Rating: 
Summary: Batman Like I've never seen him
Review: Great story! Batman battles his usual nemesis along with a serial killer. Awesome story that shows Batman at his Detective roots, Harvey Dent as an upcoming lawyer, Catwoman as a seductive temptress, and Comissioner(sp?) Gordon as a Captain trying to save Gotham. This isn't a boring suspense type story either, there is plenty of action and a surprise at the end that will leave your mouth wide open.
Rating: 
Summary: Minimalistic format makes for interesting reading
Review: Long after reading Batman:Year One, and The Dark Knight Returns, which are formidable in their own respects, I was fortunate to have stumbled across Batman as I always saw him in The Long Halloween. Whereas "Year One" and "Returns" rekindled a dying enthusiasm for Bats, "Halloween"'s minimal style in art and dialogue allowed me just enough information to let my imagination fill in some blanks. Characters are reduced to their basic shapes: the stocky rectangular Bruce Wayne, the aerodynamic, muscular Batman and Catwoman, the stick-like Joker and Scarecrow, and so on. Proportions are tweaked and played with to allow for some interesting encounters among the characters from the gigantic daughter of the Roman to Gotham itself as a flat black and blue backdrop for our story to unfold. While the character designs are sometimes too characature-ish especially among the villains there is a nice mysteriousness that is maintained throughout the story because of the outlandishness they convey. Don't look for mong diatribes from any one character as conversations are mainly one-or-two liners usually involving nasty confrontations. The repeated line:"Do what needs to be done" and variations of that display the self-rightousness that the characters evoke in their own vision for Gotham; that the obsessive mission of Jim Gordon and Batman are not too far off from the madness of Harvey Dent and Holiday is eerie, indeed. Dent is a tragic character in every sense. Its a shame that you never see the cynicism that he has for the Justice System save for a few freudian slips in the company of Gordon. That he is doused in the face with acid in mid-story by his star witness in the case of his career should be satisfactory enough, though. The story should be commended for weaving different members of Batman's Rogue's Gallery in the mix but it also makes for a couple of plot holes and even some uninteresting sidetracks. The Joker, the Mad Hatter, and the Scarecrow go on some pretty predictable escapades that seem to originate from an editor's memo reading "more action sequences!". Poison Ivy's seduction of Bruce Wayne is exception to these intrusions and you feel a chilly fall from grace as she arrogantly states that no man can resist her in their embrace. Falls from grace indeed are a theme rampant throughout the book from a mob king, to the D.A., to the reputation of Bruce Wayne. Despite its short-comings, it is still a well-composed retelling of Two-Face's origin as well as another good addition to anyone's Batman collection.
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Summary: A Spectacular Story About Batman's Earlier Exploits
Review: I first heard of this excellent mini-series when it was nearing the end of its original run and, upon hearing that a published collection was to be made available, I ordered it. The two creators of this series are to be congratulated. Their blend of Detective Comics and The Godfather films (there are sly references to Mario Puzo's and Francis Ford Coppola'a cinematic masterpieces) brings an entirely new dimension to the world of The Dark Knight. Any fans of Batman or merely film noir will be pleasantly surprised at this superb retelling of Harvey Dent (Two Face)'s fall from Gotham City District Attorney to psychopathic criminal. This is an excellent tale, on par with Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen. A must-have for any Batman or comic book fan. Check it out, and Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I have never seen Batman drawn the way he was always meant to look until I saw Tim Sale's incredible rendition of the Dark Knight. The shadows, the paucity of words, the plot and characters all amount to one of the greatest Batman stories ever written. With Batman today cluttered with a family of characters, 3rd rate villains, and modern themes, this story, set in Batman's beginning in a crime-infested Gotham, is the definitive Batman. My favorite character, the Calendar Man, is a psycho locked up in Arkham who knows the identity of the killer the whole time and never spills. Don't miss this for any other Batman story.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Batman Stories
Review: Batman has been around for about 60 years now and this one ranks alongside Dark Knight, Killing Joke, and Year One as one of the finest Batman stories ever written. This 13 issue maxi series examines the Batman early in his career and the transformation of Harvey Dent into Two Face. The story was exciting and engrossing, a rarity these days with so many flawed maxi-series coming out. The artwork is stunning and I rarely see Gotham City captured on paper as perfectly as it is here. The impact of the story is felt more strongly in this graphic novel form than in the comic book form, which originally was released over a period of thirteen months. It is more frightening to see the serial killer's trail all at once (along with the Holiday signatures).
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Summary: Fantastic early-career Batman story
Review: Long Halloween works on so many levels. I went into this book knowing how it was going to end and it still captivated me. It is both a murder mystery and a story of a fall from grace. The main plotline-the mystery of the identity of a serial killer who murders members of the Falcone and Maroni crime families every major holiday-almost takes a back seat to the tragic transformation of Harvey Dent, who starts out as Batman and Captain Gordon's partner and friend and becomes one of their greatest foes by the end of the story. This series ranks alongside the Killing Joke as an important piece of Batman continuity as well as examining Batman's relationship with his enemies. Loeb's writing is good minimalism, packing so much power into so little dialouge. Tim Sale's artwork is just beautiful. He is one of the most talented pencilers ever, and breaths new visual life to several Batman characters. The series is lenghty but it is also fast paced and can be read in a relatively short amount of time. The pacing of the artwork is near-perfect, save for the unsettling abundance of splash pages. This series also well balances Batman's foes between pyschologically and physically deformed supercriminals and regular human gansters. After reading this and the first issue of its follow-up Dark Victory, one can only wonder why team Long Halloween does not work on a regular Batman title.
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Summary: Sherlock WHO?!?
Review: The ultimate Batman mystery. And only an inexperienced Batman and a young Police commisioner to solve it. I already knew "whodunnit" going into the book, and it still blew me away when the killer was revealed. I can't imagine how shocked I would have been if I hadn't already known. Anyone familiar with Batman should be ashamed to not own this. Great art by Tim Sale, incredibly affordable. BUY IT.
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Summary: the ultimate batman mystery. engrossing!
Review: this is the ultimate batman mystery. originally chronicled in a unprecedented 13 part series, this story spans an entire year and re-defines many or the batman year one characters. a flawless script, and goregeous art work will make you wish for an even longer halloween next year.
Rating:
Summary: Top-notch early career Batman story
Review: The Long Halloween is one of my favorite additions to the Batman canon. It is an intriguing mystery that fleshes out the early years of the careers of Batman, Commissioner Gordon (here Captain Gordon), and District Attorney Harvey Dent. The story focuses on the efforts of these three men of justice to bring down the criminal empire of Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, a character who made his debut in Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. Over the year that the story spans, our heroes are being aided in this endeavor by a mysterious killer who murders a victim of the Falcone family around each of the major holidays. Also during this time, many of the members of Batman's rogues' gallery show up to make plays of their own. The writer/artist team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale is one of the best currently working in the comics field. Loeb's writing comes closer to letting the reader into Batman's mind than most, but still keeps the distance that the character demands. The Falcone family is portrayed as a pretty stereotypical mafia family. If you are a fan of the Godfather films, you will find plenty of homages/thefts to those works here, right from the opening panel. But they serve the purpose of providing fodder for the holiday killer. It's what Loeb does with Harvey Dent that makes this book. Two-Face, for me, was always an interesting idea for a villain, but always came across, oddly enough, rather one-dimensionally. By having a story that is set before Dent's transformation, Loeb is not constrained by the "Number 2" modus operandi the character is inevitably saddled with. Dent here is more like the Han Solo character. Cocky and unintimidated by anyone, he's so much more fun to read here it almost makes me wish we could throw continuity out the door and pretend he never got that acid thrown in his face. What Alan Moore did for the Joker in The Killing Joke, Jeph Loeb does for Two-Face here. One more thing about the writing: Loeb knows when to write and when to let Tim Sale's beautiful artwork tell the story. So sometimes there are several pages with little or no words. The murders, for example, are all presented in complete silence, which is just as it should be. As for the art, Tim Sale provides some of the best representations of the Batman characters I've ever seen. His work is slightly stylistic on the "normal" characters, and wildly exaggerated on the "supervillains", but without making the characters look like they belong in separate books. Sale's Batman is the definitive one for me, and his version of the Joker second only to Brian Bolland's. Added to this is his expert use of shading and page layouts that look like scenes from movies. Absolutely top-notch stuff. If you only buy comics for the pictures, this book is still worth the money. But I'd recommend reading it too.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite Batman book, part 1
Review: This is the book that got me back into graphic novels/comics. A lush, noir-esque story with great twists and turns as well as a new take on a classic villian that retains the basic origin while expanding it slightly. It's set early in Batman's career, before Robin and before his role was clear in the eyes of police. The only person who believes in him and what he's doing is Jim Gordon, at this point only a lieutenant in the police force. Fantastic art and a brilliantly written story. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have quickly become my favorite tandem in graphic novels. Brilliant work! Brilliant!
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