“Batman: The Long Halloween” is generally considered to be
one of the finest graphic novels ever written, and despite being a big Batman
fan ever since I was a kid, I’d never read it. I officially put this graphic
novel on my “bucket list” several years ago, and finally got around to buying a
copy of it earlier this month. I officially finished reading it last Saturday.
Originally published as a 13-issue limited series in 1996
and 1997, it was later published in a one-volume graphic novel that is a
must-read for any fan of Batman. The softcover edition that I read was
published in 2011 and includes an introduction featuring Christopher Nolan and
David S. Goyer. In all, its 384 pages long, but it’s a quick read.
Written by Jeph Loeb, “The Long Halloween” is a murder
mystery. Each chapter in the story centers around a murder that goes along with
a holiday. The story begins with a Halloween murder, proceeds from month to
month throughout the following year and wraps up as Halloween approaches one
year later.
One reason that “The Long Halloween” is so popular is
because it has it all. It’s got mafia politics, origin stories, romance, guns,
bombs, exploding cars, burglaries, escapes, courtroom drama, dark alleys, cemeteries,
good cops, bad cops, insane asylums, poison gas, airplanes, fistfights, high
tech gear, stockpiles of cash, warehouse fires, sewer tunnels, caves, revenge
plots, informants, washed up bodies, creepy mansions and lots of action. It
also features a host of Batman’s most famous enemies, including the Joker, Catwoman,
Solomon Grundy, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Scarecrow, the Mad Hatter, Two Face
and the Calendar Man.
This book does a great job of stringing the reader along and
does a good job of making you think that just about any of the characters, including
Batman, could be responsible for the string of holiday-murders in Gotham City.
Don’t cheat yourself by flipping to the back of the book to see who the killer
is. It’ll ruin the surprise. I think it’s also worth mentioning that portions
of the book reminded me of “The Godfather,” “Dracula,” “Silence of the Lambs” “From
Hell” and Dr. Seuss’ “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”
One of the reasons that I’ve always wanted to read “The Long
Halloween” is because you’ll find it on a number of “best of” lists. A number
of years ago, the editors at Forbidden Planet ranked “The Long Halloween” at
No. 44 on its list of “50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels.” Also, in 2014,
Amazon.com ranked “The Long Halloween” No. 9 on a list they called “Amazon’s 25
Essential DC Graphic Novels.” IGN magazine also ranked it No. 4 on a list they
called the “25 Greatest Batman Graphic Novels.”
In the end, how many of you have read “Batman: The Long
Halloween”? What did you think about it? What other classic graphic novels do
you recommend reading? Let us know in the comments section below.
No comments:
Post a Comment