This article is part of CBR's 31 Days of Halloween Event. Read the rest here!
For some, Halloween is a day of religious observance. For most, it is time to dress up as they like while the kids go from house to house asking for a trick or treat. However, for comic book fans starting Halloween celebrations early, something with murder, mystery, and mayhem is the perfect way to get the ball rolling before moving into serious horror and gore. The 13-issue limited series Batman: The Long Halloween from DC may hold the key to keeping a lid on that excitement. Or it can aggravate the thrill with each passing page, spilling the tea on one of Batman's darkest misadventures.
The Long Halloween remains Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's magnum opus - a skillful representation of the noir themes naturally present in Batman stories, which the duo weaponizes through their unique style. Over the last two decades, the book has not only impacted comic book storytelling but has also elevated Batman's silver screen escapades with grounded takes on the characters and world around him. This Hallowed month, CBR comes bearing treats for readers, reassessing Halloween classics in a new light, revisiting Batman: The Long Halloween #1 while everyone waits for the shadows to get longer as the spooky season fast approaches.
Batman: The Long Halloween #1 Biggest Pull Is Its Emotional Draw
Whether it is the rotting core of Gotham City or Batman's own tragic backstory, the Dark Knight's tales come from some of the darkest corners of the DC universe. Probably, it is the human element in these stories at play, the deep-ingrained fears and underlying cynicism that hit too close to home. Batman: The Long Halloween #1, which debuted in December 1996, is, at its core, a human story. As much as it is about law vs. crime, it is more of a tug-of-war between good and evil within a person's own psyche. Like in the real world, there is an imbalance in the power dynamics. Carmine Falcone, who serves as the main antagonist in the issue, lives a fulfilling life despite being a cutthroat mob boss with blood dripping from his hands. Meanwhile, men like James Gordon and Harvey Dent toil away while getting no closure in their pursuit of justice. This dichotomy creates friction in the tale that heats things up, showing the audience how chillingly easy it is to cross the line.
The one who turns the tide, freely using the means to justify the end, is Batman. As a point of view character, the Caped Crusader gets much leeway throughout the book as he moves through the shadows, serving as the great equalizer. Batman, or, as a matter of fact, even Catwoman may look ridiculous in this grounded crime drama, but they are the ones who actually set the events in motion. What starts as an alliance between three men, with the Bat-Signal as witness, soon turns into a bloodbath when the tripartite crusade challenges Falcone's status quo. But credit where it is due, The Long Halloween #1 is not just about Batman and his friends protecting their home from the big bad wolf. It is the sum total of all the characters and their emotional baggage that leaves the reader invested in their lives, following them through the twists and turns and ultimately to their doom. Even if someone who does not have experience with superhero stories, should stay for the hard-boiled entertainment.
Batman: The Long Halloween #1 Was A Gamechanger In Comic Book Noir
Loeb and Sale's classic Batman story does not conjure up the conventional images of a spooky house and a supernatural stalker. Instead, Batman: The Long Halloween #1's compelling story arc is deeply rooted in noir. Gotham City's seedy underbelly even makes it easier to draw readers into a dark world where corruption, betrayal, and decadence are rampant. From a nail-biting mystery that gets increasingly unhinged to angry men in poorly lit rooms, the book has everything that defines the genre and then some. Catwoman, in both her civilian and costumed persona, plays the perfect femme fatale, who redirects the book's flow with her mere cameos as Batman makes silent observations about his city through his moody narration. Yet, in this poignantly dark storytelling, there is a spark of optimism that is a rarity, if not extinct, in the noir genre. This is a testament to comics as a unique medium that can break stereotypical molds, and The Long Halloween #1, in this regard, seems to be a flag-bearer of comic book noir.
From an artistic standpoint, the late Tim Sale sold the noir tone with his gratuitous inkwork alone. There is something about Sale's use of long shadows that emanate from window blinds and spread across the room, creating a claustrophobic cage for the characters to duke it out. His flowing pencil lines make Batman stand out as an absolutely menacing creature of the night. Batman's cape takes entire spaces in panels, with his broad silhouette and pointy ears setting him head and shoulders above everyone else. What is fascinating is how Sale's style defines musculature in the only two characters in costumes. The high contrast incorporates varying shades of the same color to create the illusion of light, and the inking does the rest, giving volume to a two-dimensional space. While The Long Halloween #1 is the furthest thing from horror, readers cannot but feel awe at the structuring of the panels. From bringing attention to specific elements, the book suddenly opens to dramatic splash pages with enough shock value to make an impression on the uninitiated.
The Cultural Footprint Left By Batman: The Long Halloween #1
It would be a severe understatement to say Batman: The Long Halloween #1 has changed the course of Batman's stories. The ones most affected are the movies. After the debacle surrounding Batman & Robin, Warner Bros. had a hard time coming up with the tone of their Batman films. That is when the comic books came to the rescue. The Dark Knight takes inspiration from parts of the issue and gives its own in-universe twist. The rooftop scene where Gordon, Dent, and Batman conspire or the one where Joker burns a pile of money, entire panels come to life in the neo-noir of Christopher Nolan's masterpiece. However, aesthetically, Matt Reeves' debut Batman feature is the closest motion pictures can bridge over to the realm of comics. From Bruce's deepest, darkest thoughts acting as the narrator to the romantic tension between Batman and Catwoman, 2021's The Batman is a love letter to the noir formula long perfected by Batman: The Long Halloween #1, allowing comic book fans to relive the book in new ways.
They say matches are made in heaven. But relationships take work, even those between the scribe and their artist. It took Loeb and Sale a while to find their synchronicity while working on the series revival of Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown. With Batman: The Long Halloween #1, both creators found their groove, and their collaboration changed the comic book landscape of the early 2000s. Apart from The Long Halloween sequels, Haunted Knight, and Dark Victory, Loeb and Sale also made the heartwarming Superman For All Seasons for DC before crossing the street to Marvel Comics. Once there, the duo immediately started working on Daredevil: Yellow and Spider-Man: Blue, retelling their past encounters through lurid storytelling. Batman: The Long Halloween #1 borrows visually from Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and applies them to the sensibilities of old post-war noir narrative. But despite its homages, the issue has such a strong connection to its characters that it has become a legend of its own.
"I believe in Gotham City." Bruce Wayne's words bookend the issue with optimism. But as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that this is more of his mission statement than the state of his world. As Loeb and Sale continues to pull in people and tug at their lives, the threads forming an intricate web start to unravel, as the littlest causes start resulting in calamitous effects. In many ways, The Long Halloween #1 is like the month of October. While readers await the coming of Batman, the eponymous character eludes everyone until the opening act runs its course. Halloween arrives late in the book, as it does in the month. And when it does, it brings an explosive end to all that build-up, like a match blown off by the wind. While someone looking for a brooding essay on human nature can never go wrong with Batman, The Long Halloween remains a delectable choice for the month of Halloween.