The Long Halloween: A Retrospective

The Long Halloween is a story about change. 

A primary theme in Batman comics is the idea that Gotham City is a land that is constantly in-flux, with different factions and individuals all competing to protect the city, destroy it, or mold it into a new world of their design. This theme of change is evident in many comics of the last 40 years, whether Gotham is destroyed by an earthquake in No Man’s Land, overrun by mutant gangsters in The Dark Knight Returns, or flooded in Matt Reeves’ cinematic take on the character. Nowhere is this theme of change more evident than in The Long Halloween, the iconic comic written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale. 

The original comic is a sequel to Year One. Frank Miller’s prequel of the Batman character was a groundbreaking masterpiece, truly medium-defining, but it was also a vastly different take on the character. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale had the difficult job of reconciling Year One’s Gotham City—a decaying metropolis run by mobsters and dirty cops—with the rest of the Batman mythos, which was filled with crazier and crazier supervillains, monsters, secret societies, magic and aliens. 

Rather than skirt around this tonal change, Loeb makes it the focal point of his story. Gotham is a land divided, not between good and bad, but between old and new, the mundane and the strange. On the one hand, we have the Falcone and Maroni families. On the other hand, we have Bruce’s modern Rogues Gallery, characters like Joker, Penguin and Mad Hatter. Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent exist in the space between the two worlds. They are divided characters, with alter egos that allow them to exist everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 

It’s fitting that for a story all about change, the film adaptation of The Long Halloween overhauled the source material. The overall narrative is still the same, but the characterization of almost every member of the cast is fundamentally altered, producing a story that resembles the source material on a surface level but is an entirely different beast underneath. 

In this essay, I will be going over the main differences between The Long Halloween and its two-part animated movie adaptation. This will be divided into a few parts: I’ll first go over the opening scenes of both stories and how they set up their characters differently, which leads to different trajectories for their arcs. Then, I’ll discuss the identity of the Holiday Killer and the ramifications this has on both narratives. 

The Opening Scenes:

The differences between the comic and film are obvious from the get-go. Let’s compare the two:

• The comic opens with Bruce talking with Carmine at Johnny Viti’s wedding, but we only see the end of the conversation. Bruce tells Carmine that he attended the wedding out of respect for their family’s shared past, but makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with Carmine and then leaves. Alberto observes Bruce with a cold, menacing stare, and Carmine decides not to threaten Bruce. We cut to Bruce and Selina dancing, and then we cut to them fighting in Falcone’s mansion. 

• The film takes Bruce and Carmine’s conversation, isolates it and expands it in the new medium. Carmine and Bruce’s dialogue is almost word-for-word the same, but Carmine makes a comment about bringing order to Gotham, which makes Bruce tense up. Rather than coldly observing Bruce, Alberto finishes a crossword puzzle as Bruce speaks. 

Let’s ask ourselves: what does each medium tell us about these characters? 

• In the comic, Carmine is ruthless and pragmatic, using his nephew’s wedding as a way to make connections, and Milos’ suggestion they kill Bruce indicates callousness towards the Waynes. In the film, Carmine comes across as genuinely friendly, and his comment about restoring order implies a sense of nobility and dignity in his character. 

• Alberto in the comic is cold and analytical, foreshadowing his actions as the copycat Holiday Killer. He offers suggestions to his father and becomes angry when those suggestions are rebuked. Alberto in the film has the same dead stare, but he’s bored, down-to-earth, uninterested in his father’s work. 

• Bruce in the comic is dismissive of Falcone’s offer and disgusted by his disregard for human life. In the film, Bruce tenses up when Falcone mentions order; his hatred for Carmine is more personal because Carmine views himself as the solution to the very problem he’s creating. The “problem” that took the lives of Thomas and Martha Wayne, mind you. 

• Selina in the comic is attracted to Bruce out-of-costume, but unaware of his alter ego, and frustrated by his attempts to thwart her in-costume. In the film, she’s not even here! 

Part 1: The Falcones:

Let’s use this framework to examine the Falcones first. 

In The Long Halloween, Gotham is a land of opportunity and freedom, of violence and bloodshed, loyalty and betrayal. Those values stem from the Falcones, a Godfather-themed family who embody wealth, power, tradition and “old” Gotham. Carmine in the comic is a very straightforward antagonist. He’s used to playing by the rules, but with characters like Holiday, Batman, Catwoman and Two-Face interrupting his plans at every step, he’s constantly outclassed. The ending of the story feels equal parts cathartic and inevitable: after struggling to imprison him as Harvey Dent, Two-Face merely strolls into his penthouse with a gang of villains and effortlessly shoots him dead. 

Carmine in the movie is…a lot different. He’s a far more fleshed out character, who genuinely views Bruce as a friend, pushes Sofia and Alberto away despite his love for them, misreads his son’s intentions, and honestly believes what he’s doing is making the city better. In a word, he’s human. 

I’d normally praise this. An adaptation should flesh out and expand on what’s there. Carmine in the comics was very one-note, and with a nearly 3-hour total runtime, the movie has more than enough time to make him work as a more likable character. But as a side-effect, Carmine Falcone is far more intelligent and competent in the film. He seems to always have a handle on things, he’s disrupting Harvey’s plans at every turn, and the film implies that he not only knows that Bruce is Batman (!), but his dialogue that he and Harvey should “Keep their wives out of things” also implies he knows Gilda is Holiday (!!!). 

This is the single biggest flaw of the film. The Long Halloween is a story about change, about the new replacing the obsolete. Holiday’s killings are a cleansing, washing away the mobsters of yesteryear with the supervillains of tomorrow. Carmine Falcone is meant to be incompetent, unable to keep up in a changing world. The ending is exactly the same, but instead of it feeling epic and inevitable, it feels hilarious, bizarre and almost out of place. Carmine’s changes ultimately are for the worst, despite making him a better character. 

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In contrast, Alberto and Sofia’s changes were excellent and definitely for the better of the film. In the comic, Alberto is treasured by Falcone, and Alberto resents his father for wanting to protect him instead of treating him as an equal. In the film, Alberto is so much more down-to-earth and…innocent, as strange as it sounds. This version of the character is a brilliant and free-thinking scholar, bored by his father’s work, tired of being mistreated, and emotionally traumatized after his father destroyed the only meaningful relationship he ever had. There’s a tragic irony to his relationship with Carmine in the film; Carmine is so out-of-touch with his children that he keeps assuming that Alberto wants to take over the family business, despite Alberto making it extremely clear he wants nothing to do with the business, and this fundamental misunderstanding drives Carmine’s mistreatment of his son. 

Alberto is an obvious candidate in both mediums, but the film uses him as a red herring, successfully throwing off fans of the source material who were expecting a more faithful adaptation. And that makes sense: Film-Alberto resents his father specifically, not his entire family, so he’d have no reason to target his friends, cousins and aunt. 

Sofia and Alberto more-or-less flipped roles, because Comic-Sofia is extremely competent but never appreciated or recognized by her father, whereas Carmine treasures Film-Sofia but keeps her at a distance so as to not appear weak. There’s a tragic component to Sofia’s relationship with Carmine in both stories, because in the comic she’s idolizing someone who will never completely acknowledge her talents, and in the film her father is so concerned with his public perception it’s damaging their relationship. 

One final thing to note that I really enjoyed about the film adaptation is how it handles the end of the Falcones. The original comic ends on a somewhat ambiguous note: Alberto is still alive and in prison, Sofia is alive and seeking revenge, and as we see later in Dark Victory, Mario Falcone is attempting to transform the family business into something more legitimate. The film wisely chooses to have Sofia and Alberto both perish, and because Mario is introduced, it makes the ending feel much more conclusive. The old guard is completely dead, and the new villains are taking over. 

Part 2: The Bat and the Cat:

Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne’s characters were improved tremendously in the film adaptation, for entirely different reasons. 

In the comic, Selina’s entire character arc feels…a little pointless. Don’t get me wrong, Comic-Selina is a great character who’s genuinely superior to her film counterpart in some ways. Her design out-of-costume and in-costume is incredible, and she has some truly amazing fight scenes courtesy of Tim Sale’s dynamic artwork. But Selina doesn’t actually do much of anything in the comic. She mainly steals from Carmine, fights Bruce, then leaves. Rinse and repeat. This formulaic, ambiguous character trajectory has to do with the fact that it isn’t until Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome that we actually learn she’s Carmine Falcone’s daughter. 

The film adaptation made several smart changes, absorbing her storyline from Dark Victory into this film to create a more cohesive character. First of all, she reveals early on that she’s Carmine’s daughter, which gives her character a much more well-defined trajectory. 

Second and more importantly, not only is she allied with Bruce, they even know about each other’s identities! I love this change because it makes their relationship feel so fresh and inventive. In the comics, Bruce and Selina were a good couple, but Batman and Catwoman’s responsibilities prevented them from being together. Here, that’s inverted: Batman and Catwoman are a great crime-fighting team, but Bruce and Selina’s personal responsibilities initially prevent them from being together. Luckily, this doesn’t stick, and the film ends with Selina seemingly living with Bruce at Wayne Manor, a bold writing decision that I’d be dying to see more of. 

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The narrative changes probably benefited Bruce most of all. The film adaptation makes it clear from the get-go that this Bruce is only in his second year. He’s young, inexperienced. He misses jumps, he gets hit by goons, and most importantly, he nearly jeopardizes the whole case when he assumes (like the comic readers in the audience) that Alberto is Holiday. 

What’s so satisfying is that even though Bruce dropped the ball the first time, he does what his comic counterpart never could: he figures out Gilda is Holiday! The final dialogue between him and Gilda is one of the most chilling and epic scenes of the entire movie, and it recontextualizes her monologue as an explanation of her guilt to Batman instead of an insane rambling. Better yet, Bruce has begun to see the shades of gray in the world, and instead of simply dismissing her and sending her to Arkham, he allows her to go in a show of empathy and understanding. 

Whereas the source material has a Positive Flat Arc (Bruce is not changing as a character, but ultimately making the world around him a better place) the adaptation has a Positive Change Arc (where Bruce is slowly becoming a better character). The film’s ending takes this change to the logical conclusion, showing that Bruce not only got a happy ending with Selina but an invitation to join the Justice League. He’s ascended from vigilante to hero. 

The Triple Fakeout:

The original comic is well-known for having one of the most confusing plot twists in the history of DC Comics, in part due to how vaguely it’s all explained. 

The comic proposes Alberto is the Holiday Killer, and it makes a lot of sense: his was the only body never found, and from the get-go Sale and Loeb had been hinting at a more sinister side of his character. The characters are led to believe Alberto was the definitive Holiday Killer, but the final scene of the comic has Gilda reveal there were three killers: she killed the first three, Harvey attempted to kill Alberto on New Years Eve (he would’ve been the fourth victim), Alberto killed Maroni (which we saw on-screen), and Harvey killed Carmine and his assistant Vernon Field as the final murder. 

This is a confusing twist mostly because so much of the killing is left unexplained. If Harvey attempted to kill Alberto on New Years Eve, and then Alberto killed Sal Maroni on Labor Day, that still leaves several other victims between New Years and Labor Day a total mystery: Jasper Dolan, the Gunsmith, Luigi Maroni, etc. 

So did Alberto kill those guys, or did Harvey? We don’t really know, and the comic never makes it clear. For what it’s worth, because Bruce never suspected Gilda and he didn’t know Harvey tried to kill Alberto on New Years, Bruce assumes that Alberto killed every character except for Carmine and Vernon. 

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The movie made the wise decision to clarify this question while still delivering its own twist. Because Bruce and Gordon assume Alberto was the Holiday Killer for most of the time, sequels like Dark Victory refer to Alberto as such. In the eyes of fans and characters, Alberto Falcone is the Holiday Killer. 

Knowing this, the writers for the film use Alberto and Harvey as red herrings: Alberto is the victim on New Years, but his death isn’t fake, and he’s killed by Gilda. Harvey is under suspicion throughout the movie, but doesn’t actually kill anyone until the final scene. 

The film’s narrative was constructed with this setup in mind. Instead of Gilda killing Falcone’s men to support Harvey, she’s only using Harvey as a cover for her revenge. She and Harvey still want a family, but the film shows she’s physically incapable of having kids because of a backalley abortion Carmine made her get years ago. Alberto is more anxious, mild-mannered and emotionally damaged because of that failed relationship, and it’s why he has no interest in helping his father anymore. 

Part 3: The Dents:

All in all, I really enjoyed the film’s take on the Dents. Harvey’s changes were pretty small, all things considered, but they added up to create an ending that was slightly distinct but still meaningful. For starters, the comic implies that Harvey’s mental illness stems from being abused by his mentally ill father. On Father’s Day, Harvey visits his dad, who gives him the double-faced coin he would use as Two-Face. 

I always liked that backstory; in real life, Dissociative Identity Disorder often manifests as a defense mechanism to deal with unprocessed childhood abuse, and mental disorders are often genetic, so it was surprisingly realistic. But the movie moves in a different direction, omitting any mention of Harvey’s father and having the coin come from Bruce, who got it from Carmine as a kid. This little detail makes Bruce and Carmine indirectly responsible for the creation of one of their greatest enemies, and it ties all of them together. 

The twist that Gilda is the Holiday Killer is a bit too obvious in the movie, and I think non-comic fans who watch it will be able to figure it out quickly. The film removes a lot of her best scenes, such as her friendship with Barb (the original comic passes the Bechdel Test, whoot whoot!!), and the ones that remain are weighed down because the film’s art style just can’t compete with Sale’s artwork. Even with all of that being said, I still really enjoyed her character in this film. 

Comic-Gilda and Film-Gilda are both tragic characters, but in totally different ways. Comic-Gilda was once an innocent housewife, corrupted by the city around her, driven to murder and insanity. Film-Gilda is colder, competent in her own way, and extremely focused on revenge. 

The final scene of both stories are similar, but the trajectory of the characters on their way to this endpoint leads to wildly different interpretations. Bathed in the shadows of Sale’s artwork, Comic-Gilda seems unnerving, threatening. By contrast, Film-Gilda feels regretful. She’s accomplished her revenge, but at the cost of Harvey, the only other man she truly loved. 

Conclusion:

The Long Halloween is a prime example of how an adaptation following the same basic story beats of the source material, but slightly altering characterization along the way, can drastically change the narrative. The film opens with a conversation ripped almost beat-for-beat in the comics, and the film’s ending is reminiscent of the original comic, yet almost everything about these characters in both scenes is totally different. 

Ultimately, I can’t pick a favorite between these two versions of the same story. While the movie’s take on Carmine is ultimately antithetical to the themes of the story, and its visual style can’t hold a candle to Sale’s artwork; the restructuring of the story to accommodate Gilda being the main killer and the ripple effects this has on the narrative are brilliant. The fact that Bruce has a more fleshed-out character arc and the best elements of Dark Victory are brought into Selina’s character certainly helps, as well. 

Well, thank you for reading, and I am signing off for now.