In the latest edition of Comics to Read Before You Die, Jessie Robertson looks at Batman: The Long Halloween…
Happy Halloween, trick or treaters! Tonight, while the kiddies are out grabbing handfuls of candy, dressed in the dark robes of a ninja, or the tubular shell of a Ninja Turtle, or the cool garments of Queen Elsa, elsewhere, in Gotham City, a dark mysterious figure enters the penthouse of one Johnny Viti, muscle for the Falcone family and shoots twice, while Johnny was taking a bath. A token of the night, a crudely carved Jack-o-Lantern is left beside the crime scene. This murder would begin a year-long mystery in Gotham City, rising its ugly head on every holiday of the year, when another murder affecting the Falcone crime family would happen.
This story was written by the highly successful duo of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (who also wrote Superman for All Seasons, which can be found). They took the comic book world by storm for a few years, churning out gripping, layered stories and surreal art, never more apparent than in this book when Sale gets to draw some of Batman’s Rogues; they’ve never looked more otherworldly, mystical and creepy than in the hands of Sale. Poison Ivy looks like a walking, breathing vine, the Scarecrow more frightening than the Headless Horseman on his best day and the Mad Hatter resembles a homicidal dwarf. This book is essentially a murder mystery tale, set in the early days of Batman, actually borrowing cues and details from Frank Miller’s seminal Year One story. A triumvirate for the force of good and the people of Gotham City is formed, the members being District Attorney Harvey Dent, Police Chief Jim Gordon and the enigmatic Batman. The Falcone family has run the city for far too long and it’s power has reached far too wide, and these three make a pact to bring Carmine (head of the family) to justice, and to use whatever methods they need to, without perjuring or breaking the law themselves.
One of the most interesting aspects of this story is the personal journeys of our main three characters, as we see Bruce Wayne, go through his own day, his own struggles as he steps into the seat of Chairman of Gotham Bank (with some help from the Bat) and struggles to keep its hands clean of Falcone money. Gordon and Dent both struggle personally, as both are married to their wives and their jobs, and it’s especially hard for Gordon as he has his young son. Their wives and them start seeing each other during holidays, almost like they are going to AA meetings, trying to lean on each other for support, to get past another “Holiday” killing and to relieve each other , for the women,the duties of their husbands and what falls on them in the wake, and for the men, the constant struggle to keep up with their trying jobs in the face of these seemingly unsolvable murders. This book is rife with details, human moments in some of the most inhumane situations.
The Falcone and Maroni crime families are also explored in-depth, as you find out the hierarchies in each, what each family member brings to the table, and the constant power struggle between both of them. The Holiday killings are targeting Falcone friends and employees, so how does his chief rival Maroni fit into all of it? These are the issues Dent, Gordon and Batman pour over, each finding suspects that make sense to them, finding their own ideology on who and how these murders are taking place and what repercussions they will have on Gotham City. Even Bruce Wayne himself even becomes a suspect in a nice ironic twist during the latter half of the book.
Just as with in Superman, the seasons mark each new chapter in the story, the holidays themselves give way to a new murder, a new lead in their ongoing investigation and a new circumstance thrown into the mix. The Falcones start hiring outside help (villains from Arkham Asylum) even though it’s a spoken rule not to work with the “crazies” and they provide their own unique brand of entertainment during the story. Some of them, such as Joker and Calendar Man, are more than intrigued to find out the identity of the Holiday murderer as he is directly infringing upon their schtick; Joker with senseless violence and Calendar Man, by using celebrated holidays as the antithesis of your crimes. There are so many twists and turns during the tale, it’s a thrilling ride into the workings of the GCPD, state political channels and the Gotham underworld. This is truly a book no Batman fan should miss for their collection.
Loeb’s elongated narrative that shifts focus and gives varying scenarios why different people could be behind these killings, while you, the reader, start to form your own hypothesis and discredit some information in the book and latch onto other information that seems to fit. And Sale’s unique art style, the unique features he gives to each character (Carmine’s claw marks on his face, Sofia’s pale almost mask like features, Calendar Man’s stark white cell, very Hannibal Lector like, etc.) and some of his one panels, employing massive shadows and mood lighting, just some great hallmarks of the Batman world and he really brings them to life. Do yourself a favor and enjoy this twisting tale of murder, corruption and detective work while the ghouls and ghosts lurk about tonight and pray you don’t yourself have a long Halloween.
(cue evil laugh)
Mwa-ha-ha-ha! MWA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Next time: Meet the Authority
Jessie Robertson is a contributing writer who loves all things comic books. He currently has one novel on Amazon.com, exploring people able to consciously do what they want in dreams. Yeah, sounds good right? Feel free to email him anything, questions, comments, critiques or Lost trivia at phdreamer81@yahoo.com.
