Within the rather large canon of the Batman mythos, lies arguably the largest number of graphic novels out of any individual superhero. Two of the most beloved, iconic, and critically acclaimed of those are two that were written by the legendary team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, titled The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.
Both stories continued the trend of shaping Batman into a much darker and realistic hero that previous stories such as The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One did years prior. While both stories are similar, they're each unique in several important ways and helped formed Batman into the cultural icon he is today. This makes them both essential reading for Batman fans.
10 The Long Halloween: The Godfather, Superhero Edition
One of the most glaringly obvious characteristics of Batman: The Long Halloween, is where it draws its influence from. An epic crime drama at its heart, comparisons have long been made to Francis Ford Coppola 1972 gangster classic The Godfather, and for very good reason. With the story set early on in Batman's career, Gotham's big crime families (the Falcones and the Maronis) are still at large and serve as the main antagonists for the story (though classic Batman villains make appearances throughout). Gangs at war, major plot twists, and corrupt businesses, politicians, and police, it's as close to The Godfather as a superhero story gets. While Dark Victory still carried some of these elements over, it was way more pronounced in this story.
9 Dark Victory: Rogues Unleashed
Along with Spider-Man, Batman has always been a contender for the best rogues gallery in comics. While The Long Halloween definitely had its fair share of villain appearances (including some of the most iconic villain panels of all time), at its heart, it was still a gangster crime drama, with the costumed villains only starting to make a dent into Gotham.
In Dark Victory, the costumed "freaks" (as the gangster loved to call them) truly started their gradual take over as Batman's, and by extension, Gotham's, primary foes. One of the themes throughout the story is that organized crime no longer has a place in Gotham, and we see this as villains like Joker, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Scarecrow begin to intensify their schemes and actively go against the crime families.
8 The Long Halloween: An Unresolved Mystery
One of the more interesting and unique aspects to The Long Halloween's grand, sprawling story, is that the murder mystery it's centered around is so puzzling. Even after several reads, the mystery of just who the Holiday killer was remains on many readers' minds. Was it Alberto Falcone? Harvey Dent? Gilda Gent? Harvey claims later on that there were two Holiday killers, so it's highly likely that it's a combination of any two of three, or quite possibly all three of them. Not many Batman stories, or superhero stories in general, are left with an ambiguous ending such as this, and it's yet another reason why the story is so memorable.
7 Dark Victory: Batman On His Own (Mostly)
Batman is often thought of as a lone wolf hero, preferring to take things into his own hands and not wanting to risk the involvement of others and getting too attached to anybody. Over the years though, this has become quite an ironic mindset for the vigilante, as he's built and grown his very own Batfamily. This formidable group includes the likes of Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Batwoman, and countless others. It's thus quite a treat, to see Batman work on his own for much of Dark Victory. Choosing to not work with Gordon and the GCPD, Batman takes on the Hangman case on his own, and in the process learns just how much he needs help in his mission to fight crime.
6 The Long Halloween: The Origin Of Two-Face
Plenty of elements of The Long Halloween have been used in film and TV adaptions of Batman's world, as well as having effects on the Batman comic continuity for many years after. Though there are no doubt some elements that are more timeless than others, perhaps the most crucial, influential, and effective element was the origin of Two-Face.
The Long Halloween presented Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale with the opportunity of crafting the definitive post-crisis story of Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face. If you need more proof of how pivotal this story was for the villain, the depiction heavily inspired the version found in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.
5 Dark Victory: Scarier
Despite the really cool title and holiday theme that The Long Halloween has, it's not as spooky as it is mysterious. On the other hand, as the title suggests, Dark Victory is increasingly "darker". For one, as mentioned before, costumed villains are taken over Gotham as the primary bad guys. Even the crimes of the villains are more morbid and creepy in nature. The Hangman hangs his victims instead of shooting them and Scarecrow puts his fear gas into Toy Dolls on Christmas Day. Batman is also increasingly more brutal in his approach, upping his interrogation techniques as he grows increasingly desperate to find the Hangman. Add-in a good dose of foggy scenery and Calendar Man acting like the ghost of Carmine Falcone, and you have a very spooky story.
4 The Long Halloween: Questioning Vigitalitsm
Batman stories often have had grandeur themes than the medium would suggest. Quite regularly, Batman tales question the effectiveness of Batman's tactics, and no story hammers that question home like The Long Halloween. With the ramifications being immediately felt in the follow-up Dark Victory, at the ending of this story both Batman and Jim Gordon are left seriously contemplating rather or not their year-long war on crime was worth it. Gordon also points out early on, that Batman's presence invites the increasing appearance of more "freaks". These deeper themes have entrenched themselves in the Batman lore ever since.
3 Dark Victory: Action Packed
The Long Halloween is a great story, but there are often wide gaps where there is very little-to-no action. This was a deliberate choice on Jeph and Tim Sale's part, as they wanted to tell a more detective focused story. And while Dark Victory still undoubtedly carries that element over, it also amps up the action.
Though the war started in The Long Halloween, here the conflict reached an uncontrollable level. The crime families went all guns blazing in the streets, and what was left of them Two-Face's cabal of villains wiped out. In the midst of this, there were plenty of panels showcasing Batman's fighting prowess. While none of them quite reached the brutal levels some of the Dark Knight's fights have reached, they were nonetheless intense.
2 The Long Halloween: The Original
There's a reason why The Long Halloween is getting adapted into an animated film, and it's because it's simply one of the most iconic Batman tales of all time. It reached this status by digging deeper into the potential storytelling capabilities of Batman, while also keeping the spirit of the character intact. This is not to say Dark Victory isn't iconic in its own right, but one cannot deny that it takes many cues and story beats from the story it follows. It's not a straight-up copycat, as it did change quite a few things up, but the fact that it follows much of the same framework that The Long Halloween established, knocks it down a few points. There's something to be said for being the original.
1 Dark Victory: The Origin Of Robin
It says a lot about both Batman (and Dark Victory's story as a whole) that he didn't start truly figuring things out about the Hangman until he brought Dick Grayson into his life. The Long Halloween gave us the refined origin of an iconic villain, but Dark Victory gave us the refined origin of a much more iconic hero. Though they are plenty of reasons why Batman should or shouldn't have a kid sidekick, this story proves that without one, Bruce Wayne will always be in a darker place.