The Dark Knight. The Caped Crusader. The Batman...
His name is recognized all over the world and continues to thrill and enchant audiences for decades. This character has been a great symbol of justice in the comics world for over seventy-five years and counting. The story of the Batman has been adapted into thousands of different comics, graphic novels, television shows, and films. Although there are large quantities of Batman stories in the market, there is one in particular that continues to have a huge impact on the adaptation of the modern dark knight on the silver screen. The widely praised graphic novel Batman: The Long Halloween is considered to be one of the greatest Batman stories ever written. Writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale created this fantastic thirteen issue masterpiece over the course of two years with DC Comics. This story details the origins of Harvey Dent's descent into the villain Two-Face with special appearances by other infamous enemies such as: the Riddler, the Joker, Poison Ivy, the Scarecrow, and so on. In this "bat-masterpiece", we are taken on a year long journey into the mysterious and suspenseful investigation into catching a notorious serial killer that is named, Holiday.
The opening scene takes place at an elaborate wedding in Gotham City and next door there is an office where the powerful Italian mob boss, Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, tries to convince Bruce Wayne to launder his money. Wayne refuses the offer and goes off to dance with Selina Kyle at the party. The first few pages of the book reminded me of the opening scenes in the classic crime film The Godfather. It can be seen how the use of dark shadows and leaving the faces of characters unseen creates mystery and an overall theme of darkness for future events to come. There is a strong essence of film noir elements used throughout this entire comic due to the creative over-exaggeration of shadows and the fact that this is a detective story involving the clash of mob families.
As the night progresses, Bruce Wayne changes into the Batman and encounters the erotically sensual Catwoman when they are both trying to raid the safe in Falcone's office. Soon after, they are forced out after some of Falcone's men attacks them and Batman then follows the Bat-signal in the sky. Batman meets with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Captain James Gordon to create a pact against Falcone's power over Gotham. The scene above demonstrates their encounter and I was curious to see what it would look like if the dialogue was taken out. The upper left picture feels empty but the reader can gain a small sense of what might possibly be occurring in the situation between these characters. The texts in the bubbles are extremely crucial into creating the atmosphere of the events in the scene and vice versa.
On the picture on the right, Batman's narrative and personal thoughts is shaped and colored differently than the rest of the verbal dialogue of other characters. The panels on this page are all symmetrical but their sizes vary depending on the type of visual impact the artist wants the reader to identify with. What I find extremely admirable about the layout of the page is the detailing of Gotham City in the background. Most of the novel is simplistic in its background scenery. I believe Sale did an awesome job in sketching the larger than life shadow of Batman next to his city in the moonlight.
On the picture on the right, Batman's narrative and personal thoughts is shaped and colored differently than the rest of the verbal dialogue of other characters. The panels on this page are all symmetrical but their sizes vary depending on the type of visual impact the artist wants the reader to identify with. What I find extremely admirable about the layout of the page is the detailing of Gotham City in the background. Most of the novel is simplistic in its background scenery. I believe Sale did an awesome job in sketching the larger than life shadow of Batman next to his city in the moonlight.
The first murder occurs on Halloween when Johnny Viti, the Roman's nephew, is shot by an unknown and unseen character that leaves behind the weapon and a little jack-o-lantern. Whenever there is a murder about to occur in the novel the scene always fades into black and white. The sequence of events that involves the crime only takes up two pages. On the first black and white page, there is a series of six equal sized panels containing loose details about the identity of the assailant. In almost every chapter of the novel, as soon as this story loses its color for the next killing there is a sense of dread mixed with excitement if whether there will be a clue as to who the serial attacker is. On the second page of the crime scene there is one big shot of the deceased character and only one item or detail is colored. For example, the blood in the victim's tub is the only thing that is colored in this scene leaving a dark impression on the whole vibe of the story that follows. These scenes make me feel as though I am watching a 1940s black and white film noir. The artists did an excellent job in creating fear and wonder about those grim moments.
The long and difficult investigation continues as the serial killer, Holiday, remains at large and Batman struggles with various villains that keep getting in his way, including the strange creature down in the sewers. The creature constantly says "Solomon Grundy, Born on a Monday" throughout the entire comic. Batman begins to fight the creature and it must be noted that while this is happening the panels have no visual sound effects that go along with it like "Bam! Pow! Crunch!". The top two panels show a sort slow motion action when Batman is punching the creature in the face while blood is slowly coming out of his nose. In other parts of the novel, there isn't many of these "slow motion" action scenarios and the artist leaves those in between moments for the reader to interpret.
Later on, Gordon and Batman go to Arkham Asylum to visit the mysteriously strange Calender Man, who knows who the Holiday killer is. To me, this character gives off a Hannibal Lecter vibe and even the vague dialogue he has with Batman confirms it. On the top right picture, it makes the reader see things through the eyes of Batman and the Calender Man when they are having their conversation. The panels within that page are also perfectly symmetrical and limit the detailing in the background.
On New Year's Eve, the Joker is doing whatever it takes to find out who Holiday is because Gotham "isn't big enough for two homicidal maniacs." He steals a plane so he can release his Joker gas upon the citizens of Gotham. In the bottom left picture, Batman is trying to stop the Joker from following through with his plans. That entire panel takes up a whole two pages and the detailing of the background and muscular definition of Batman is extremely detailed. Throughout the comic, there are a few instances in which one panel takes up two pages of the book in order to create a sense of intensity for the action scenes to come.
Later on, Gordon and Batman go to Arkham Asylum to visit the mysteriously strange Calender Man, who knows who the Holiday killer is. To me, this character gives off a Hannibal Lecter vibe and even the vague dialogue he has with Batman confirms it. On the top right picture, it makes the reader see things through the eyes of Batman and the Calender Man when they are having their conversation. The panels within that page are also perfectly symmetrical and limit the detailing in the background.
On New Year's Eve, the Joker is doing whatever it takes to find out who Holiday is because Gotham "isn't big enough for two homicidal maniacs." He steals a plane so he can release his Joker gas upon the citizens of Gotham. In the bottom left picture, Batman is trying to stop the Joker from following through with his plans. That entire panel takes up a whole two pages and the detailing of the background and muscular definition of Batman is extremely detailed. Throughout the comic, there are a few instances in which one panel takes up two pages of the book in order to create a sense of intensity for the action scenes to come.
The way in which this graphic novel was crafted is pure perfection. There are various panel utilization's used throughout this comic. Some of the panel compositions in the book are classically conventional and stay true to the traditional layout formatting of comics. It also rhetorical and productive in the sense in which each of the panels are constructed from scene to scene in order to create a flowing storyline. Tim Sale did an excellent job in creating the world of Gotham in this comic. His art is a mixture of realism with a touch of dark fantasy. The shadowing and depth he gives each characters is remarkable. This amazing novel wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't for the coloring work of artist Gregory Wright, who rightfully deserves more credit. The dark color schemes he used in this comic are spot on and enhanced the beautiful artwork Sale created. Jeph Loeb did a superb job in creating the voices for these outstanding characters. He helped these characters have raw emotions through their speech and created the voice of Gotham City for years to come.
Overall, this graphic novel has made me love the world of Batman even more and it has inspired me to continue reading more Batman comics. There is so much more to the entire story than what I have just mentioned (partially because I do not want to spoil more details that lead to the ending) but it cannot be read without recognizing the beauty of it as a form of art. After reading The Long Halloween I can now relate this comic to how it inspires modern Batman films like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. This graphic novel would be perfect for those who wish to open their minds to the world of comics. I highly recommend that every single person out there have a copy of this epic work of art and literature on their bookshelves immediately. This graphic novel will remain as a monumental masterpiece in the world of comics and continue to protect the awesome legacy of the Batman.
Overall, this graphic novel has made me love the world of Batman even more and it has inspired me to continue reading more Batman comics. There is so much more to the entire story than what I have just mentioned (partially because I do not want to spoil more details that lead to the ending) but it cannot be read without recognizing the beauty of it as a form of art. After reading The Long Halloween I can now relate this comic to how it inspires modern Batman films like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. This graphic novel would be perfect for those who wish to open their minds to the world of comics. I highly recommend that every single person out there have a copy of this epic work of art and literature on their bookshelves immediately. This graphic novel will remain as a monumental masterpiece in the world of comics and continue to protect the awesome legacy of the Batman.