Batman: The Long Halloween Trilogy (Review)

Citizen's Grade: Impressive.

Although I could do individual reviews for Batman's Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween, & Dark Victory....I decided to include them all together because they are all written by Jeph Loeb, with artwork done by legendary Tim Sale.


Batman: Haunted Knight (broken down into 3 stories....Fear, Madness, & Ghosts). In Fear, Batman is hunting down and trying to capture Scarecrow, with Scarecrow finally being caught at the end. As the title suggests, fear plays a large part in the story, with Batman nearly dying of fear while trapped in a large, poisonous, thorn maze. Madness tells the story of James Gordon's daughter, Babs, being kidnapped by Mad Hatter and forced to be in a twisted tea party with other kidnapped children. Batman and Gordon finally save Babs and bring down Mad Hatter. Ghosts is basically a Batman universe version of A Christmas Carol, with Bruce's father taking the place of Marley, and the three spirits being Poison Ivy, Joker, and a Grim Reaper figure who turns out to be Batman's ghost. The message from the spirits is that Bruce shouldn't let Batman take over his entire life.

Batman: The Long Halloween. Taking place during Batman's early days of crime fighting, this volume tells the story of a mysterious killer named Holiday, who murders people on holidays, one each month. Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. The story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's deadly enemy, Two-Face.

Batman: Dark Victory is the sequel to The Long Halloween series. The plot centers on a series of murders involving Gotham City police officers by a mysterious serial killer only known as The Hangman. Central to the storyline is a territory war between Two-Face and the remnants of the Falcone mob, led by Sofia Falcone. This series also has appearances by Catwoman & re-tells the origin of Batman's sidekick Robin and his adoption by Bruce Wayne.

Jeph Loeb is a genius storyteller, and this trilogy by itself proves that. Tim Sale's artwork is rough and gritty, adding to an already brilliant story....The inspiration for the Batman movies "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight", this trilogy of volumes is a must-have for any true Batman fan!