The Last Halloween is the final piece of the Long Halloween saga, with writer Jeph Loeb finishing the story he and Tim Sale began in 1996. Unfortunately, Sale passed away in 2022 in the beginning stages of this project, which left it in some uncertainty. The people closest to Sale, and his legacy on Batman, decided to bring together a murder’s row of artists inspired by or close to Sale to honor him with one final chapter of Holiday killings.
Eduardo Risso. Klaus Janson. Mark Chiarello. Cliff Chiang. Bill Sienkiewicz. Enrico Marini. Dave Johnson. Becky Cloonan. Chris Samnee. Matteo Scalera. Those are the artists on this book.
If you’re a fan of Batman, you’re a fan of the Long Halloween. It’s the story that all of the movies and other media pull from the most. This is the final chapter of that saga, bringing about a natural conclusion to the events started in Long Halloween #1. If you’re a Batman fan, you’re not going to want to miss this.
I said just a few weeks ago that this book didn’t need to be good, that it just needed to be a good tribute to Sale and the Long Halloween. And, thankfully, they made the story incredible anyways. This book instantly draws you in with the gritty, mysterious tone that you come to expect with Long Halloween, and walks you around Gotham to show you all of your terrifying, corrupt friends.
Here’s the elevator pitch: tensions are high with Batman’s new partner, Robin, when the third year of awful Halloweens in Gotham occurs: Jim Gordon’s son is kidnapped, right when the Holiday killer returns. But what’s Two-Face doing? And who’s Catwoman working with? Where did Grundy go? What’s Joker have to do with it all? I don’t know! But I can’t wait to find out.
Like most of Loeb’s Batman work, this book has a really large cast and I really trust everything they set up in this issue. There’s some really clever, interesting new ideas for some of these characters, and nobody is here for the sake of being here. Everyone is important, everyone has an arc set up, and I can’t wait to see what they do with it all. If you love Gotham, you need to be here for this one. Batman gets made fun of for having a lot of books, but this is not the one to skip.
DC is going all in on this book. It’s oversized, has a card stock cover, no ads, and has back matter that takes you into the core of how this book is tribute to Sale. Each issue has a variant cover by the issue’s artist, spotlighting the character featured in that issue in a mugshot form–they are ALL awesome. Each issue also has a variant cover by another artist that was close to Sale, with the first issue’s being a gorgeous Jim Lee image. But, as I said, DC wants you to celebrate the life and art of Sale. Along with an interview with the issue’s artist, each issue features a variant cover gallery for the issue and the uncolored Sale cover for the book, which are all pulled from convention sketches and images he did for fans. I think it’s really cool that these connections Sale had to the fans are being finished by the creators he worked with the most, from cover to content.
Issue one is on sale now from Batman super-star Jeph Loeb, with the first issue being stunningly penciled by Eduaro Risso–the absolute perfect start to this gritty, vibrant take on Gotham. This issue is colored by Dave Stewart, hand-picked by Sale to color the covers to the trades when they released the new versions a few years ago (all of which are in stock here at the store, by the way, if you’re behind in the Long Halloween saga!). And, finally, Richard Starkings, who has lettered nearly all of Loeb and Sale’s collaborations, is back for one final story. This is (I believe) the first time DC or Marvel has put the letterer’s name on the cover of a book, which speaks to the importance of the lettering in creating the feel of this book.
Last Halloween is on sale right now at $4.99, which is a steal for the card stock cover, extra pages, and back matter. It’s a ten issue mystery with the top artists in the industry and the conclusion of one of Batman’s best stories.
I really loved this book as both the beginning of a story and a thank you letter to Sale.
Thanks for reading!
-Holiday
No! I mean Lukas!!
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