Dark Victory

The Long Halloween has been one of the strongest stories I have read so far in this quest to read about the adventures of Batman in 'chronological' order. The Dark Victory continues the story threads which began in that volume, and introduces several elements which have since become a staple of the Batman continuity.

Opening with a blow by blow recount of the final confrontation between Batman and 'Holiday', Tim Sale's artwork gets off to a strong start as we see Alberto Falcone beaten and arrested. The story then flashes to the present, where Falcone is in a cell in Arkham Asylum being interviewed by the new DA Janice Porter. Porter mentions reopening the Holiday case later on, to Jim Gordon. She is a character who seems shrouded in mystery, her motives not becoming that clear until a bit later into the story.

The next scene sees a graveyard vigil for Carmine Falcone, who was gunned down by Dent/Two Face at the end of TLH. Both Batman and Catwoman soon make their presence known, in a throwback to TLH where they crossed paths several times in connection with the Falcone family. 

It seems that Sofia Falcone is trying to rebuild her fathers empire after his tragic death, and on the surface it seems that she is bringing the different crime families together. She hires the sons of Sal Maroni - who are introduced in a panel which is an excellent example of foreshadowing from the writer/artist team of Loeb and Sale. Tony Zucco is also involved in this 'rebuild' - a name which hints at what is to come later on in the volume if you know anything about your Bat-history.

Then, in quick succession there is a mass breakout from Arkham, and the first victim of The Hangman is discovered. All of the pieces are in place, in what slowly reveals itself to be a game that is being played for control of Gotham City.

The motif of games is most obvious in the game of hangman which is left at each of the crime scenes. Each one seems to be a clue of some sort, with the main finger of blame being pointed at Harvey Dent due to the nature of the paper which is used to write the notes. I remember when I first read The Dark Victory, I would try and figure out the significance of these notes. That's what makes this such a great Batman story - it makes the reader want to try and solved the mystery alongside Batman. And this is a mystery which isn't short of possible culprits and motives.

There is also the game being played by the escapees from Arkham, under the guidance of Two Face. A series of seemingly random events involving rogues such as Scarecrow and Solomon Grundy eventually transpire to be part of a bigger plan being masterminded by Dent. It is this game which reveals the significance of the title - The Dark Victory. Even though the various crime families have been decimated by the end of the volume, it is not without a price. Gotham belongs to the 'freaks' now.

Duality and the mirror image is also a motif that Loeb and Sale explore. Right from the opening sequence, where we see Holiday in a cell opposite Calendar Man, the idea of characters mirroring each other is present throughout. 

After his parents die tragically at Haly's Circus, we see a series of panels in Wayne Manor which explore the parallels between Grayson and Wayne as they deal with the deaths of their parents in similar ways. We also see the way that Alfred deals with them both, and in a touching ending to this sequence we see that he has learnt from the mistakes he made in dealing with Bruce after the deaths of Thomas and Martha.

There are also the parallels between Sofia and her father Carmine. The most obvious is in the cat scratch scars on the side of her face. We often see panels with these scars in close up, or with Sofia gazing into a mirror, and later on we discover that they hold more significance than they first seem to. Sofia also mirrors her father in her objection to the 'freaks' who have begun to take control of Gotham. Although she never goes as far as hiring these 'freaks' to serve her purposes, unlike her father.

Dent is also a dark inversion of what he used to be before the acid destroyed his face and his psyche. Despite his methods having changed, he is still working tirelessly to rid Gotham of the organised crime which was his mission in TLH. His relationship with Porter also plays into the idea of duality, and several characters are not what they initially appear to be.

One of the other reveals of duality is that Umberto and Pino Maroni are twins, and in fact working for Two Face. This is hinted at in the panel I mentioned earlier - when their faces are half obscured in shadow, in a nod to the foreshadowing of what Dent would become in TLH.

When the dust settles on the story, several things have changed. The crime families are no longer in control of Gotham. The police force is seemingly no longer as corrupt, or at least Jim Gordon has some people in the force whom he can trust. And finally Batman is no longer alone - he has Robin. 

The Dark Victory was outstanding, and Loeb and Sale have crafted the definitive Batman story here. It has everything that is great about the character. Obviously, there are other fantastic interpretations of the character, but Loeb is not a creator who can be overlooked when it comes to a list of writers who have defined the Batman we all know and love.

Next up - Robin Year One

Year Two - Fear the Reaper

A lot has happened since Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham at the start of Year One. He has faced clowns, clay monsters and former friends. He has battled fear, doubt and addiction to become the Batman. But at the start of his second year, he faces what could be his most difficult test yet.

The Reaper is one of many examples of a villain who shows what Batman could have been. Wielding two crescent scythes - which double up as guns - he attacks criminals head on and slaughters them for their crimes. This vigilante creates fear in the villains he faces in an entirely different way to the Batman, which is obviously something Bruce doesn't want for his city.

In their first fight it becomes clear that the Reaper has the edge over Batman - perhaps this is because he is something Batman fears, in that it could be a reflection of the man he might have become. In another case of jumping into a fight before he has scoped out his opponent, Batman finds himself on the wrong end of the scythes, which cut an X straight through the bat symbol on his chest. The Reaper is making a statement - Gotham is his city now.

After he is stitched up by Alfred, Bruce walks over to a portrait of his parents, and in desperation retrieves a gun from a hidden panel. The gun that killed his parents.

Now, I understand the need to remove The Reaper from the streets of Gotham, particularly as his brand of crime fighting leaves innocents injured or dead as well as the criminals. But I still find it odd that, after one fight with this new vigilante, he would resort to using a gun to even the odds. Even less so the gun that ended the lives of his parents.

Leslie Thompkins makes her return, in a much larger role than the last time. She shows concern over the effects that Bruce's life as a vigilante is having, possibly concern spurred on by The Reaper and his more violent brand of vigilantism. She asks Alfred about the cave early on, to which Alfred replies that it is the only place 'he truly feels himself'. This is a recurring theme of the Batman myth, that the mask and cape are an escape for Bruce or that they are restorative in some way. Leslie seems unconvinced though, especially when he begins to practice shooting with the gun that killed his parents.

Another odd twist was the introduction of Joe Chill, and again I found it strange that Batman would agree to work with the man that killed his parents in order to take down The Reaper. I assume that in his relative inexperience in the role of Batman, he still makes some decisions that lack thought in order to get the job done.

The Reaper proves to be a serious threat, even more so than the enemies that Batman has faced before, as he is shown to be more than a match for the years of training that Bruce went through. We see flashbacks which show the origin of The Reaper is eerily close to that of Batman, again enforcing the idea that Batman could have become this violent, murdering vigilante. The two even meet without the masks or costumes, and a comment is made about how they are kindred spirits in the pain that they have suffered.

After a trap set by the mob goes wrong, Batman takes Chill back to alley where it all began. Chill struggles to even remember the night at first, until Batman removes his cowl and reveals that he is the son of the couple that Chill had gunned down for some pearls. He threatens Chill with the gun, only for The Reaper to shoot Chill before Batman can.

In their final fight, Bruce disarms The Reaper with the gun, before forcing him off the edge of some scaffolding. In the process Batman discovers his true identity, which had been revealed to us several issues earlier. The Reaper grabs onto the edge, and Batman is about to save him, but he lets himself fall, saying that Batman will make a fine replacement for him. Afterwards Batman discards the gun, hopefully never to resort to using one again. Especially since an exploding batarang would have done the same job...

Another jarring element of the story was the whirlwind romance between Bruce and Rachel, which included her giving up becoming a nun to be with him! However, if you assume this story takes place over a few months, the romance isn't so odd. Just a little sudden. It all ends in tears though, and Rachel resolves to take her vows and become a nun after all, to atone for the sins of her father.

Next up - Dark Victory

Batman: Snow

Sadly, Victor Fries will always have a bad reputation after Batman & Robin. Nobody who has seen that film will be able to read a Mr Freeze story without hearing a multitude of bad cold related puns in Arnie's distinctive accent.

That is, until Batman: Snow. Apart from the recent Batman Annual written by Scott Snyder, this was the best Mr Freeze story I have read. In this volume, we are told of his origin, and are given a slightly different slant on the character in the form of strange dream-like sequencs where he acts on the advice of 'Nora'. Instead of a 2-dimensional character who orders people to 'chill out', we actually have a sympathetic villain on our hands here.

Snow starts inconspicuously enough, with Alfred describing the different types of nights he goes through as the butler and medic to Batman. Unfortunately it isn't one of the greatest nights - he comes downstairs to find Batman in a bloodied heap after trying to take down a criminal called Scotta. Alfred questions whether Batman can truly fight this fight on his own, which inspires Batman to do something about his solitude.

One of my favourite sequences in this book was when Batman was profiling and approaching the various people he had selected for his group of specialists to help him with his crusade against crime. They are a mixed bunch, from an unstable Navy SEAL to an ex-con, but I loved the recruitment sequences where Batman showed how much research he had done in order to discover the 'weak points' of each person so he could best persuade them to join his cause.

This group of specialists quickly make headway on the investigation into Scotta, whilst Batman occasionally checks in via video link to see how his team are getting on. Unfortunately this culminates in a botched interception of the weapons deal which Scotta had been trying to broker. One of the group is shot and injured - which leads to a breakdown in the relationship Batman has built up with this odd collection of people. It was great while it lasted though, and was an example of Batman as 'master planner' at it's best.

Meanwhile, we see Victor Fries' life go from bad to worse, as his wife, Nora is diagnosed with a degenerative disease and he finds himself at odds with the money behind his cryogenics research. Things build to a head when he discharges Nora and tries to use his research to cure her. Obviously this doesn't go to plan, and Mr Freeze is born.

Both plot lines converge in a final confrontation where Batman has to rely on new technology created by his newly put together team. This team is short lived however, as they decide to go it alone after their mission is a success - albeit with one or two losses? It's a shame no writer has come back to this ragtag bunch of characters, as they were interesting, and it was fascinating to see them adapt so quickly to Batman's way of working.

It is interesting that Fries and Batman only become enemies because the bat gets in the way of Freeze's revenge against the people who he sees as having stolen his wife. If anything they are more enemies of circumstance than the other rogues that Batman has to face. 

The artwork here was excellent - especially the aforementioned sequences where Victor 'speaks' to Nora, which have a dreamlike quality to them. Batman's suit was suitably low-tech, showing off the early stages of his career. Fries too has a very low-tech looking suit, emphasising that this is an origin and a first meeting between the two.

At the end of the story, despite his lack of success in getting together a team, there are hints of the future in a news story about 'The Flying Graysons'. In short I loved this story, it showed everything I love about Batman and made me wish his specialist team had lasted longer, but also made me excited for the upcoming stories where Robin comes into play...

Next up - Year Two - Fear the Reaper

Dark Legends

With a front cover portraying Batman inside the crazed grinning mouth of the Joker, this collection of shorter stories from the Legends of the Dark Knight series are a weird bunch. Book ended by two tales that contain hallucinations and Batman questioning his own sanity, we also get Batman's first encounter with the Joker (ignoring the Man who Laughs...and throwing my timeline into question again) and a story which sheds some light on Bruce's training years. 

Masks.

At first I thought this story was the inspiration for the Batman:Animated Series episode where Bruce Wayne wakes up and discovers that the Batman was a creation of his fractured mind. I think in that episode it ended up being the Mad Hatter who was responsible. It turns out to be a different conclusion here, but I still quite enjoyed this slightly trippy tale.

After thwarting some small time crooks (who always seem to be the catalyst to start a bigger plot) Batman becomes light headed, stumbles into an alleyway and collapses. When he comes to, he is in a hospital bed and is confronted by an incredibly rude nurse. It soon transpires that he is a regular at the hospital, and that the Batman is a delusion borne of his grief and alcohol dependency following the death of his parents. 

Several odd characters inhabit this alternate reality, and there are even some guest appearances from villains such as Two Face and Joker - although these appear to be hallucinations. There is also a blonde nurse, who tells Bruce/Batman to 'believe in himself'. It is this, and a strange conversation with 'Catwoman' that leads to Bruce trying to figure out what exactly is happening to him.

When the conclusion is revealed, it is an interesting twist on what lengths someone would go to for vengeance if they had the resources and the funds to do so. In fact, we saw two alternative fates for. Bruce Wayne here - the insanity and the addiction, or the deranged plots to get vengeance on those who took away his loved ones. Luckily for us, neither of these fates were the ones that befell Bruce Wayne.

Images.

Some interesting imagery (no pun intended) was present in this second story - particularly the moment early on where Batman crashes through a mirror to interrupt a meeting between Joker and some nameless criminals. The idea that Batman is the polar opposite, the mirror image of the Joker is one that has been explored several times, and could not be presented more clearly to us here.

In terms of the storyline, which annoyed me in the sense that it goes against the 'first meeting' seen in The Man Who Laughs (a superior storyline might I add) what we get is actually fairly standard for Joker. He threatens someone in Gotham, kills them in an impossible way using his Joker venom, then repeats and tries to extort money from a potential victim. In fact now I think about it, this was pretty much the plot of Man Who Laughs. Maybe I'm taking out my irrational anger at a timeline with continuity issues on a perfectly good storyline.

What is intriguing, and some might disagree with me here, is the possibility of a character being related to the Joker - even calling him Uncle Ja- at some point before the Joker stops him. And we all but get confirmation here of the 'Red Hood' origin, although I prefer to believe that not even the Joker knows who he was before he was the Clown Prince of Crime.

There is also lots of detective work from Batman here, which is always welcome. And the Joker's dialogue is suitably crazed, with rhyming and quips giving the clown a sharper edge than he sometimes does. The artwork for the effects of the Joker venom is fantastic, really twisting the features of its victims into a pained expression.

After all is wrapped up neatly, another neat artistic touch comes when Bruce Wayne's strange white hat casts a bat cowl shaped shadow on his face. This is all whilst he is brooding over the death of Joker's cousin(?), as usual blaming himself for the actions he didn't take.

Tao.

An exploration of the  Gotham underworld, which also adds some mysticism, Chinese mythology and Bruce Wayne's earlier years.

Batman and 'Dragon' (a character who I thought might be Richard Dragon at first) cross paths when they are pursing a criminal named Khan. Batman takes out some of his employees whilst Dragon murders a fortune teller after trying to find out where Khan can be found. It is the manner of these murders - the necks broken and the head twisted 180 degrees - that gets Batman to realise he has crossed paths with this killer before.

Cue flashbacks to Batman's training under Master Shao-La, who he tracks down to be taught the ways of 'Tao'. He is told, rather cryptically, that 'the Tao that can be told is not the true Tao'. We get a montage of sorts, showing Bruce performing various tasks such as cooking for the Master and then attaching himself to a (prophetically designed) bat-kite. On this flight, over which he has no control, Bruce crashed into Dragon and their feud begins.

When Bruce later reveals that he wanted to pursue 'Tao' so he could see the future - and determine whether his pursuit of learning and training would bear fruit - Shao-La reveals he cannot give these secrets. This results in Bruce's second confrontation with Dragon, where he 'takes everything' from Dragon as his master deems him to be more worthy of training than Dragon. 

Back in the present, Batman tracks down Dragon and they fight, ending in Dragon impaling himself on a spike to avoid the shame of defeat. 

Sanctum.

An odd little tale, written and drawn by Mike Mignola, which is even more filled with bizarre imagery and hallucination than Masks was. 

We open in a graveyard, where a dodgy looking character is drawing patterns on a wall/gravestone with blood, rambling about someone called Drood. Batman confronts him, is stabbed by this strange man's knife, before the man is impaled on some spikes (strange that this happens twice...)

Collapsing into a mausoleum, Batman then finds himself in a strange underground world where he engages in conversation with Drood. Everything starts to get a little odd, with Drood confessing to murdering his wife and taking his own life. He mentions immortality and there are Cthulu-sequence tentacles at some point.

Batman fights to escape this strange world, only to discover it was a hallucination. Or was it? We end with him having found the home of Drood, but doesn't pursue the investigation further, claiming that more modern cases would be better suited to his efforts. But there is a hint in there that he is afraid what he would find if he looked further into the matter.

Usually, the beauty of the Legends of the Dark Knight series is that it allows for one off stories like this that explore different sides to Batman. However it detracts from the nature of the 'timeline' I am trying to follow, which had begun to take on a bit of momentum with the stories that I had been reading. Obviously the continuity will level itself out again, but it is jarring to read stories that contradict past stories I have already read. And now I sound like th sort of person who bemoans certain casting choices on Internet forums - perhaps I shouldn't be such a slave to the continuity and just enjoy the stories that I get to read?

Next up - Batman: Snow

Terror

Fear is integral to the power of Batman - it is his motivation to don the cape and cowl, as 'criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot'. When he first started out, simply taking to the streets and confronting criminals wasn't enough, so Bruce Wayne became the Bat, harnessing fear for the greater good. There are times when he has to harness his fear or his doubts and use them to continue fighting, or to defeat an enemy who has got the better of him. That is the essence of Batman - the conquering of fear to use it for good.

Jonathan Crane, introduced earlier in the 'timeline' in Four of a Kind, takes centre stage here as the pawn of Hugo Strange in this sequel of sorts to Prey. Both men make an abandoned cliff top house their base of operations - Strange murdering the previous owner still dressed in the bat suit he disappeared in at the end of Prey.

Through hypnosis, Strange foolishly removes any fears or doubts from the mind of Scarecrow, before breaking him free of Arkham Asylum so he can be used in Strange's plans against Batman. But hypnotising Crane to 'fear nothing and no one' soon backfires in a twist which I found shocking - even the second time reading this story, as I had forgotten that this happened!

Crane is another character who is steeped in fear - he took his childhood fear of bullies and the names he was called and twisted it to be the weapon he uses to take on people he perceives as 'bullies'. In a strange and twisted sense, probably in Crane's own mind, he is fighting injustice in the same way that Batman is.

Something about Scarecrow as a villain, when written well, is deeply unsettling. What could be worse than an enemy that can use your own fears against you with his potent fear gas? And this story sees Scarecrow written well, creating his own house of horrors with its creepy traps and paintings which emit his fear toxin! The final sequences in the house of horrors are some of the greatest action sequences in this story, and we see Batman literally fighting off delusions as he struggles to maintain control after being injected with Crane's toxin.

As with Prey, Doug Moench's writing is slick and shows an excellent grasp of the characters involved. Crane is maniacal, Catwoman effectively straddles the grey area between criminal and seductress, Strange is (briefly) the master planner he was in Prey and Batman is determined and resourceful throughout. 

Several standout moments which I loved - the new gadgets that Batman trials in the opening sequence, the final death trap which Batman has to find a way out of and the resolve to strengthen the Wayne Foundation to help victims of crime and poverty to name but a few. And of course there is Batman's assertion that Bruce Wayne is the Bat, and the Bat is Bruce Wayne - one cannot survive without the other.

Next up - Dark Legends

Monsters

A trilogy of tales from the Legends of the Dark Knight series, all of which see Batman take on some horrific foes who test him and push him to the limit. Unfortunately, much like the monsters in each story, these three tales are a flawed and, in some cases, ugly collection.

Werewolf.

An intriguing start, and the only story of the three which involves any detective skills on Batman's part, this story begins in Gotham with two separate murders in the same night. Both men work for Wayne Enterprises, and both investigations conveniently lead Batman to London.

London is portrayed as the foggy, dark Dickensian stereotype that it so often is, and Batman doesn't look out of place. One aspect of this tale I didn't like was the art, which seemed slightly rushed and angular at times. It did become hard to distinguish between different characters - but one area where the art didn't disappoint was in the portrayal of the raw hulking power of the 'werewolf' plaguing London.

Insanity is explored in several different lights here, possibly linked with the idea of madness being caused by the full moon. There is obsession in different forms - for vengeance, because of jealousy and for release from the confines of delusion. Not to mention the effects on Batman's mind as he struggles to make any headway in either case.

His breakthrough comes in the form of a letter that the suspected werewolf finds at the start of the final chapter, which is a bit too coincidental for it to be an interesting twist. When compared to the 'eureka' moment in Night Cries where Batman makes the link himself, it falls down as being a bit weak.

There is a second twist, in the revelation of who the 'werewolf' actually is, which was done with more believability. The motivation for the murders worked well too, and fit in with the insanity that was explored in this story. I wasn't sure on the motive behind the second group of killings though, and in fact the whole money laundering storyline lacked intrigue for me.

To say he had been trained by different masters around the world, it seems a bit strange that Batman would lose confidence so much just because he was in a different city. Although his use of fear didn't have the same impact on the criminals he faced, even the lower level crooks who would normally crumble and spill their guts over where their boss was...

As was the problem with the other two stories, Batman came across as being a bit whiny here, and his confidence was lost and then regained easily. Nothing like the struggle to regain confidence after the events of Knightfall, for example.

Infected.

A very sci-fi take on the dark knight here, where two genetically engineered soldiers threaten the lives of the whole city with a deadly virus.

As much as I love the writer of this story (Warren Ellis) this story didn't seem to fit with Batman as a character. It seemed like more of a Doom Patrol storyline, with its weird science and bizarre villains. I couldn't really connect with the tale at all, finding it hard to believe that a virus could be used to mutate soldiers so they could produce bullets from the bones of corpses they have cannibalized. 

That's not to say I hated every second - I enjoyed the return of Branden, the psychotic SWAT leader for the GCPD. I also enjoyed Alfred's dry sarcasm, as he attempted to stitch up a chest wound as Batman squirmed uncomfortably as he tried to continue his investigation.

It was never really explained where the two soldiers came from, or who created them and why. That is until an epilogue at the end where Batman goes all 'Godfather' and leaves the severed head of one of the soldiers on a top member of US government.

But that's not the only out of character moment for the Bat. In order to defeat the second genetically modified soldier, he uses a gun to disable the 'bone firing' mechanism on each arm. Now, I know Batman is often shown to go to any length to save his city, but I hated this. Maybe that's why I hated the story so much...Batman doesn't use guns.

Clay.

Probably the one I was least looking forward to going into this volume, but the one I enjoyed the most.

It was a fast paced introduction to a character who I can honestly say has never interested me. But this wealth hungry, nasty piece of work was a villain who definitely intrigued me by the end. Whereas many villains are 'good' before their transformation, Matt Hagen was horrible beforehand and afterwards. 

One thing I hated about this again was the whiny Batman who, after being thrown against a wall by Clayface in their first encounter, suddenly loses all confidence and starts considering updating his will. I just found it bizarre considering all that he has faced in the stories I have read so far. Of course he was shaken by seeing a man's skull crushed right in front of his eyes, but he has also seen the atrocities perpetrated by The Joker and other villains. 

On the flip side of this though, it was good to see Batman preparing himself for a fight. He creates phosphorous flares and other resources to defeat Hagen. He also resorts to a disguise for what seems to be the first time - Matches Malone!

Overall a disappointing collection, with some out of character behaviour and actions for Batman. But then maybe I've been spoiled with the quality of everything I've read so far - surely any collection would pale in comparison to The Long Halloween and tales of a similar calibre.

Next up - Batman: Terror

Night Cries

Night Cries is intense and unsettling, to say the least. It begins with a caption describing how bats find their way using echolocation, then we have a monologue as Bruce Wayne wakes up to the sound of screaming - presumably his parents. Putting on his familiar cape and cowl, he goes out to hunt, which is the only way he can drown out these cries. So, much like a bat, he is guided by the sounds of violence. The same is revealed to be true of the serial killer later on.

Jim Gordon is also plagued by the violence around him, showing frustration at the limitations of his new role as commissioner, wanting to remain at 'street level'. In the midst of discussing a press conference with the mayor the next day, he overhears something on the police radio and orders his driver to head to the scene. There he finds a horrific scene where an entire family has been brutally murdered.

When a second family is murdered, leaving only a traumatised daughter, Batman gets involved in the case as he believes there is a link with the new drug 'Boost' he has been investigating. Eventually we see another example of the early career of Batman and his inexperience, as there is a different motive behind the murders.

The mystery running through the book was definitely an interesting one, and I didn't see the twist coming about who the killer was. Each character was well written, their own personal traumas were linked into the overarching theme of the book. For a topic as gut wrenching as child abuse, it was handled well, and brought a lump to my throat a few times as the trauma of the younger children in the book were explored.

Gordon's character was especially well written, as we saw him plagued by his own childhood and desperate not to become like his father. In fact Gordon was more the star of this book than Batman in my eyes, making the important connections in the central mystery of the brutal killings. It was interesting to see the start of a new chapter for his family life as well, although I can see it being something which might cause anomalies later on, as I'm sure his wife and son are present in later storylines which I have yet to read.

The artwork was excellent as well, reminiscent of Dave McKean in its haunting painted style. It suited the story well, the dark colours matching the subject matter and the haunting children's drawings being the only splashes of colour in the whole book.

A great read, and it managed to follow The Long Halloween very well indeed. And it's always interesting to read a detective story where Batman has to deal with someone who is not one of his famous 'rogues'.

Next up - Monsters.

The Long Halloween

'More than a comic book, it's an epic tragedy.' Christopher Nolan.

The Dark Knight Trilogy is, for me, the definitive interpretation of Batman on film. Throughout the first film, at the heart of it all, there lies the triumvirate of Batman, Jim Gordon and the DA. These three characters work together to bring down the crime families who are the cancer at the heart of Gotham. This triumvirate is replicated in The Dark Knight, with Gordon, Batman and Dent - the trio of honest men who are at the centre of this story.

The Long Halloween is, in my eyes, one of the greatest Batman detective stories ever written. It has the hook of the crimes committed on holidays. It has red herrings and several characters who could in fact be the mastermind with the .22 calibre pistol. It has Batman truly baffled by the clues in front of him, which again is fitting for this point in his career. Obviously there are other great detective stories in Batman chronology, but this is the first long running storyline which explores the other side of Batman.

The first murder occurs on Halloween, leading to the series of crimes being nicknamed 'The Long Halloween' by the Falcone crime family. Johnny Viti, recently married into the Falcone crime family, is shot dead in the bath in the first of a stunning series of black and white rendered murders. Tim Sale really excels himself in this volume, after excellent standards of artwork in Haunted Knight.

Alongside these horrific murders, most of which centre on members of the Falcone crime family, Gordon, Dent and Batman agree to work together to take down Falcone once and for all. It is this story which is used as the inspiration for Batman Begins - as well as some elements being used for The Dark Knight.

Loeb also explores the effects of this pact - and resulting obsession - on the families of Gordon and Dent. We see more of Barbara Gordon struggling to raise their young son James (maybe that's why he turns out the way he does...) and we see Gilda Dent struggling to adjust to the increased workload of her DA husband. Dent becomes more desperate as the issues go by, and he even resorts to investigating and arresting Bruce Wayne based on an old link between the Wayne and Falcone families.

Another aspect of the artwork which was excellent for me was the foreshadowing of Harvey Dent's eventual fall from grace - often he is pictured with half of his face obscured in shadow. Not to mention the coin which he flips obsessively. Plus there are references to the number 2 scatteredr throughout his dialogue. Finally I can read the stories in this timeline without having to get annoyed about a mention of Two Face before he is 'created'.

All of Batman's other famous villains are here, all of them employed by Falcone in order to try and get a foothold in the Gotham Bank. Each of them is used in a way which plays to their strengths, showing Falcone as much more of a mastermind than we are used to. I'm hoping this is a side we will continue to see in the weekly Batman Eternal series which has started recently. Ivy seduces, The Riddler tries to solve the Holiday riddle, Scarecrow terrifies and causes chaos with the Mad Hatter. But eventually they all band together under the leadership of Two Face to claim Gotham City as their own.

Familiar themes are returned to, as again Gordon questions whether Batman feels responsible for the lunatics who are beginning to phase out the run of the mill mobsters that have run Gotham for so long. Other members of the Falcone family are horrified when The Roman resorts to using 'freaks' to further their cause in Gotham also.

More of the relationship between Bruce and his father is explored also, as we see a flashback to his childhood which also explains the Falcone link. Bruce is clearly in awe of his father as he performs surgery on the young Carmine Falcone, and later on he recalls a recording he heard where his father described how to approach difficult surgery. Batman applies these words to his crusade against crime, as he takes on all of his rogues at once, with some help from Catwoman.

Catwoman is also a central role in this mystery, and also the source of some mystery herself. We are never told why exactly she is constantly found lurking around near Falcone. I also found it a bit odd that neither her or Bruce figure out who the other one is, being as they are both such intelligent characters.

The final solution to the mystery of Holiday was also nicely handled. Seemingly wrapped up until the final pages, we are left with the question of who was really behind the murders and whether it was even just the one person.

There are so many incredible elements to this graphic novel that I don't feel like I have done it justice in my description of it. But it is up there as one of the greatest Batman stories I have ever read.

Next up - Batman - Night Cries

Haunted Knight

Before The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, the creative team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale worked on these three tales which explore the experiences of Batman at Halloween. In terms of fitting into the 'timeline' I am following, this collection doesn't do so well, unless Batman had a VERY busy Halloween night. However, as a collection of stories featuring Batman's most infamous villains, this collection is excellent. 

Before I go into each story, special mention has to go to Tim Sale's incredible art. His Joker is demonic and threatening, his Scarecrow is gaunt and spindly with hauntingly dead eyes and his Penguin and Mad Hatter are both malformed and creepy. His Batman too is impressive, his cape billowing around him like the night he inhabits.

Fears.

This first story concentrates on a tensely fought battle between Batman and Scarecrow during Halloween weekend. It opens with an inner monologue recounting various dangerous Halloween traditions, which is a nice detail that serves to show how intelligent and learned Batman is. 

Their first encounter is resolved fairly easily - Batman threatens a low level lackey to find out where Crane is, before confronting him in his abandoned warehouse. He takes him down easily, before handing him over to Gordon, who confides in Batman that he has 'learned to appreciate his talents with the weird ones'. 

Once again this explores the dangers of Batman becoming so involved in a case that he starts to make mistakes. In an encounter with some thugs robbing a gas station he is cut deeply on the chest, then in the second issue he is attacked by a flock of crows who have been affected by Crane's fear toxin. During this issue the different internal monologues begin to repeat and intertwine, showing the strain on Bruce as he tries to track down Scarecrow. 

But it is the mistakes he makes in his personal life that have much more serious consequences. It was nice to see Alfred flex his investigative muscles for a change, proving he is so much more than just a sarcastic quip and a tray of sandwiches for Master Bruce.

Scarecrow is written perfectly here, as the twisted villain who is psychologically damaged by his childhood. His reciting of nursery rhymes as he taunts Batman shows just how his mind works, that he views everything he does as a way of gaining revenge on the bullies who have trapped him in his childhood psyche.

Eventually Batman pulls it together, realises that the city of Gotham chose him to pursue this path. He swoops in, saves Gordon and takes Scarecrow down swiftly and effectively. In this sense this story works as an early years tale, showing the doubts that sometimes plagued Batman before he became confident in his skills.

Madness.

First appearances by Mad Hatter and Barbara Gordon here, in a tale inspired by the stories of Lewis Carroll. 

Early on, Hatter gets the best of Batman when he produces a gun from his insanely large hat, shooting Batman in the head. In this fight sequence, Hatter is shown as a genuine threat, both as someone who is deeply unstable and also a more fierce and formidable fighter than he first appears to be.

Batman himself acknowledges that Hatter is a villain who he hates to face, as he perverts a childhood memory he has of his mother reading him the stories of Lewis Carroll. We see these scenes in flashback black and white, and they come just before the fatal trip to see 'Mark of Zorro'. So this is one of his last happy memories of his mother, and Jervis Tetch has unknowingly corrupted that.

As Batman recovers from his gunshot wound, helped out by Leslie Thompkins (in her first timeline appearance?) Barbara Gordon finds herself playing the part of Hatter's 'Alice'. We see more flashbacks to post-Crime Alley, where we discover Leslie was involved in helping Alfred with looking after Bruce as he grieves his parents death. 

All in all this is an interesting story, which introduces several major characters to the 'timeline' continuity and explores the past of Bruce Wayne and the psyche of one of his often underused villains. And of course it all ends when Batman storms Hatter's house, recuperated and refreshed, ending it by slamming Hatter into a mirror head first. Then, back in his study, Bruce picks out Alice's Adventures in Wonderland out from the shelf, ready to remember his mother again.

Ghosts.

The weakest of the three stories for me, based on A Christmas Carol and it's three visiting ghosts. A similar idea was explored in the recent Batman - Noël, to much greater success. 

We see Batman encounter (in dream form or otherwise) Penguin, Joker and Poison Ivy. The first encounter with Penguin leaves Batman exhausted, and he collapses into a dream state where he is visited by ghosts who help to explore what Gotham would be without the Bat. 

Thomas Wayne takes the role of the 'Marley' character - wrapped in chains and giving ominous warnings about the three ghosts to follow. The most interesting aspect of the visits of these three ghosts is that they explore the relationship between Wayne and Lucius Fox. We see that they met years earlier in Paris, when Bruce saved Fox from French muggers.

All of these visits make Bruce realise he must make a change in his life, similar to the change Scrooge realises he must make. He opens up to Lucius Fox, and even opens up the manor to trick or treaters.

Overall an interesting collection, and a great precursor to the other stories by this excellent creative team. It explores the relationships of Bruce Wayne as well as the motivations behind the Batman.

Next up - The Long Halloween.

Going Sane

'What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mobsters? No, no, no, no! You...you...complete me...' the Joker - The Dark Knight.

The Batman and The Joker are synonymous with one another. Nobody who has heard of one is unaware of the other. Their relationship is one which has been explored in print, television, film and video games. In one of his suggested origins, The Joker is 'created' by Batman when the Red Hood is knocked into a vat of chemicals which stain his skin white and turn his hair lurid green. And in this story, we see that Batman is drawn back to Gotham so he can find the Joker.

Opening up with an explosion is a guaranteed way to grab your attention, and Joker does this in the first few pages when he blows up a carnival/parade in a high end area of Gotham. Soon after, he kidnaps a prominent councillor and holds her hostage in an old theatre whilst he forces her to watch old comedy films such as Charlie Chaplin.

The first issue of this story arc focuses on Batman's attempts to track down the kidnapping victim before it is too late. A lot of his internal monologue is focused on being dragged down into the chaos, and of the dangers of getting drawn into the Joker's crimes. At one point, he badly beats a decoy Joker, almost crossing the line before he pulls himself back. Batman realises the danger in crossing the line, and states that he can't concentrate or focus whilst he knows the Joker is out there laughing at him.

In a somewhat shocking twist, which is then spoiled at the very end of the issue (not that I believed they would kill Batman off...) the Joker sets off a bomb which badly injures and knocks out Batman. He kicks the body into the river, which is then swept away by the current of the river. Linking back to the earlier monologue when Batman acknowledged he would be swept away by the 'current' if he carried on hunting the Joker.

Issue 2 focuses on Joseph Kerr, a terrible pseudonym if ever there was one, and his whirlwind romance with a woman in his apartment building. Kerr is not what he seems though, and keeps having 'episodes' and nightmares about laughing clowns and bats with knives who threaten to 'drag him down'. It seems that without Batman, the Joker has lost his purpose, which in turn has caused him to push his Joker persona down below the surface. Another exploration of the idea that these two characters cannot exist without the other.

In The Dark Knight Returns, something similar takes place. The Joker is in Arkham Asylum, but he is catatonic, not talking and seemingly not even moving. It is only when the Batman returns that he stirs, laughing maniacally and escaping from the madhouse. Similarly, in issue 3 when Batman returns and begins his search for the Joker, we see Joseph Kerr's psychotic episodes grow worse. 

Issue 4 sees the typical showdown between the Batman and his arch nemesis, which leads to Joker being incarcerated in Arkham once more. During this fight though we see more doubt from Batman, again highlighting that this is early on in his career. This doubt subsides when he is reminded of the good he does as Batman - by the woman who saved him from the river in the previous issue.

Batman realises that even though he is dragged down into the chaos, he will always be able to rise above it into the light again because of the good he does. Again this is a theme which has been explored in countless Batman tales throughout the 75 years he has been around.

Two other scenes which I loved in this were the scenes in the second issue where both Alfred and Jim Gordon seemed to flounder and lose purpose without Bruce/Batman. Gordon in particular finds himself under question and involved in a sniping match with a councillor who claims he isn't doing enough to bring the Joker to justice. Alfred just wanders around the manor and the Batcave, until Batman reappears from the shadows.

One thing which annoyed me was the slightly disjointed nature of the panels in the last issue, where we switch from Joker to Joseph Kerr and it isn't quite clear what order things are happening in. Perhaps this was intentional to show the mental state both Batman and Joker are in. It didn't work for me, as I was trying to figure out what was going on, which jolted me out of the story a bit.

Next up - Haunted Knight