What is this book about?

This is the sequel(?) to Batman: The long Halloween.

This story takes place one year after the “Holiday” killer was caught. This time the story revolves around a mystery surrounding a series of murders involving Gotham City police officers by a mysterious serial killer only known as “The Hangman.” Central to the storyline is a territory war between the criminal, Two-Face, and the remnants of the Falcone mob, led by Sofia Falcone.

Why should you read this book?

Because it’s one of the few sequels in comic history where it’s able to stand up to the original.

If I want to review this book, a good place to start is at the very beginning and looking at the creators of this book. You begin to see Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have really begun perfecting their craft and style of working together because you can begin to see a continuity to how their books are produced. Everything ranging from the credits in the book to how the front and back covers correlate. Seeing two extremely talented people unifying their minds like this is a perfect example of why comic books are becoming more and more revered and are attracting new audiences.

I think the things I liked about this book was how little we saw Bruce Wayne in the book. Because Bruce Wayne is slipping away and Batman is taking over. You notice this more if you had read Batman: The long Halloween recently, because the contrast in the two books is hard to find. Since Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne’s best friend goes away and becomes Two-face so does Bruce Wayne. Each man is lost without the other, and the masks remain dominant.

And just like last time, and in other related posts (Batgirl Volume: 1, Batman, and Batman: Gotham knights), the underlying point and real true reason to read any Batman book is how deeply rooted it is in the idea of family and how what that means and how it affects the people and things around you.

In fact I’m not sure I can say much more about this book other than what I had already said in the Batman: The long Halloween post.

I think I will say though that, it seems to be the writer’s of Batman comics are trying to tell us that the way we treat our families directly affects everyone and everything else around us. Which is usually the case with everything anyway. Our action or inaction towards members of our families will spark decisions and judgments of action or inaction in them which will then be filtered into all other aspects of our life.

These decisions we make, even in certain cases where our decisions are of bad intention or of bad consequence, it still may wind up being a good thing. I mean, Gotham City got Batman, Batman got Robin, and Gotham City is a little safer all because of the way people’s father’s handled certain situations.

What is this book about?

Taking place during Batman’s early days of crime fighting, The Long Halloween tells the story of a mysterious killer named Holiday, who murders people on holidays, one each month. Working with various confidant’s, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month.

Why should you read this book?

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are such a perfect creative team. They’ve created a style that continuously works, which is proven in the sales of their books they’ve worked on together. (Batman: Dark Victory, Spider-man: Blue, Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray, Superman: For all seasons, etc. etc. etc.)

Loeb reignites the mystery genre and puts Batman back into his roots by solving crimes through detective work, rather than his fists.

I think the things I liked about this so much was that Loeb mixes Batman and Bruce Wayne’s lives so well. So many writer’s overlook Bruce Wayne and that side of him and what kind of impact Batman makes while out of uniform, but Loeb portrays this perfectly.

I really enjoyed the brotherhood shared by Batman, Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent. Only to see it deteriorate as opinions on how things should be handled are weighed against the heat of solving these crimes.

But again, like all other reviews I have been writing about in regards to Batman, (Batgirl Volume: 1, Batman, and Batman: Gotham knights), the underlying point and real true reason to read any Batman book is how deeply rooted it is in the idea of family and how what that means and how it affects the people and things around you.

Which you can see in nearly every character of this book. For instance:

Alberto Falcone, his father favored his older siblings, igniting a deep, pathological jealousy. He fought his way up on a scholarship to Harvard University and later went onto Oxford. Alberto was always eager to follow in his father’s footsteps and offered his service, but his father refused to let Alberto get involved in his “business,” apparently wishing for Alberto to live a normal life.

Carmine “The Roman” Falcone, leader of a mafia family which this whole story revolves around him and his actions or lack thereof; specifically in regards to how he manages his family.

Catwoman, is convinced that Carmine “The Roman” Falcone is her father so she tries to get closer to him and his family.

Jim Gordon, is police commissioner of Gotham City; which makes him work insanely late shifts, which keeps him away from his wife and son. Which the ties to his family only weaken more because of the serial killer on the loose that Jim hasn’t been able to catch for nearly an entire year.

Batman, this story takes place early on in Batman’s career and still mourns greatly over the loss and vengeance of his parents death. Not to mention his father saved the life of Carmine “The Roman” Falcone so he feels somewhat responsible for the fact that Carmine is still alive and has only made Gotham worse.

Harvey and Gilda Dent, are trying to begin their life together but Harvey was recently put on the Holiday killer case and it’s beginning to strain their marriage because Harvey spends very little time at home. Gilda, being forced to stay at home waiting for him to come home, Gilda yearns for a child to raise.

and the list goes on and throughout all the rest of the main characters and supporting characters that family is ultimately the driving force behind the motivation and purpose behind all these characters.

Why I think it might be interesting for people to read this story, is because how closely people could find themselves relating to it. All these characters are trying to do is bring their families together or fix and mend the ties to their families. Even the criminals and sociopaths realize the importance and the role that family plays because they’re from broken homes that suffered from a lack of family.

It amazes me that this point isn’t seen or written about much when reading reviews online given how crystal clear the message seems.

What is this book about?

The dark knight returns is Frank Miller’s (300 and Sin City) reinvention of the legend of Batman.

It is ten years after an aging Batman has retired, and Gotham City has sunk deeper into decadence and lawlessness. Now, when his city needs him most, the Dark Knight returns striking fear into the criminal element. In the book he is joined by Carrie Kelly, a teenage female Robin, Batman takes to the streets to end the threat of the mutant gangs that have overrun the city, defeat old enemies, and also fight against his former friend and ally, Superman.

Why should you read this book?

The book is an undisputed classic, one of the most influential stories ever told in comics, and is the book cited by the filmmakers as an inspiration for most, if not all Batman movies.

I am inclined to reiterate that the reason to read any Batman book is how deeply rooted they are in the idea of family and what that means and how it affects the people and things around you. Just like these related posts (Batgirl Volume: 1, Batman, and Batman: Gotham knights).

However, I think the reason to read this book revolves around the “mutant” youth group, that have revolted against society. Who have taken up with a false god and forgotten all sense of order or rationality.

The Batman’s return changes all of that. He takes these children under his wing and trains them, teaches them; much like Tyler Durden, Hamato Yoshi, Oroku Saki, Mr. Kesuke Miyagi, etc etc to help teach them to find the right path. I know what you might be thinking, Tyler Durden? Oroku Saki? An anarchist and a terrorist helping children find the right path? Is that even possible?

Of course it is! It would appear that the reason this “mutant” youth group acted violently and chaotically is because they had nothing to fear anymore. Batman wasn’t around. So they thought they could get away with murder, and they did! But when Batman came back, many/most of them began worshiping Batman as their new “god,” so to speak, out of fear for the wrath of Batman. Same thing with Tyler Durden and Oroku Saki, even the noble Hamato Yoshi and Mr. Miyagi, used fear in some way shape or form to create order. Which is interesting when you consider the controversy this post created where I was wondering if the US armed forces can be compared to terrorists.

Which I suppose brings me to my discussion question…

Discussion: Are there other ways we can create order without using fear? (Please leave your comments in the comments section below, do not message or IM me with your answers)

What is this book about?

As Batman encounters a young boy whose parents have been murdered, he sees a reflection of himself as a youth, about to choose the path that led him into endless conflict with evil. It is this parallel that haunts him as he examines the nature of crime, from Gotham city’s dingy back-alley’s to it’s plush corporate suites.

Why should you read this book?

“Whether the scars are physical or mental, crime wounds everyone it touches. It brings injury and death. Poisons the mind and soul. And in the end, leaves only despair.”

This book is great because it looks at a catalyst (catalyst being crime in this case) and tries to determine the end result. In many ways this books uses the scientific method.

This is of no surprise, because it is a story starring Batman. Who is a detective and a scientist of sorts who uses deductive reasoning and the scientific method to figure out an outcome or puzzle. Which the puzzle in this case is trying to figure out if the young boy is going to turn to a life of crime or stay on the straight and narrow, so to speak.

But the drama and interesting thing is in this story is that he cannot figure out what the outcome will be. Because he’s too closely related to the initial question / equation. Which is when acted violently upon how will someone react back? (Also, if you don’t know, Batman’s parents were robbed and killed when he was a young boy which made him want to start a war against crime which is why he can sympathize with the young boy in this story).

You can see from some of the scans of the book (click thumbnail to the left to see more images) that the boy whose parents were murdered turned to a life of crime. Whereas Bruce Wayne (Batman) turned to a life of helping people.

I overall really enjoyed the emotional message and storytelling in this book, but mostly I found I loved how clinical it was. How scientific the storytelling was.

On a side-note, this book is tabloid sized. Considerably larger than any other book/comic out there. Just a fair warning if you wanted to buy it is all.

Discussion: Do you think Bruce Wayne’s upbringing, both from his caring parents and the fact he is wealthy, contributed to his decision to help people as opposed to turn and retaliate to crime? Do you think others that had the same upbringing that are acted violently upon would react in the same way? (Please leave your comments below, do not message or IM me with your answers)