Wes Serafine
Equinox Staff
We are continuing with Two-Face month by looking at the critically acclaimed graphic novel “The Long Halloween,” a story that presents a more detailed look at the origins of our double-faced villain.
This story, “Batman: The Long Halloween,” has a great deal of significance to comic book fans for a number of reasons, the first being that it has become the officially recognized origin story for Two-Face.
Second, it comes to us from the all-star team of artist Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, the latter of whom was one of the head writers for the television series “Heroes,” as well as the writer of one my favorite comic book story arc of all time, Batman: Hush.
Thirdly, and most notably to the world of pop-culture today, this story served as the principal inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” in which Aaron Eckhart portrayed Harvey Dent. Instead of focusing on the gimmicky and silly aspects of the character, like Joel Schumacer’s “Batman Forever,” the film focused on the tragedy of Harvey Dent and his eventual fall from Grace.
Gotham City is a city overrun by insane mad men like The Joker and The Scarecrow, but in the minds of three specific individuals, they are just symptoms, not the actual cause. The real threat facing Gotham is the untouchable crime families, all of them answering to the sinister crime lord Carmine “The Roman” Falcone.
On Halloween night, three men swear an oath that within one year, they will topple Falcone’s criminal empire.
Those three men are police commissioner James Gordon, district attorney Harvey Dent and The Batman himself.
Later that night, a murderer strikes and kills Falcone’s nephew, leaving behind a jack-o’-lantern. Is this a random act of violence by a deranged madman, or something worse?
As the year continues, each month the Holiday Killer, as the murderer is now called, continues to murder members and affiliates of the Falcone crime family on a holiday, each time leaving behind a trinket that relates to that very holiday.
Batman begins stretching himself too thin, between his budding relationship with Catwoman, his promise to topple Falcone and his search for the Holiday Killer. Harvey Dent’s crusade against crime is also taking its toll; his wife, Gilda desperately tries to console him, and Salvatore Maroni, a rival Gangster of the Falcone family tries to manipulate him, to little avail.
During this time, Harvey receives a gift from his father: a double-sided coin. Little does he know what it will become to him one day. More and more clues begin to surface but all that any of our parties trying to solve the mystery of the Holiday killer have are theories.
One theory in particular points to none other than Harvey Dent himself, something that Batman, someone, who is known for his paranoia and unwillingness to trust, is hesitant to believe–that a man he has grown to consider a friend and ally is a murderer.
In August, Maroni agrees to testify against Falcone in court, but it is all a ruse to get rid of Dent by throwing acid into his face and scarring one half of his face. Harvey, maddened by the incident, escapes the hospital and disappears, at least for now.
The Holiday Killer finally slips up in September when he kills Maroni and reveals himself as Alberto Falcone, Falcone’s own son.
But is he truly the killer, or is he just some two-bit criminal seeking his father’s attention? Halloween arrives once more and the inmates of Arkham Asylum are released, led by a mysterious figure in shadow who confronts Falcone in his office.
The figure reveals himself as Harvey Dent, though Harvey Dent is long gone, now only Two-Face remains. Though Batman tries to stop him, Two-Face makes good on his promise to topple Falcone’s empire, by killing Falcone.
As Two-Face slips away into the night, Batman and Gordon are just left with more questions: Was Harvey the killer, or was he just an innocent soul driven mad by trauma?
The story ends with Harvey’s wife Gilda burning some familiar trinkets, and repeating the phrase, “I believe in Harvey Dent.” This is one of the best Batman stories that exists today.
The mystery is brilliant, the character growth is excellent, and I barely touched on some of the better aspects of the story.
My honest recommendation: buy this and read it for yourself; I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Next week in Two-Face month, we step away from the origin stories and see the effects on the trauma to Harvey Dent’s psyche and how they continue to torment him years later.
Wes Serafine can be contacted at
wserafine@keene-equinox.com