Rating: 
Summary: Perfectly Balanced, Subtle Batman Noir
Review: This ode to Frank Miller's "Year One", itself a noir take on Batman's early career, provides a note-perfect genre piece that should thrill anyone looking for a Batman whodunit. The story has Batman, early in his career, taking on the mob and a serial killer who strikes on holidays. The story is drum tight through thirteen issues (350+ pages), set from Halloween to Halloween, with a poetic pacing and use of graphic tension found only in top-notch graphic novels. Harvey Dent is heavily featured along with a young Jim Gordon. For Batman scholars, Dent's presence alone provides a backdrop of foreboding. The usual rogue's gallery weaves through the book, including a jealous Joker, out to outdo the serial killer, a cornered, yet elegantly neurotic Riddler, and a wildly abstracted, sensual Poison Ivy, along with a little more mind-altering mayhem from the Scarecrow and Mad Hatter. What I appreciated most about Jeph [sic!] Loeb's telling is that the criminals are reduced to their elemental symbols, where a gesture or a glance conveys as much as a panel of narrated text. The clues are perfect red herrings in the grand whodunit fashion. Fans of Batman know bad things are going to happen when a stranger passes a rose to a character who then pricks their finger on its thorns. Similarly, even a hardened Gotham detective shudders upon seeing a murder victim with a smile on his face. My only misgiving about this book is that if a reader wasn't acquainted with Batman and the usual Arkham cast, the subtletly of this telling will almost certainly be missed. On the other hand, this'll be a great place to start an education. Tim Sale's art is compelling. Noir's a difficult effect to convey in comics, and it comes through beautifully in a shadowy, mostly gray and earth tone palette behind strong inking. This cool, muted ground provides the perfect foil against which to contrast the costumed villains, ratcheting up the tension another notch.
Rating:
Summary: A modern classic
Review: The 80s were the times of the Bat. The revolution in the Batman comics, started in the mid-seventies by people like Dennis O'neil and Neal Adams, reached its peak in the eighties, with the works of such brilliant writers as Mike W. Barr, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and, obviously, Frank Miller. Tim Burton's Batman, possibly the finest comics-based feature film, was also made at that time. The nineties weren't as favorable to the Dark Knight. The artistic barrier was broken, and the spirit of revolution that characterized 80s comics drifted away. With Neil Gaiman and others of his kind becoming the main power in adult comics, Batman was, once again, mainstream. Although some good stories were published, none had the impact and inventiveness of Frank Miller's Batman. Which is why I was very pleasently surprised to read the Long Halloween, a collected mini-series originally published in 1996, which is probably the finest Batman story released since Grant Morrison's masterpiece 'Arkham Asylum: Serious House on Serious Earth' in 1989. It was the first work I've ever read of either writer Jeph Loeb or artist Tim Sale. Loeb's dialogue is extremely powerful, flawless, reminding me of Frank Miller's writing on 'Dark Knight Returns' or 'Ronin'. Sale's wonderful artwork and brilliant use of close-ups, color and page compositions brought back memories of Dave Gibbons' work on 'Watchmen'. The storyline was the best I've seen in years, recreating the story of Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face - in my mind, the most interesting of Batman's many enemies. It's a detective story, very different from the action-packed style of most 90s Batman, with the beautifuly created atmosphere of a film-noir. A family of gangsters and a serial killer are the actual 'villains' in the Long Halloween, but the main idea - the main conflict in the story - is the friendship of Batman, Harvey Dent and Comm. Gordon, and the old question of law and justice; some of Batman's more standart Arkham Asylum residing foes are brought in for short appearences, not stealing the show but giving this extremely long story some energy. Dent's personality is crafted brilliantly, as is the relationship between the three law enforcers, and the story of Dent's fall into crime is more tragic and touching than ever. The Long Halloween is one for the ages.
Rating:
Summary: Can't put it down
Review: What can I say? This is one of the finest graphic collections I have ever read. Two-Face's origin retold like this. Amazing. The use of other villains-Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy, man!How it narrows in on Batman and Catwoman's relation ship. Excellent!
Rating: 
Summary: An intriguing if long Batman adventure, suitable to newbies
Review: I waited till this comic appeared in a TPB, and at over 350 pages, it's quite hefty and dense for even a Batman tale. The premise of Batman vs. the Mob at the start of his career is intriguing, as are the characters and the way Jeph Loeb handles the Batman. However, the gimmick of a series of holiday-related murders forces Loeb to write too long a tale, one that could have been two or three issues shorter without sacrificing much. A red herring linking Bruce Wayne to the mob also goes nowhere, and some of the villains who show up are less suited to this noirish tale than others. Tim Sale's art is stylized to good effect, and Gregory Wright's limited color palette combines with the art to create a noir comic of the likes not seen since Miller and Mazuchelli's Batman: Year One. However, the stylization serves some characters better than others, and the Joker is a bit too garish. On the whole, this is an above average Bat-book that strives to tell a complete story built around the three pillars of Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent. But compared with both the recent "No Man's Land" saga and other, shorter Bat-epics, this is a bit disappointing until the last 60 or so pages. Simon DelMonte
Rating:
Summary: My favorite Batman book, part 1
Review: This is the book that got me back into comics! I've been a Batman fan for years but these two guys reeled me in to the comics. This story takes place early in Batman's career. How early? No Robin, Harvey is still "Apollo" Harvey Dent, and James Gordon is still married to his wife. It's essentialy a murder mystery involving the Falcone crime family, back when there were REAL criminals running Gotham as opposed to the classic Bond-villians-on-acid criminals! Members of this family are being hit and the killer leaves macabe souveniers related to the holiday on which the murder occurs. Everyone is suspect, the conclusion is startling; everything I love in film noir murder mystery! The art is more realistic than other Batman books. My only quip is the way catwoman was designed. They reached the design apex on the animated series. But in this book she has large eye holes, large ears, and whiskers in a attempt to make her more cat-like. Selina Kyle is WONDERFULLY done! The best drawn character is the Joker, he's my favorite anyway! This is my favorite book because it's back to the essentials: Batman kicks the crap out of criminals, no supernatural stuff, and a great emotional comples for our hero! Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: A perfect guideline for a ongoing TV Batman series
Review: Batman: The long Halloween. (TLH for short) Simply, IMHO, the greatest Batman story I have ever read. The Dark Knight was excellent but it was more of a swansong type of story. Year One was also very good but I believe this is superior. TLH shows the Bruce / Batman duality very well, the writing and art style and pacing make this story almost movie-like and had me on the edge of my seat for the entire reading. I didn't know the identity of "Holiday" before I read the book so I was quite surprised. All current Bat titles should take a page from the Loeb / Sale Bat playbook amd bring the mystery and legend of Batman back to it's former glory. Personally I believe that Year One and TLH are perfect for a TV Batman series in the style of Homicide: Life on the Street or Law and Order. Hollywood bigwigs take notice of the last Batman movie atrocity and learn. For those who enjoyed TLH the Loeb / Sale team are puting out a sequel called Batman: Dark Victory. It seems to be up to their standards and my surpass TLH. Reading it its good for your brain. ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Great Two-Face Story, Terrible Batman Story!
Review: Here's another offering from the kings of retro, Jeph Loeb (writer) and Tim Sale (artist), reexamining Batman during his mythical "Year One" period. If you believe the intro to this volume, this story was meant to be a sequel to Frank Miller's classic retelling of the Dark Knight's early days in "Batman: Year One" (1986/7). As a story, this work is pretty weak in many areas; as a sequel, is simply falls short of the tight, mature storytelling of Frank Miller's original. The story centers on the Roman family (originally introduced in "Batman: Year One"), a serial killer who offs people in creative ways during holiday seasons and the trio out to stop the crimes - Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent. Tim Sale is especially suitable for a work like this - his moody, atmospheric and splash-pages art are truly a sight to behold. You feel yourself being sucked into Batman's Gotham. My primary complaint is with Jeph Loeb's writing. Like my previous review of "Superman for All Seasons", my views of the man's writing hasn't changed. I like HOW he writes - I just dislike WHAT he writes! He's a great scripter, providing witty, timely and simply apt dialogues and caption boxes that the whole thing read very smoothly even though it runs into 300+ pages. The problem is with his insipid plotting. He should have someone else plot his tales and script over them. For example, in order to maintain the novelty of "holiday-themed killings", the story is stretched across THIRTEEN months and countless murders - and finally Batman catches the killer (but we are told that he got the wrong guy). And this is the "World's Greatest Detective"? Meanwhile, Batman consults a Hannibal-Lecter-like Calendar Man who is incapacitated in prison but seemingly knows the identity of the killer (?!?). See the problem? Batman, Gordon and Harvey are supposedly super-cops and they run around like madmen without a clue to the killer and you have this locked-up guy knowing the truth behind everything? Granted, Loeb was trying to set up a "Silence of the Lambs" scene with Calendar Man but therein lies the weakness of the whole thing. It is a scene set up for its own sake and doesn't contribute anything to the STORY. We live in times wherein comic writers are a lot more influenced by TV and movies than literature. And Loeb, former screenwriter, epitomize this new breed of writers who set up cool scenes, writes clever dialogue, provides the atmosphere with the right artistic collaboration but ultimately delivers something very hollow and shallow. "The Long Halloween" is often compared to the pulp classics of Chandler and Hammett. I disagree vehemently. Loeb and Sale gave us "mood" and "cool scenes" but ultimately the story is without gusto, the characters lack the machismo and grit of true noirish anti-heroes, and though the atmosphere is there, it lacks the tight, all-encompassing claustrophobia of the great noirish works. The only redeeming factor in this work is the retelling of Two-Face's origin. Loeb is especially great in the quiet "character" moments and here, the tragic story of Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face is beautifully retold. But Loeb's strength is often his most-glaring fault at the same time. For example the book begins with a full-page drawing of a grim-looking Bruce Wayne muttering, "I believe in Gotham City" - a scene I found to be laughably out-of-character for the flamboyant playboy persona of Bruce Wayne! This kinds of out-of-character scenes abound throughout the story. All in all, this story should have been better written by a more gritty writer like Greg Rucka or Ed Brubaker (both of them have written far better Batman stories than Loeb here).
Rating:
Summary: Too much hype
Review: When it first came out as a 12 issue series, everybody was raving about Long Halloween. I missed the boat during that time, so when the TPB came out, I quickly picked it up, read it and wondered why all the hype? It's a pretty standard detective/gangster story, jazzed up with appearances by Batman's Rogues Gallery. I remember the hype back then on who was the killer, and the revelation is not that surprising, in fact, it's a little anti-climactic. Maybe in this day and age of CSI, the audience is a little sharp on red herrings and false leads. On its own, it's a solid Batman story, it's just that Long Halloween doesn't deserve to be labeled/hyped as the best or a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully-drawn, but everything else is average
Review: Murder mysteries and mafia dramas; there's a million of 'em. What separates the wheat from the chaff are 3 things: originality, characterisation and resolution. So how does this tale measure up? Originality - Well, as this is a conscious homage to Frank Miller's Batman Noir, it's more a comforting return to established territory than anything new. Characterisation - Yikes. Hardly any! There are 2 crime familes who are quite impossible to tell apart, and no insights into either Batman or any of the Arkham Asylum Barmy Army. (Jeez that place is leakier than a sieve.) Apart from the standard soul-searching about "the death of my parents", Batman doesn't use his grey matter either to look at himself or solve clues. Resolution - See "characterisation". Without any credible motivation among the participants, the final revelation of the killer's identity is empty. In fact, it's right out of Sccoby Doo.It doesn't even make logical sense - but I can't tell you why without spoiling the plot, which is always unfair in a review. So there you are. Only average I'm afraid, but I'll give it 3 stars instead of 2 for the beautiful art
Rating:
Summary: Great?
Review: To compare this with Batman year one is an insult to Batman year one. The ridiculous parade of batman foes, all of them just crammed into the story to satisfy brainless fans, is dissapointing. Not a single one of them is of real importance to the plot. You can really forget about them. And the captions in every single issue, telling you who is who, you can really see how the Long Halloween was more of a marketing excersise than anything else. Now, that aside, the art is great, as the ending, and also the transformation of Harvey Dent. This is a good comic book, but by no means a great one. If Loeb had only worked with the crime families this would have been a much better story. Do not believe the hype. Read at leas the first part before you buy this, decide then.
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