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
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