Batman: The Long Halloween is a 13-issue American comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale.
The series' success led to Loeb and Sale to reteam for two sequels, Batman: Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome, which are set concurrently.
The series is notable for its exploration of the transformation of Gotham City’s criminal underworld from traditional organized crime to the emergence of costumed supervillains, and it serves as an origin story for Two-Face.
Critically acclaimed for its noir-inspired storytelling and character development, The Long Halloween is considered one of the definitive Batman stories.
Its influence extends to multiple media adaptations, including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012) and Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022).
Viti himself is killed on Halloween by an unknown assailant, leaving behind an untraceable pistol, a nipple from a baby bottle used as a crude silencer, and a jack-o-lantern.
It is not until Saint Patrick's Day that Selina Kyle figures out what has happened to him and, as Catwoman, frees him from Poison Ivy's clutches.
He releases most of the super-criminals from Arkham Asylum, then seeks out and kills both Carmine Falcone and Vernon, despite Batman's attempts to stop him.
As she burns the items, she thinks about how she took it upon herself to start the Holiday killings to try to end Falcone's hold on Gotham and reduce her husband's workload so that they would have time together.
She has the wild suspicion that Alberto was lying, instead choosing to believe that Dent himself had taken up the killings on New Year's Eve and that the two were finally working together by sharing secrets.
Nevertheless, she is content with Alberto as their scapegoat, knowing the authorities are incapable of finding the other Holiday killer without Dent on their side and states that she still believes her husband can be cured.
The project was sparked when group editor Archie Goodwin approached Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale at San Diego Comic-Con and asked if the two of them wanted to do more Batman work.
"[6] Hilary Goldstein of IGN Comics praised Loeb's story as "tight, engrossing, and intelligent writing that never betrays the characters", adding that he "mixes Batman and Bruce Wayne's lives as well as anyone has, and brilliantly demonstrates the bond of brotherhood shared by Batman, Jim Gordon and then District Attorney Harvey Dent.
He praised it for its depiction of Gotham and its exploration of Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face, he regarded the story as a quintessential Batman tale.
[12] In the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City, players can unlock a Catwoman skin based on her appearance in The Long Halloween.
[16][17] The films star the voice talents of Jensen Ackles as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent, Billy Burke as James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, David Dastmalchian as Calendar Man, Troy Baker as Joker, Amy Landecker as Barbara Gordon, Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent, Jack Quaid as Alberto, Fred Tatasciore as Solomon Grundy, Jim Pirri as Sal Maroni, Alastair Duncan as Alfred, and Naya Rivera as Catwoman in her final film role.