While Jeph Loeb is more well known today for comics like Ultimatum and Hulk, there once was a time when his work was fun to read. His work with artist Tim Sale is particularly well-respected, even if they aren’t without their flaws; their “color” trilogy of Spider-Man: Blue, Daredevil: Yellow, and Hulk: Grey all seem well-crafted when read individually, but are a bit repetitive when read in close proximity. No matter the flak Loeb may receive these days – including from myself – I will always have a soft spot for the duo’s Batman collaborations: Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween, and Dark Victory. Follow the cut for a bit of info on why.
While the honor has mistakenly gone to many other comics in the past, I am ninety-nine percent sure that the trade paperback of Batman: The Long Halloween was the first trade I purchased for myself – the title of the “comic that got me back into comics” is still a bit hazy, but I’ll remember one day. As I flipped through the “graphic novel” section at my local bookstore, my attention was grabbed by the cover. I had only been reading Civil War and Ultimate Spider-Man at the time, so Tim Sale’s style was quite a contrast from what high-school-age Walt thought comic book art was “supposed” to look like. My interest piqued, I took it up to the register and devoured it by the end of the night.
While my introduction may have made this recommendation out to be a defense of Jeph Loeb, I won’t lie: The reason I love these comics is because of Tim Sale. He has certainly worked on better comics in the past – his work on Matt Wagner’s Grendel is particularly stellar, as is Wagner’s writing – but, to be wholly superficial, I just love the stylization he brings to some of Batman’s most colorful rogues. Some people hate his all-teeth Joker, but if you asked me Sale’s Clown Prince of Crime is the perfect example of how the Joker should be drawn. Likewise, his Scarecrow exudes the subtle feeling of terror that Crane is all about. Poison Ivy, Two-Face, The Mad Hatter… they might look a bit differently from how they’re normally illustrated, but they all look great (though I’m still not sure how I feel about his Catwoman). There’s more to it than that, though. Sale is one of the first artists I became familiar with where I was able to see what set comic art apart from other visual mediums. His work is extremely readable, with one panel flowing to the next seamlessly. This particularly shows in his action scenes, which are nothing short of marvelous. Some artists well known for their heavy stylization let their sense of motion suffer for it, but Sale has the best of both worlds.
The Long Halloween and Dark Victory established the formula that was later used in the more popular Hush: Use the framework of a mystery as an excuse to shoehorn in as many iconic super-villains as possible. The difference is that The Long Halloween and Dark Victory do it better. Both stories take place over the span of a year, making the appearance of so many villains not seem forced, as it does in Hush. Most surprising, though, is the handle on voice that Loeb has with these characters. Each character sounds unique, with their voice matching their character, though some are a bit gimmicky – there’s one interchange between Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter that probably should have made me roll my eyes, but instead got a chuckle or two out of me. Structurally, the two are almost identical, but if you enjoy Sale’s art as much as I do, that probably won’t bother you too much.
Haunted Knight is a bit different. Released and set before the other two books, Haunted Knight collects three Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials by the same creative team that tell three separate stories. The first one, featuring the Scarecrow, is my particular favorite of the three, as it probably fits the Halloween theme best, but the last one is a relatively interesting take on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that uses the framework of the classic tale as a vehicle to convey a different theme. The execution isn’t perfect, but it’s still worth a read – again, particularly because of the art. The middle story is slightly forgettable, but it is still a entertaining – if slightly bizarre – story focusing on The Mad Hatter, a character who doesn’t get enough love.
These aren’t the best Batman stories around. The Long Halloween and Dark Victory have their share of plot holes, and Haunted Knight isn’t quite worth the price of admission, but all three collections are worth reading if you can get them at a slight discount – look for previous edition of The Long Halloween, which is five dollars cheaper than the other one and whose cover matches the other two paperbacks. I suggest starting with Haunted Knight, as it’s cheaper and shorter, and then moving on to The Long Halloween if you liked the first one enough, ending with Dark Victory. Let it not be said that Loeb could never write entertaining comics.
