Batman: The Long Halloween #1-13

Batman: The Long Halloween #1-13

Originally released in 1996

Written by Jeph Loeb

Art by Tim Sale

I'm trying to avoid doing too many re-reads, as it goes against the spirit of why I started this blog.  However, between the date and my plans for tomorrow, I couldn't resist going back to this story.  Set early in Batman's career, Gotham is under siege by the Holiday Killer, though despite the name, "the Long Halloween" doesn't take place entirely on Halloween.  Instead, it's a reference to how the more traditional mobsters in Gotham are being displaced by costumed maniacs and thieves like the Joker, the Riddler, Catwoman, and so on.

The two most prominent mobsters in Gotham are Carmine "the Roman" Falcone, who seems to take a lot of inspiration from Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone from the Godfather, and Salvatore Maroni, who seems to be based in part on Jack Nicholson.  Carmine's son Alberto is dutiful and wants to take part in the family business, but Carmine intentionally keeps him out of it and ignores his advice.

While Batman: Year One was a definite source of inspiration for Batman Begins, The Long Halloween inspired large portions of The Dark Knight.  The story involves Commissioner Gordon, district attorney Harvey Dent, and Batman making a pact to put a stop to the criminals while still following the law.

Several other key moments were also used in The Dark Knight, such as a massive pile of mob money being discovered and lit on fire to send a message, which concludes issue 1.  In this case, it's Batman and Harvey Dent who do this rather than the Joker; Falcone retaliates by blowing up Harvey's house.

While Batman investigates the Falcones, Bruce Wayne has been in a relationship with Selina Kyle for a while.  While Catwoman's backstory varies heavily from writer to writer, she's written here as a socialite (or at least someone who can pose as one) who Bruce knows by name.  Tim Sale definitely puts a lot of detail into drawing her, both in and out of costume.

I'm not a fan of the Catwoman costume that this book uses (not sure if it's the purple colouring or the whiskers that make it feel strange to me), though I do like the design used for Selina when she's out of costume.  Bruce and Selina may know each other fairly well, but Batman and Catwoman have only started crossing paths recently.

Once a month, on a holiday, the Holiday Killer targets someone connected to Carmine Falcone for assassination.  The list of suspects is long, as Falcone has a massive amount of enemies on both sides of the law.  The main suspect is Harvey Dent - alarm bells are probably going off in the heads of any Batman fan when the killer uses .22 caliber bullets and shoots their victims twice each - and even in-universe, he's the prime suspect by issue 2.

However, there are a lot of potential suspects who are established early on, whether it's Alberto Falcone wanting to prove his worth, Sal Maroni wanting to take out his main rival, or Carmine's sister Carla Viti who wants to expand her Chicago crime empire into Gotham.  Ironically, one person who's definitely ruled out is Calendar Man, who's under extremely tight security in Arkham.

This series reinvented and redesigned Calendar Man, changing him from one of Batman's goofier villains like the Ten-Eyed Man (who is blind but has functioning eyes on his fingertips - he can be beaten by yelling "think fast!" and throwing something for him to catch) or Crazy Quilt to a Hannibal Lecter-like figure, minus the cannibalism.

Calendar Man isn't the only member of Batman's costumed rogues gallery to make an appearance.  During Thanksgiving, while chasing a suspect in the attempted murder of Harvey Dent into the sewers, Batman encounters an unexpected face:

Batman treats Grundy with sympathy, even bringing him a Thanksgiving dinner, but other villains are more persistent threats.  The question of who the Holiday Killer is and where they'll strike next is on everyone's minds, and in all the headlines.  If there's one thing that the Joker doesn't like, it's being upstaged.

The Joker's rampage covers two months, issues 3 and 4, though it's really the week or so between Christmas and New Year's Day.  Christmas has him playing the role of the Grinch, while on New Year's, he targets a crowd gathered for the celebration, "rationalizing" that odds are pretty good that the Holiday Killer would be somewhere in that crowd. (and leading to a classic exchange between Batman and the Joker)

Poison Ivy also gets involved, with her presence being more beneficial to the Falcones.  Bruce Wayne successfully blocked an attempt at using Gotham's banks for the Falcones' money laundering, so in retaliation, Falcone hires Ivy to brainwash Bruce into reversing his stance and letting the deal go through.

The identity of the Holiday Killer is kept a mystery throughout the story, as we only see them as a gloved hand and a gun, and they leave the gun at the scene of the crime.  Even their gender is unknown; the default assumption is that they're male, but as the story goes on, characters wonder if it could be a woman behind the killings.  All we have to go on is that they use the nipple of a baby bottle as a silencer, along with the kind of gun that they use.  It does a good job at creating an atmosphere of paranoia, as quite a few characters could be behind the killings. (even if some people can automatically be ruled out - Jim Gordon, Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Carmine Falcone)

Harvey isn't so sure that Bruce can be ruled out when it comes to being a criminal, though. His assistant (who's secretly working for Maroni) uncovers ties between Thomas Wayne and Carmine Falcone, which gets the D.A. suspicious of millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.

Catwoman manages to free Bruce from Ivy's grasp, but the question remains: who is Holiday? Issue 7 has both Batman and the Riddler trying to figure it out, though they come to very different conclusions.  The Riddler even brings Catwoman up as a suspect - after breaking into Falcone's safe at the start of the story, he put a massive bounty on her head, so she had plenty of motive.

Neither of them manage to come up with a satisfactory solution, though Batman's main suspect seems to be Harvey Dent.  As Harvey prepares to have Bruce Wayne arrested, and Bruce hopes that his suspicions are wrong, someone frees an inmate of Arkham Asylum on Mother's Day.

Batman gets a whiff of Scarecrow's fear gas, so when Bruce visits Crime Alley to mourn the passing of his mother and Commissioner Gordon finds him there, he runs off, ultimately being found crying at his mother's grave.

Father's Day isn't much better for Bruce, as he's brought to trial and his family's connection with Falcone is revealed.  Bruce vaguely remembers the incident from his childhood, but only now does he fully realize its significance - Carmine Falcone was brought to his door, suffering from gunshot wounds, and Thomas Wayne saved his life.

Bruce is acquitted almost immediately, and as Sal Maroni's father is gunned down in front of him, Harvey reveals that he visited his father, who gave him something that will undoubtedly be of no importance whatsoever to Harvey's future.

I won't go too in-depth when it comes to the later parts of the story, particularly the Holiday Killer plotline; it's a mystery, and a well-written one, so I don't want to give away where it leads.  The Long Halloween is a really effective crime drama and tragedy, as Harvey's obsessions begin to cost him not only his sanity but his marriage to his wife, Gilda.

He strikes a deal with Sal Maroni to get Falcone behind bars, only for Maroni to betray him once he's called upon to serve as a witness.  He sneaks in a bottle full of acid, claiming it's something for his ulcer, and anyone who's even remotely familiar with Harvey Dent can guess how this turns out.

The last two issues focus on the hunt for Harvey Dent, whose face was horribly mutilated by the attack.  Evidence mounts that he could truly be the Holiday Killer, as much as Bruce doesn't want to believe it.  Even if he isn't, however, he's still someone who is in desperate need of help.

Someone else who's in desperate need of help is Carmine Falcone - Harvey Dent has visited Arkham Asylum, and he's decided who to release with the flip of a coin, bringing every member of Batman's rogues gallery who's been seen in this series so far (aside from Calendar Man and Riddler) to Maroni's house for a Halloween party. (and also the Penguin, who hadn't appeared in this series before)

Harvey wants Falcone removed from power, and he no longer cares about staying within the law or following conventional morality.  As he rises out of the shadows, Falcone comes face-to-face-to-face with Two Face.

Batman shows up, and while he defeats his foes, Two Face escapes.  This story does a great job at emphasizing why Two Face is one of Batman's biggest and best-known villains.  He may not have the cunning of the Joker or the resources of Ra's al Ghul, but he's a living reminder of how far good people can fall in the pursuit of justice.  The inclusion of Gilda does well to humanize him and give us an idea of who Harvey is beyond his work, showing that they once had a happy life and dreams of having children before Harvey's scarring and transformation.

I don't know if it's because I've read this series before, or if it's because of the quality of the story, but these issues flew by, especially towards the end.  Even on a re-read, the story remains as gripping as ever, and it was fun to look for clues or hints regarding Holiday's identity.  This story is phenomenally well-written, and Tim Sale's art does a great job with using light and shadow to an excellent (and sometimes eerie) effect.  This seems like a perfect book for anyone wanting to get into Batman's comics.