There have been no shortage of animated adaptations of Batman’s seminal stories, from The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One and The Killing Joke to Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman: Hush. While some of these adaptations have done justice to their source material, others have stumbled and added unnecessary (and controversial) elements. The two-part adaptation of Batman: the Long Halloween stays true to the spirit of the original, throwing in just enough changes to keep even readers of the original comic guessing. It’s one of the best Batman animated features to arrive in years, and in some ways, it’s even better than the original.
A mysterious killer only known as Holiday has been killing members of the Falcone and Maroni crime families on holidays. Batman (Jensen Ackles), still a rookie, teams up with James Gordon (Billy Burke) and district attorney Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) to take down Carmine Falcone, but that soon spirals out of control. He has to deal with classic members of his rogues’ gallery such as Joker (Troy Baker), Poison Ivy (Katee Sackhoff), and Scarecrow (Robin Atkin Downes) among others. Catwoman (Naya Rivera) also teams up with him, for reasons of her own.
The two-parter strikes a nice balance between staying faithful to the source material and streamlining some elements to make it a smoother experience. The voice cast is robust, as expected, with Jensen Ackles playing a convincing young Batman, and Troy Baker doing a good job of evoking Mark Hamil’s iconic take on the Joker.
Like the source material, Batman: the Long Halloween serves up a compelling murder mystery as well as the genesis of Two Face. In fact, the original comic served as a major inspiration for Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer’s take on the Dark Knight. The two films also handle Batman’s relationship with Catwoman, going a step further than the source material and resolving it in the story. Other loose ends, such as Carmine’s daughter, Sofia, are also wrapped up, which suggests that the sequel comic, Dark Victory, may not be adapted.
The animation continues to use the style set by Superman: Man of Tomorrow, and although it’s not as distinct or atmospheric as Tim Sale’s art, it still feels comic book-y enough, specially with the design aesthetic used for Gotham City, which sports cars from the thirties and forties, even though people are apparently using smartphones.
The two-parter also suffers from the same problems that plagued the original comic. A lot of the villains that appear don’t have a great reason to be there other than checking off boxes. Also, the ending is reworked in a way that is confusing. Would Batman really let a murderer get away with it?
Nevertheless, Batman: the Long Halloween makes for a captivating watch.
These two are easily the best Batman video content to come out in the last five years or so. If you haven’t seen it yet, do give it a watch! You won’t be disappointed.
