Graphic Novel Review: The Long Halloween

Author| Jeph Loeb  Artist| Tim Sale  Rating| 3 Stars

Edition| Kindle eBook

Buy Links| Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository

So, sadly, I still haven't found a Batman story that I like very much.  Sign me up for practically any other member of the Bat-family and I'm sold, but Bruce just doesn't keep me entertained.

I was hoping that this would be different.  It's got rave reviews, had a plot that genuinely interested me, and a friend of mine said it was one of his favorites.  So, yeah, I was excited.  But I didn't build it up in my head- I know that for a fact.  I was careful to be neutral-feeling going into it because that's how I most enjoy books.  It still failed me.

The Long Halloween is a bit like a murder mystery whodunnit.  Except featuring Batman as the detective.  Someone is killing off gangsters on holidays.  This "Holiday" killer is becoming more and more of a threat since no one knows who he or she is.

The murder mystery itself was drab.  I did like trying to guess who the killer was, but there weren't actually any clues laid out for anyone (even Batman) so it was basically just wait until they confess.  And it irked me so much because that wasn't what the back promised.  Outside of the murder mystery a lot time is spent developing the villains (and Gotham could take a few cues from them, let me tell you).  I did like some of those aspects, but, again, it's not what I signed up for.

I had a love-hate relationship with the art.  It was very art-y, but not something I would generally seek out.  It was cool in a noir-esqe way, but also a bit off putting since everything was pretty much a caricature.

I'm sure some people absolutely love this book.  Sadly, I'm not one of them.  Maybe my next foray will be better.  Add it to goodreads here.