The manifesto Halloween

We are after a year of Batman ("Year One") in the early years of Bruce Wayne. A serial killer nicknamed "Holiday" sows panic in the streets of Gotham City by committing a murder every month, in the evening of a US national holiday ...
On the principle of "serial", with one episode per month published over a year, the maxi-series "Batman: The Long Halloween" plot unfolds a thriller in the tradition of noir ...

You stand there a major Batman fully integrated in continuity, which can be read as a direct sequel to the mythical "Year One" by Frank Miller.
The duo Jeff Loeb / Tim Sale also at work on "Halloween" and Halloween, Volume 2 (previous mini-series), "Dark Victory" (later in this book), "Catwoman in Rome" (Spin-of Dark Victory), "The Seasons of Superman", and on rereading some Marvel characters ("Spider-Man: Blue," "Daredevil: Yellow," "Hulk: Gray") offers us perhaps his masterpiece prime. Knowing that the other aforementioned albums are brilliant, needless to say that one stands there one of the best stories ever recounted the Batman!

Throughout the twelve episodes that make up the story, the two authors develop the mythology of "Bat Man" at all levels. They stage the Batman fight against the underworld, particularly the Falcone family, and echoing "Year One"; incorporate iconic villains of the series (The Joker, the Epuvantail, the Riddler, etc ...) and come back in detail on the fall of Harvey Dent. In form, they make a magnificent work by coating the whole atmosphere of a "film noir / Hitchcock / cartoon / terror", citing decades of scriptwriting and aesthetic references. This database eventually feed the scenario, which draws its density at the heart of these references. The experience they support the reader, through a kind of universal nostalgia, ends up becoming purely emotional, giving the whole a truly magical dimension. The duo Loeb / Messy eventually emerge as the best among the creators of comics "postmodern", where nostalgia comics golden age mingles with the current formatting guns to give birth to timeless works. The drawing-as for him, is absolutely unique. Tim Sale will dazzle you with its graceful and magical trait, both grotesque and powerful, still rings true. His style has something so timeless, so romantic, he became a specialist proofreading and stories set in the past.
For those who like the cartoon series of the 90s, produced by Bruce Timm, Gothic atmosphere and retro this "Long Halloween" is a delight, with a hint of violence and wickedness more ...
An essential album.