Well The Long Halloween was an damn good piece of storytelling, yes I know what I said people and I stand by it, so a sequel series was certainly due to follow and it did. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale bring back many memorable villains and some familiar characters from The Long Halloween for the follow up, Batman: Dark Victory. Here Batman gets a little help.

WARNING: This will contain some spoilers so read the book before reading this review

We open with new Gotham D.A. Janice Porter talking with the Holiday Killer from The Long Halloween, *SPOILER*, Alberto Falcone about cutting a deal for early parole, which gets granted. This doesn’t sit well with newly appointed police commissioner Jim Gordon and Batman. Well Batman and Catwoman once again get in each other’s crossfire as they both have frequent visits to the new head of the Falcone crime family, Carmine’s daughter, Sofia Falcone Gigante. Alberto is set up in a safe house of the family’s by his brother, Mario. Oh but wait a new serial killer is popping up in Gotham. The Hangman is hanging several cops, lawyers, and all other people related to the case again Carmine Falcone and his family, on holiday, much like the Holiday Killer. The prime suspect is Harvey “Two-Face” Dent who *SPOILER if you haven’t read The Long Halloween yet* killed Carmine Falcone in cold blood in his home for causing his transformation into Two-Face.

Meanwhile, the Wayne Manor has a new resident as newly orphaned Dick Grayson is brought in due to the tragic death of his parents during their trapeze act in the circus due to some shady business done by Tony Zucco, who is involved with the Falcone Family.
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This is a good story. Not great, or as good as The Long Halloween but its very good. It’s a pretty solid follow up to it.

Loeb’s writing is strong here, but not as strong as his writing to The Long Halloween in my views but Sale’s artwork, incredible as usual. Well to me it is shut up.

Now I loved how Robin was brought in and used. I read that the episode of Batman: The Animated Series, “Robin’s Reckoning” severed as an inspiration for the 14 part series published around 1999 through 2000. and I saw the aspects. Plus could you blame them for using that to help with the book, that episode won a damn Emmy! Also I loved the big reveal as to The Hangman is and absolutely didn’t see it coming. Now Catwoman’s part here grows much bigger than in The Long Halloween but then she goes off to Rome in search of something. Batman is more awesome and badass here and Bruce Wayne, still a pussy wrangler. Yup, I said pussy wrangler.

Anyway, this will rank in my top 15 Batman stories. So there you go.

In the meantime I’ll try to look, read, and review Catwoman: When in Rome. Its by Loeb and Sale and it’s the period that in Dark Victory when Catwoman is gone in Rome and so if anyone finds a good price on it, TELL ME!

The End.

RATING 8.5/10