Review: Batman: The Long Halloween

Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The story opens at the wedding reception of Carmine "The Roman" Falcone's nephew. Both Batman and Catwoman break in - Batman to try to find something that will help convict The Roman of one of the many mob-connected crimes that he'd committed and Catwoman to find something nice to sell. Batman comes out with a ledger with information on various members of the Falcone family, passing it along to Commissioner Gordon and DA Harvey Dent. This opens up a possibility for things that are to come.

Starting with Halloween, members of the Falcone operation/family start being killed on holidays, starting with the newly married nephew. This new serial killer is dubbed Holiday by the people of Gotham and the question of who Holiday is is debated among Falcone, his biggest competitor, Maroni and the trilogy of Batman, Gordon and Dent. By the end of the story, the person claiming responsibility for the murders is caught. But it's not quite the end of the story. Because things aren't always what they seem.

I really enjoyed this story a lot. It did something that never happens - completely surprised me at the ending. While I was reading the story, I suspected that the person claiming responsibility was Holiday. But when the twist came at the end... I'd never seen it coming. But it was perfect.

I also really enjoyed it because it told the story of how Two-Face came to be. Two-Face is one of the two Batman villains that I really feel sorry for. Dent was a good man, trying his best to get the criminals off the street. And that part of him has to be in there somewhere, otherwise the duality wouldn't exist. Getting to see this version of how Dent became Two-Face was an interesting thing to read.

It's definitely not a book for kids - but then again, I don't think that any of Batman's stories from the 80's on are. But it's one of the best of the various Batman stories.



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