Batman : The Long Halloween Paperback for $13.59 currently at Amazon

I’ve never been a fan of Tim Sale’s art, so that gets this off to a bad start. I just cannot stand how the characters look or most of their expressions. I do like how he plays with shadows, which is kind of a priority for a Batman comic. I can recognize he’s a talented artist, it’s just not aesthetically pleasing to me.

As for the story, I hate Loeb’s writing now. So you’d think between that and Tim Sale’s art, that I’d hate this. But this comes from an era before Loeb started ruining a bunch of comics I enjoy, and it’s surprisingly well done.

The story has a villain that only kills on holidays, a major mob boss somehow deeply involved, with Batman, Harvey Dent, and Commissioner Gordon all teaming up but wanting to take very different approaches towards justice. There’s some similarities with the Dark Knight’s story, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some parts of the movie were inspired by elements from this storyline.

It’s surprisingly long, covering about 13 comics. If anything, I thought it was a bit too long, it started to drag. It could’ve been trimmed if there weren’t so many guests appearances from the Batman villainy crew, but it’s a common thing of Loeb’s to cram as many guest stars as possible into a comic.

The interplay between Batman and his sometimes police compatriots is just great. It shows the difficulty in going after a complex criminal subject when everyone has their own idea as to what’s the best approach.

4/5 A solid Batman read that deserves it’s reputation.