Batman: The Long Halloween

“A Very Long Holiday Season…”

 “I believe in Harvey Dent”.

Sound familiar? It should. Genius director Chris Nolan used this line in his wonderful master piece “The Dark Knight” w/ Harvey Dent as Gotham City’s District Attorney.

 “I believe in Jim Gordon”.

“I believe in Harvey Dent”.

“I believe in Gotham City”.

From one genius to another, Chris Nolan was able to get inspiration for his film from critically acclaimed and four time Eisner winner writer Jeph Loeb’s and his part in crime Tim Sale’s “Batman: The Long Halloween”.

This riveting tale take place in Batman’s early days and retells of the rise of DA Harvey Dent and his fall eventually becoming Two-Face. Along with Jim Gordon, All three men take an oath of “bending the rules without breaking them” in order to rid Gotham of all the evil that comes with the Mafia.

As Gotham is plagued with crime, Batman has made a promise to his late parents that he would rid the city of it. On his one man mission he gains the trust in allies Harvey Dent who is a passionate and ambitious DA and Jim Gordon who is then Lieutenant of GCPD.

Carmine “The Roman” Falcone is the untouchable in Gotham City and has every important/influential person on his pay roll.  With his main rival Salvatore Maroni at bay, “The Roman” really has nothing to worry about until the murders being.

One fateful Halloween night Johnny Vitti, the nephew of Falcone has been shot and killed. It doesn’t stop there for the next year there are murders committed every month on a holiday. Gotham newspapers duded the killer “Holiday”. He or she is targeting all of Carmine’s people. However on night on April fool’s Day the killer does not kill. This leaves Batman, Dent and Gordon all puzzled as to why he did not kill.

Batman and Gordon visit a man called “Calendar”, Julian Day, the original man creating crimes not murders on holidays. Batman and Gordon believe that he can help them discover the identity of this “Holiday” killer but no luck.

With no relief of the killings in sight, Batman, Gordon and Dent are beyond to bring this killer to justice. It’s Father’s Day and things are about to take a turn. Luigi Maroni, former head of the Maroni crime family was shot. Covered in Luigi’s blood Sal Maroni goes to Dent and tells him how they can both help each other.

Things are pretty much never the same from here…

Jeph Loeb does a superb job in this tail of the Dark Knight. In film noir-ish style Loeb is able to go deep into the very soul of Batman and what makes him tick. Through the use of monologue Loeb let’s the readers know Batman’s thoughts, feelings and all that is a struggle in that brilliant mind. As readers we get to see how he accepts allies in what he considers as friends in Gordon and Dent. He truly believes in them and the positive influence they have and can have on Gotham’s crime families.

Another nice touch by Loeb is the great character subplots especially with Catwoman.  We see an interesting story developing with Catwoman and it’s not only with Batman/Bruce Wayne, it’s with the Falcone family. Selena Kyle as Catwoman is seen by Batman around Falcone affairs all the times.  Batman begins to wonder why she’s around them: what connection does she have to them? A brilliant mind like Batman’s is unable to see any connection.

As Bruce Wayne there is a deep connection between him and Selena Kyle: true love. Yet the double life Wayne leads affects Kyle and questions whether it’s a good idea to continue the romance. Neither knows of each other’s secret life…

Time Sale does a phenomenal job bringing the story to life.  Keeping in tune with the film noir style of writing, Sale is able to tell the story in his art the way Loeb does in his writing. Over all this is a well crafted book.

Readers, fans of Batman and all others this is A MUST HAVE! As not just a fan of Batman but also as a big fan of Loeb and Sale, this Batman story is a beautifully created piece of work that challenges the readers’ minds as an intricate murder mystery.  A story you will enjoy from beginning to end!

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With all the vampire crazy going on now a days (True Blood the hit show on HBO, Twilight which is anticipating its sequel in theaters later this fall, and now the new series on the Vampire Diaries) I figured that it would only be right to do my first review on a vampire base anime and manga.

First, the anime movie “Blood: The Last Vampire” directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo  is truly not the typical vampire story I am use to.  The move is a must watch! It kind of reminded me of “The Dark Knight” in the sense that “Blood: The Last Vampire” is well dark.  The movie is sweet, short (I actually was expecting to see more) and to the point: Saya (the main protagonist, a half breed human) must slay the Chiropterans, a vicious breed of bat-like creatures.

Saya who works for a secret American government organization called Red Shield. David who works for the organization helps her from time to time in the film and seems to care for her well being besides the fact that she is the only one that can handle these creatures. After all she is the last vampire.

So I don’t want to give the movie away but I will give you the pros and cons! The pros: The opening scene alone is bloody and action-packed! Like I said before the movie is short and to the point so you will get all the action (and not much talking). This is where a con comes in. Since the movie is short you don’t have that character development you usually get in movies. This however does not take away from the good script or from the story. It is well execute and if you are a fan of guts and blood then this movie is for you.  The animation is ground breaking in my opinion and will enjoy every moment of it!

So I don’t want to give the movie away but I will give you the pros and cons! The pros: The opening scene alone is bloody and action-packed! Like I said before the movie is short and to the point so you will get all the action (and not much talking). This is where a con comes in. Since the movie is short you don’t have that character development you usually get in movies. This however does not take away from the good script or from the story. It is well execute and if you are a fan of guts and blood then this movie is for you.  The animation is ground breaking in my opinion and will enjoy every moment of it!

My final word is that if you haven’t seen you should! It won’t let you down!

As for the manga, written by Asuka Katsura, I wasn’t sure what to expect because it was the first time I was reading a piece of work by him.  The “Blood” manga series is written in three different series and by three different writers.  The first series “Blood” written by Katsura is aimed for a more mature audience.  This first series is compromised of five volumes. But unlike its anime counterpart is has a more light hearted feel to it.

The protagonist here is also named Otonashi Saya (Japanese write the family name first then first name).  She is also the only one that can kill these Chiropterans but she has no relocation of her past violent life.  She is now adopted by a man named George who knows of her past and two other adopted boys who are Saya’s older and younger brothers.  She leads a normal life under this family and cannot recall anything before the year of her adoption.

I do enjoy the humor Katsure adds to the manga but I was hoping the grim moments the anime film provided.  I am not sure that Katsure nicely executes the harmonious balance between your happy go lucky moments and your cold hearted I will rip you guts out moments.  I will give this series another shot being that there are only five volumes but at the moment I don’t highly recommend this as a must read. For now I think you guys can do without.

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Since this site is video games based I will not let all you gamers out there down!  I, myself did not grow up on video games only because my parents thought that it was a waste of time and money and that I would get addicted to it.  The only games I ever owned in my life were Mortal Kombat 3 and Donkey Kong for Super NES (yes I know that was back in the day).  Although I do thank my parents because the money I did save from not buying the latest in video games I was able to start my addiction in comics and mangas.  Sorry mom and dad but I had to keep out of trouble somehow!!

However there is a video game out there based on the “Blood” manga/film/anime. If any of you out has played it lets us know!!! I would love to hear from you!!

Finally let me also know what you think about the reviews! Let me know if there is something you want to read about or anything you want to know more about the comics/mangas/games world out there!  As a reminder to you gamers out there! The NY Games Conference is this Wednesday, September 30^th – Thursday October 1^st, 2009! Get more info on NY Games Conference. Come back and blog about!

My name is Kino Haruka and I will be back next week with more reviews and news on the fabulous world of video games and comics! Have a great week ahead and keep gaming!

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