: The Cult in the cheap bins, so I gave finally gave that a read. This led me to reading more Batman stories like most of Grant Morrison’s work. I also finally finished reading Paul Dini’s Vertigo book, Dark Knight: The True Batman Story. I also re-watched Batman Begins for the first time in years. Today’s subject was also a part of that Bat-Binge: The Long Halloween.

Batman: The Long Halloween was a 13-part maxiseries that was released between 1996 and 1997. Editor Archie Goodwin (nice first name) asked writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale if they wanted to work on another Batman story. They had already done some Batman stories in Legends of the Dark Knight. Those stories were eventually put in a trade called Batman: Haunted Knight. The two creators once again took a swing at the Dark Knight and decided to set this story during Batman’s early days. In a way, you could consider this as a sequel to Frank Miller’s story, Batman: Year One It involves our major characters (Batman and Gordon) going up against Falcone and Catwoman’s involved.

I didn’t hear about this story until sometime in college. I knew that it pretty much what Christopher Nolan used for 2008’s The Dark Knight. I know I got this from Pulaski’s public library, but I don’t remember the year. I later found this at McKay’s and bought it. I just wish I flipped through it since something was spilled on the early pages of the trade. At least it’s just those few pages. Some have called this one of Batman’s best stories. Is it true? Find out after this quick synopsis of a 13-issue mini!

Batman: The Long Halloween

Writer: Jeph Loeb

Artist: Tim Sale

Colors: Gregory Wright

Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft

SYNOPSIS

The Long Halloween revolves around the murdering of gangsters during holidays of the year. It all starts with Batman, Captain Jim Gordon, and District Attorney Harvey Dent teaming up and declaring war on Carmine “The Roman” Falcone. Falcone is the major mob boss in Gotham and he pretty much runs the show. Things are going as usual until someone kills Johnny Vitti, Falcone’s nephew, on Halloween. During the next two major holidays, more of Falcone’s men get killed off. It’s thought that Sal Maroni, a rival mob boss, could be behind the killings, but he’s apparently not. After New Year’s Eve, the killer, named “Holiday”, starts to target Maroni’s crew and a war breaks between Falcone and Maroni.

During all of calamity, Batman is doing his usual thing in trying to figure out who making the murders… I think anyway. He’s not exactly “The World’s Greatest Detective” yet. He goes to the Calendar Man in Arkham Asylum since he provides clues on who Holiday may be. Batman also must deal with the emergence of costumed criminals. He especially has run-ins with Catwoman who he’s unknowingly courting during the story. As for Gordon and Dent, they must balance the family life and their work life. Dent especially has problems throughout the story and it culminates in an event that completely changes his life.

I highly doubt that'll turn out good.

As more and more folk are killed, some of our heroes get put through the wire. After a certain event involving Dent and Maroni, things get knocked up to 11. Dent then disappears for a bit.  Batman and Gordon do eventually find Holiday or someone who says they are. On Halloween (a year later, by the way), Dent resurfaces changed and teams up with Gotham’s new criminals. Batman and Gordon gets the drop on him and find out some startling news on the killings. Ultimately, everything gets wrapped up in a weirdly-shaped bow. The story ends with everyone being changed in some sort of way.

Well, either it's Two-Face under that mask... or it's Darkman and Bruce Campbell is going to cameo.

OPINION

So, do I think that the Long Halloween is one of the best Batman stories? I can’t comment on that yet, but I can say that this is a pretty good story. I can see why it got used for The Dark Knight since it does a lot of good things. Loeb takes Batman’s world and do something cool with it. He goes heavy into the noir aspect of Batman. He is a detective, after all. Plus, he got his roots from that other cloaked noir hero, the Shadow. He also mixes in the Russian Mob for good measure. Folk have said that Loeb pretty much based this off The Godfather, and while I still haven’t watched that classic, I can kind of see it. The story moves at a pretty decent pace and I didn’t want to put it down until the end.

Will he give an offer someone can't refuse? That's the only thing I know from that movie... oh, and the horse's head thing too!

Batman is in fine form here. He’s still in his early years, so he’s not all there yet. Heck, it took a year for this case to end which is kind of weird for Batman. More on that later, though. We got him going up against the mob, facing supervillains, and macking on Catwoman. I loved their interactions here and Selina was cool herself. Jim Gordon’s doing his usual thing, but the one who stands out in their group is Harvey Dent.  We pretty much know his story in that he one day becomes the criminal, Two-Face. Seeing him crack under the pressure was nice and sad since he was a good man.

The many villains were quite nice. We get a taste of the usual supervillains like the Joker, the Riddler, Poison Ivy, and Solomon Grundy (why is he here again?). We even get a weird redo of the Calendar Man. The main action comes from the mob, though. The Falcones and Maronis were pretty antagonists for our heroes. They’re a threat that can’t just be punched right in the face. The mystery behind the Holiday killer was also interesting. It takes the usual twists and turns mysteries take. It also ends in a way that is admittedly confusing. Still, I liked the ending since it makes you must think on who did what.  I’m not going to reveal the killer’s (or killers’) identity here if you haven’t read it. Find that out for yourself.

The artwork is good for the most part. Tim Sale’s artwork hits the right moods the story gives. The action flows well too. He also gets stylized. While he has some folk look normal, others look a bit exaggerated. Just look at some of the villains’ designs. I will say that his Batman looks awesome and his Catwoman is… quite nice. While it has its wonky moments (the Joker looked too weird especially with those teeth), I have no problems with the artwork. I can say that it’s not something I’d like to see a lot but having it in one big story works.

I kinda seeing those two going the distance.

There’s little I don’t like about the story. While the concept of the Holiday killer is interesting, it’s weird that it takes a whole year for it to get solved. I know Batman’s in his early days, but he’s not living up to the whole “World’s Greatest Detective” title yet. It does drag in a couple of places as well.  While it was cool to see some of the more colorful villains, I don’t know if they were needed here. I know Solomon Grundy felt like a weird turn. Also, it does resolve a bit messy, but I still like it since some mysteries don’t give all the answers away. Other than those things and Joker’s horrid teeth (go see a dentist, dude), this is a good story.

Dude, how did those chemicals give you 80 teeth? Are you part-shark?

 In the end, I see why it gets put on those “Best Batman Stories” lists. It may even go on mine if I ever get around to making that list. If you haven’t check it out, go for it. Well, it’s time to leave the dankness of Gotham behind for something a little lighter. Before I do that, I think I may cover something that has a little more dankness in it. Let’s just say it involves Batman sporting a machine gun and acting loopy. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t talk to the weird green lady. You might have to get cat lady to bail you out.