Product Description

An epic tale of the Dark Knight's early crimefighting career, spanning one Halloween to the next, and featuring a host of Batman's most lethal enemies...as well as the all-new threat of a mysterious killer! Woven into the complex tale, adding further challenges and distractions, are the likes of Catwoman, the Joker, Poison Ivy and the Riddler. Who to trust, who to suspect? Can you solve the mystery of Holiday? Part gothic thriller, part whodunit, Batman: The Long Halloween is a uniquely atmospheric view of the Dark Knight in the ground-breaking tradition of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2492 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 388 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It is vastly refreshing when you find a Batman tale that is both epic and successfully explores the core of a resolutely explored character. Taking as its catalyst a sub-plot from the seminal Batman: Year One, the story revolves around murders occurring on national holidays, the victims connected to Mob boss "The Roman". Dubbed "Holiday", the killer uses an untraceable handgun and leaves small trinkets at the scene. Plenty of suspects are available, but the truth is something the Dark Knight never suspected. This series scores two major coups: it brilliantly portrays the transfer of Gotham rule to the supervillains and charts the horrific transformation of Harvey Dent from hardened D.A. to the psychotic Two-Face. Both orbit around the sharply portrayed relationship between Dent, Commissioner Gordon and Batman: a triumvirate of radically different perceptions of Justice. It is always great to see the formative incarnation of Batman, drenched in noir here. Loeb's writing is keenly aware that Batman is a detective and Tim Sale portrays a Gotham that is a fertile breeding ground for corruption and madness. Here, Batman is coming to terms with the potent image he projects and the madness it attracts. There are many fine Batman stories, but the ones that capture the spirit with extreme clarity are few. On this alone, The Long Halloween comes highly recommended. Masterfully executed, this is an excellent chance to revisit the world of Batman as fresh as in the summer of 1939. --Danny Graydon

Customer Reviews

Batman multiple murder mystery!!
Let me start of by saying, "What a fantastic book."

The plot follows Batman as he tries to solve the mystery of the identity of "Holiday", a serial killer striking on public, you guessed it, holidays.

This is a story of the early years of Batman and done very much in the style of "Batman: Year One" although knowledge of this title, or indeed any Batman continuity, is not required. The writing is superb as it follows a positively Machiavellian plot, with twists and turns whenever you least expect them. This one will keep you guessing to the very end - and even then questions remain.

The art, whilst not breathtaking, services the book very well as an overly detailed or coloured approach would not be in keeping with the story being told.

Next to the seminal Dark Knight Returns, this is the best Batman tale I have read to date, largely due to the fact it is so different in pace and content to the more traditional Dark Knight stories.

If you're a big Batman fan, or just love a good mystery, add a star to the five given as you really cannot afford to miss this!!

A great book!
The Falcone crime family has been used to running Gotham City for a long time, but they now find themselves in a state of siege. Somebody is killing Falcone operatives, a murderer who kills on holidays, the Holiday Killer. District Attorney Harvey Dent wants Falcone's power broken, Salvatore Maroni wants his syndicate to move from number two to number one, a number of super-villains have been broken out of Arkham Asylum, and Catwoman is running her own game. Batman wants the Holiday Killer, but there are too many suspects. This is going to take some real work to unravel!

This is a great graphic novel! I found the story to be gripping, and thought that the characters are quite interesting. The "normal" characters are well done, and the super-villains (Joker, Riddler, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy, and (introducing) Two-Face) are used excellently, with Catwoman being quite fascinating. This is a great book, with a great story and excellent illustrations. I highly recommend this book to all Batman fans!

Superb
This is certainly one of the best batman books I have ever read. It contains a mature, well-built plot that weaves effortlessly characters and events in such a way that these, together with the gothic artwork, enhance and enrich the experience. The batman has never been as menacing as in these pages, with the black, never-ending mantle that seems to create the darkness out of which it materialises. The other characters, especially Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle, are as much alive as anything that has been printed yet. It is an episode of the batman's saga that was crying out loud to be rendered in print. And everyone involved in the production of this issue succeeded in doing jutice to it.