Batman: The Long Halloween

Rating:
Summary: Reading this title got me back into Batman
Review: Growing up, Batman was my favorite comic book and I loved the animated series. I have to admit though that I lost interest in it when I hit high school. A friend of mine was moving and gave me his comics collection and The Long Halloween was in it. It was incredible! The storyline was on point and the simplicity of the artwork makes the words stand out even more. I recommend this comic to anyone that loves comics and, like me, needs a great story.

Rating:
Summary: Batman: The Long Halloween
Review: Gotham City's forces of justice, winged vigilante Batman, honest Captain Jim Gordon, and District Attorney Harvey "Golden Boy" Dent, swear to bring Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and his family of organized crime to justice. However, a mysterious killer begins murdering members of the "Roman Empire." Dubbed HOLIDAY by the media, he/she leaves a bloody mess and no clues. Batman, Gordon, and Dent begin to become obsessed with finding Holiday, which slowly begins to change Dent's personality into something darker. Meanwhile, Gordon tries to keep his family together as well as Gotham City, and Batman deals with a combination of his memories of what drove him to crimefighting, the fear that he is losing his friend, his relationship with Selina Kyle, and the assorted villans that get entangled with the Roman. And it all ends with a friendship that is forever shattered.


This is without a doubt one of the best BATMAN stories I have ever come upon. It's a beautiful story that perfectly shows the three heroes for who they are. A crimefighter trying to fight for the promise he made to his parents, a police Captain trying to save the town he's chosen to fight for, and a District Attorney becoming obsessed with a more violent approach to crime. Of course, they wisely retold the transformation of Dent to Two-Face, which was never done justice before. The origin is kept the same, just expanded upon and Dent is more humanized, while Jeph Loeb manages to convince the reader that Dent will become the Dark Knight's most tragic enemy.


The villans are beautifully categorized. You have the Carmine Falcone, a strong, confident man who is slowly losing control over his empire. Carla Vitti, the sister of the Roman, Alberto Falcone, the son that wants to be doing what his father is doing, Johnny Vitti, Milos the Bodyguard, the extremley large Sofia Falcone, and Salvatore Maroni, the Roman's main competition for control of organized crime in Gotham City.
Then, you have the usual suspects, all of which are beautifully weaved into this year-long murder mystery. You have Catwoman, whose relationship with the Dark Knight expands as he tries to figure her connection to the Roman. You also have the wickedly psychotic Joker, the vigorously seductive Poison Ivy, the fear-inducing Scarecrow, the rhytmic Mad Hatter, Gotham's lost soul Solomon Grundy, the cleverly witty Riddler, and the inquisitive Julian Day, The Calendar Man. The Penguin also shows up, yet his presence is as brief as it is incoherent and unexplained.


Tim Sale's drawing and art work is also magnificent. Batman is tall and strong, Catwoman is swift and athletic, the Joker is stick-like and discomfortingly expressive, Harvey Dent is handsome, yet always drawn with a slight darkness, foreboding his transformation, Poison Ivy is luscious, surrounded by plants at all times and with green skin (The way it should've been done in BATMAN AND ROBIN), and the rest of the characters look nice.


All in all, this is a strong book. The beautiful storytelling and expressive art work blend nicely together in what is truly one of the greatest Batman stories written during the dreaded 90's.

P.S: Would make a good movie.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Batman book, part 1
Review: What can I say? This is one of the finest graphic collections I have ever read. Excellent!

Rating:
Summary: Brutally dissapointing
Review: This book was a real let down. My interest in this title was generated based on the great reviews The Long Halloween recieved (on Amazon and elswhere). When the comparrisons to Frank Miller's seminal work on Batman was made by some, I was sold. Oh my, was i ever shocked upon actually reading it. This is why I'm sending out a warning out to those expecting Miller calibur writing in this title: Don't! This doen't even come close. In fact, The Long Halloween is actually not very good at all.
Here's my main complaint: Incridebly contrived and poorly executed "mystery." One should not be left severely confused after the story and mystery is resolved, and as hard as I tied to figure it out, I was continually perplexed by The Long Halloween. I reread it two times trying to make some sense of it, but still the pieces didn't fit together. Well, at least in any manner that was not extremely convoluted, arbitrary, and well, unbelivable. The "twists" at the end just didn't add up. I attribute this to very poor characterization and pacing, and motivations and allegiences that are never clearly explained, even after the story's punchline. I really can't understand why some people would compare The Long Halloween to Frank Miller's work, it's totally overrated. Pretty art though, and at least the follow up, Dark Victory, was a bit of an improvement.