It has been three months since Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween #7, but finally, the next issue is here this week, and it was worth the wait thanks to Becky Cloonan’s beautiful art and significant plot progression. Major confrontations, classic villain appearances, and deeper lore connecting the Waynes to the Falcones are explored.
Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween #8 opens with Commissioner Gordon and Batman entering Arkham Asylum. Robin is off on another mission, which allows writer Jeph Loeb and Cloonan to hone in on Gordon and Batman as they uncover new clues and confrontations.
First up is a creepy doctor, with an excellent double-page layout that stretches down the middle, featuring Batman’s eyes. Loeb gives the doctor a creepiness via the dialogue, while Cloonan gives him a skulking, almost Igor-like Frankenstein vibe.
Meanwhile, Gordon has to deal with Penguin, who is as grotesque as he eats a pile of small fish and snails. It’s wet, his skin is grossly pale (colors by Dave Stewart), and Gordon brings him to tears. It’s an intense two-page scene.
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Credit: DC Comics
The story only ramps up from there as Two-Face enters the story, and the good guys have their sights on him. Not one, but two colorful characters pop in, along with Grundy, before the story takes things to the Falcones. In a gorgeous double-page layout, we see the burned and broken building, accompanied by excellent captions from Loeb that catch us up on its history.
Cloonan puts in a showstopper of an issue, with excellent extreme close-ups, breathtaking vistas, and a skulking, brooding Batman. Two-Face is particularly freakish, with his pale, almost lifeless normal side juxtaposed against the pinkish eye and purple, disfigured, ugly side. Stewart does a great job creating striking contrasts with his classic orange and red.
Closing out the issue is a topsy-turvy confrontation with Grundy, with his size and scale on full display. He’s almost mythic in the close-quarters battle.
This all leads to a believable conclusion. The final scene does the heavy lifting to move the plot forward with the Falcones and the bigger picture. One can assume these characters will play a much larger part going forward, but it’s too early to tell.
Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween #8 is a visually striking, narratively rich return that rewards the wait. With gruesome villains, deepening conspiracies, and Cloonan’s unforgettable visuals, this issue pushes the story into exciting new territory while staying true to the classic Long Halloween tone.
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