I don't know what else I can say about The Long Halloween that hasn't already been said. It's just brilliant. A year-long murder mystery set in Gotham at the perfect moment in Batman's history - in the twilight between Gotham's mob era and the rise of its supervillains. Jeff Loeb's story is melancholic and twisty, and Tim Sale's art is genuinely some of the best in the medium. It's full of shadows and mood and atmospheric dread. This was my third read and it was easily the best one, purely because I read it alongside the DC High Volume podcast. Following along episode by episode completely changed the experience. It turned a comfort re-read into something that felt totally fresh. If you haven't read The Long Halloween, just do it. And if you have, look up DC High Volume and read it again - it's completely worth it. One of my all-time favourites. Always will be.

A series of brutal murders occuring on national holidays sends Gotham into a downward spiral and only Batman can pull the pieces together and solve the case... This book is very well written and, unlike a lot of other work, really shows Batman using his great detective skills. Bringing characters to the fore and given background on many famous 'names' from the Batman universe, this is an excellent story, with some brilliant artwork. If you are a fan of Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" then you should, must, will buy this... it keeps within that continuity and is simply a 'must buy'. If you are new to Batman, this is an excellent place to start.

one of the best batman storys ever. i could not put it down and when i did finish it i wanted to read it all over again. a true masterpeice any batman or comic book fan will love it.

One of the best graphic novels out there. Hush ran as a mini-series, written and drawn by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, and was best read a few issues at a time. Having it collected in one volume saves both the trouble and definetly the expense of tracking down single original issues. It took me a year to track down Issue 9.If you haven't read any Loeb/Sale Batman works for DC, start with The Long Halloween, then Dark Victory, and finally this one. It really is excellent, and as the third work in the series shows alround improvements on an already superb series. then check-out the pairing's other work for Spiderman and Daredevil, Still missing one for each of the original Marvel comics. drat!One final word; avoid the folow-up to Hush. Bit of a let-down, in a similair way to Miller's second take on the Dark Knight.

'Long Halloween' is a bad story. The dialogue is shonky. The writing, on the whole, is pedestrian. But that art. Tim Sale draws the very best Batman in comics. He makes the Bat a huge, ominous figure of hulking shadows & dramatic lines sweeping across the page. His Joker is physically impossible with teeth like a rotting garden fence, but he looks terrific. Everything bursts with drama & energy. Crummy writing, but with art this spectacular, who cares?