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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