THIS WEEK: Batman The Long Halloween/The Last Halloween arrives! Plus, our usual round-up of blurbs about other DC books hitting shops!

Last HalloweenBatman: The Last Halloween

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Richard Starking                                              Cover Artist: Time Sale

Batman Dark Victory originally released in 1999. It was the direct sequel to one of the most cherished Batman stories, Batman: The Long Halloween. Since then, DC has released a special noir edition of The Long Halloween as well as a prequel. Now, we arrive at the release of another new addition, Batman: The Last Halloween, almost 25 years later.

As we dive into the beginning of this finale, it is impossible not to feel the loss of Tim Sale. His art with its distinct, atmospheric style wasn’t just about creating striking visuals — it captured the emotional depth of Gotham’s shadows, the brokenness of its heroes, and the haunting beauty of its villains. His work alongside writer Jeph Loeb is timeless, so it was heartening to see the cover of this new book sporting his Batman. Even better is knowing that this story is in Eduardo Risso’s capable hands, with the artist hand picked by Loeb himself. 

The issues begins with a reminder, Gotham City is not Metropolis, and Halloween does not hold the same meaning as it does in other cities. Halloween in Gotham carries the weight of scars, marked forever by the serial killer Holiday and his brutal year long war against the Falcone Family — an event Carmine Falcone would dub, “the long Halloween”. This is said to the backdrop of Two Face flipping his coin, because Halloween also marks another tragedy, the day Harvey Dent died, and Two Face was born. 

The page pans out to reveal a shot of Two Face staring intensely at the reader, and Risso knows how to draw a menacing Two Face. We see him holding a wine glass in one hand and his coin in the other, with his wife admiring him lovingly from a distance. Simply put, the page felt creepy, wrong, and downright disturbing.

It’s perfect. 

Bruce narrates his thoughts throughout, touching on Commissioner Gordon’s devotion to Gotham City and the toll its taking on his marriage and family. Loeb underscores the parallel between Bruce and Gordon, how Bruce understood how it felt having a father who needs to be elsewhere. Then, young James, Gordon’s son, is kidnapped while the family is trick-or-treating, with Gordon momentarily distracted by a phone call. 

Last Halloween

The next scene pans to where Bruce was sitting atop a gargoyle, alongside Robin, in the pouring rain spying on Mario Falcone who now resides in the Roman’s Penthouse. Mario is there because he wanted to go legitimate, but instead he got to see his father, brother, and sister murdered.

We also get a surprise visit from Cat Woman leading to a chase by the dynamic duo instigated by Dick, in which Bruce can only mention how he has grown to trust Robin more but of course he still has a long way to go. This leads to a beautiful full page piece where we see Gotham rise as all three of them fall towards each other.   

Finally, Cat Woman is shot, and upon investigating, the dynamic duo discovers an abandoned taped gun and smashed pumpkin. Holiday was back, or in this case a copycat, as Bruce mentions he already caught the Holiday Killer.

The Last Halloween is already living up to my expectations. Suffice it to say I was enthralled from the moment I opened the comic until the very end. It feels like a great old school Batman detective story — no superpowers, no failsafe, no amazos. Just the dark underbelly of Gotham as a hunt for a new serial killer begins. 

With this issues ending, Loeb sets the groundwork for some impactful twists and turns later on, and seeing the dynamic duos teamwork as Robin is being thrust into a a darker part of Gotham has left me excited for how this will test them as partners. 

Loeb and Russo have created a fantastic return to the series, keeping the dark themes, grounded detective work, complex villains, and beautiful art alive for a new generation. Only time will tell how fans will react to the following issues, as for me, I couldn’t be more excited for more.

Verdict: Buy

The Round-Up

  • Kyle Hotz artwork immediately drew me into the Lobo Cancellation Special. It was meant to just be a one shot but I wish there was going to be more. Their cover immediately yells a warning at you, it’s summary simply screams (literally) this comic is so sick it’ll kick your ass.  
The comic sells itself as just what it is meant to be, like a cosmic heavy metal cover playing out in real time.
 
The story follows Lobo as he is stranded on a planet between the events of the Omega Men #3 and Superman #15 (2024). He’s already being yelled at by space farmers as he tills a field, a field that they didn’t want him to help with, assuming (correctly) he would just make it worse.
 
Lobo begins to recount how he came to be in the situation in the first place, much to the farmers dismay. How is that he was in the middle of an omega level rager, and took a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of a cosmic nowhere. He got bumped off his hog, and he couldn’t understand how they snuck up on the main man. Next thing he knew he was plummeting at terminal velocity towards the planet.
 
Afterward, he’s so angry that he destroys every farmer in sight, over 90 percent of them, literally splitting them in half. Writer Kyle Starks can write Lobo a little too well almost. There wasn’t a point where I doubted that Lobo would do the things he described. As for Hotz, he just sells the brutality of Lobo so well. All throughout, this comic presented him as the giant mass of muscles he is, delivering highly detailed and fun action panels. 
 
The Cancelation Special was an absolute blast of 40 action packed, beautifully drawn pages. Other than Batman, if you pick anything else up today do not miss out on this release.

Miss any of our earlier reviews? Check out our full archive!

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