Batman: The Long Halloween has always felt like a Pandora’s box story. You should never open it again, as only doom and gloom will come from it. That said, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale have had plenty of success with follow-ups, like the one-shot from 2021. With the passing of Tim Sale, Loeb is now armed with a different artist for each issue as he opens up The Long Halloween for one final go, Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween, and I’m nervous as hell to see if DC can pull it off.
Color artist Dave Stewart and letterer/designer Richard Starkings are back with Loeb, so in some respects, most of the band is back together. That’s evident from the first page, as the colors haven’t skipped a beat since the last foray into this universe.
Something else that hasn’t skipped a beat is the now rather robust canon this series follows. You may feel left in the dark if you haven’t read any of the previous sequels. That said, a ton of familiar faces pop up in this very issue, such as Two-Face, Catwoman, and Robin.
This page is amazing!
Credit: DC Comics
The issue opens with Two-Face flipping a coin, which leads to a gorgeous double-page splash by Eduardo Risso. The image is caked in stark shadows crisscrossing Two-Face with X’s, incredibly reminiscent of Tim Sale’s style. Is it his time to die? After a check-in with him, James Gordon and his family are next, and family life isn’t going so well. James is too immersed in his work, and it’s crumbling his marriage.
Meanwhile, Batman is as stoic as ever, with his captions leaning into his doubts about Robin. He’s taking a rather realistic view of him, knowing he’s in danger, especially at his brazen age.
As far as the story and larger mystery, Loeb lays the groundwork with the remaining living Falcone and a possible tie to Catwoman. There’s also a hint at a major Batman villain popping up, and not everyone comes out of this unscathed. I can’t say there are enough clues to really understand where the mystery is going, but a child is kidnapped, and Batman must save them.
The art in Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween is stunning. The visuals match what has come before while a mystery slowly starts to build. Loeb has said he and Sale were planning on crafting this story together, and it shows, as it hasn’t skipped a beat from their past Batman adventures.
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