Kireth
The best Batman comic I’ve read yet. A gritty noir tale set over a year in Gotham City, which masterfully blends Italian crime influences like The Godfather with the whacky loons in Batman’s rogue gallery. I was impressed with how the holiday dates perfectly fit the comic medium, and while reading I wondered what it would have been like to be part of the comic community when the issues were published monthly.
Sale’s art was excellent, with the emphasised character traits and forced perspective backgrounds really working for my immersion in this world and story. Batman is an impressive masculine figure, his cape swirling and mask snarling when appropriate, but very much a man in the middle of his career as the city transitions from organised to supervillain crime. The writing was also top-notch, as we view three paragons of justice trying to fight the corruption of Gotham without breaking themselves in the process. Jim Gordon, The Batman/ Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent who I did not realise would be such a focal point of the narrative. Whilst I missed the backstory of Bruce and Harvey being friends in their youth (or was that something added later by writers like Snyder?), everything about him from quotes to chiaroscuro art was excellent. The crime families and Catwoman in particular also impressed me in their characterisation and presence on the page. I was left guessing until the end as to various aspects of the story, and I loved watching the city of Gotham go through a year of significant events and holidays, touching upon the psyche of the people and Bruce Wayne.
I see how the graphic novel has influenced films like The Dark Knight and The Batman spinoff Penguin, but I also feel that there is so much more from this left to explore. The Long Halloween stands as my all-time favourite Batman comic now, followed closely by A Court of Owls, Year One and then The Dark Knight Returns.
The best Batman comic I’ve read yet. A gritty noir tale set over a year in Gotham City, which masterfully blends Italian crime influences like The Godfather with the whacky loons in Batman’s rogue gallery. I was impressed with how the holiday dates perfectly fit the comic medium, and while reading I wondered what it would have been like to be part of the comic community when the issues were published monthly.
Sale’s art was excellent, with the emphasised character traits and forced perspective backgrounds really working for my immersion in this world and story. Batman is an impressive masculine figure, his cape swirling and mask snarling when appropriate, but very much a man in the middle of his career as the city transitions from organised to supervillain crime. The writing was also top-notch, as we view three paragons of justice trying to fight the corruption of Gotham without breaking themselves in the process. Jim Gordon, The Batman/ Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent who I did not realise would be such a focal point of the narrative. Whilst I missed the backstory of Bruce and Harvey being friends in their youth (or was that something added later by writers like Snyder?), everything about him from quotes to chiaroscuro art was excellent. The crime families and Catwoman in particular also impressed me in their characterisation and presence on the page. I was left guessing until the end as to various aspects of the story, and I loved watching the city of Gotham go through a year of significant events and holidays, touching upon the psyche of the people and Bruce Wayne.
I see how the graphic novel has influenced films like The Dark Knight and The Batman spinoff Penguin, but I also feel that there is so much more from this left to explore. The Long Halloween stands as my all-time favourite Batman comic now, followed closely by A Court of Owls, Year One and then The Dark Knight Returns.