Year one and The long Halloween

Batman is one of those heros who live in the darkness.

But everybody knows that.
In Batman year one, we see how batman became batman. We see a city run by the criminals, pretty on the outside, but rotten to the core under the skin.

ENter two men. The detective sergent Jim Gordon, who was apperently dismissed from his last position for irregularities, and Bruce Wayne, returning form parts unknown.

Over the course of the year, Gordon alienates the rest of the police force by insisting on following the law and protecting people, while batman invents himself.

Eventually, Batman saves Gordon's son, and the two come to an understanding.

In the long Halloween, We see many of the characters from year one. Carmen "the Roman" Falcone is the biggest mob boss in Gotham, but Lou Maroni is shown to be unhappy by this turn of events. Wayne has blocked mob money being laundered through his bank, causing tensions to rise.

On the other side, we see two trooubled marriages--that of James Gordon, and that of Harvey Dent(the district attourney, and one of the few good men in power). Gordon re-inroduces Dent and the batman, and they team up in order to bring Falcone's organisation, the greatest threat to law in Gotham, down for good.

Then, on Halloween, John Viti, nephew of the Roman, is killed.

Over the next year, mobsters on both sides are killed on holidays--including the father of Maroni, and the Roman's son.

Suddenly, everyone in gotham is racing to catch this "holiday" killer. For the first time, we begin to see how deeply everything is connected. poison Ivy is hired to "change" Bruce waynes mind, but catwoman frees wayne from her clutches. The Joker cannot handle th e prescence of another killer in town and tries to find and stop Holiday in his own twisted fashion(kill everyone, and you get holiday too!) The ROman Hires the Riddler in order to find out who this holiday is--THe riddler becomes the only holiday victim to live--it is april first, after all.

And through this chaotic tableu, we see THe Gordon's relationship strengthen as the Dent's relationship starts to fall apart. In addition, we see marked deterioration in Dent.

In the end, dent becomes two-face, and we find out who halloween really is--or do we?

Artwise, the two are very different. Year one uses subtle paint ones, and strong inking, while the art on the long hallowee seems more accentuating. the contrast implies that the batman has already began to bring Gotham out of it's dark night.

Both books are currently for sale, and I recomend them both.

Next: Spiderman: the birth of Venom.