This is another great graphic novel, and a worthy sequel to The Long Halloween. I thought the story was nice and gripping (just like a Batman story should be!), while the illustrations were wonderfully done, making the whole read that much better. I enjoyed the Catwoman character once again, and thought that the author did a great job with the Robin character. I highly recommend this book to any, and every, Batman fan!


Last Stands and Origins   March 22, 2006
 11 out of 17 found this review helpful

In the sequel to the amazing The Long Halloween, Batman/Bruce Wayne and Police Commissioner Jim Gordon are out to catch a cop-killer who hangs both current and ex cops on holidays, very similar to the exploits of Holiday, AKA Alberto Falcone. The difference is that Holiday always struck at members of the Falcone crime family. Complicating the investigation is the fact that, with the Falcone family in ruins, the streets of Gotham City have become infested with "freaks", the supervillains who comprise Batman's Rogues Gallery. Chief among them are Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, the ex-District Attorney whose face was half burned off by acid. Furthermore, the Joker, Batman's chief nemesis, the Scarecrow, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, and Catwoman are making things very hard for Batman.
Meanwhile a new D.A. named Janice Porter has taken over for Dent, and her misguided idealism causes problems for Gordon and Batman. Furthermore, when Harvey Dent's files are stolen out of her archives, his old documents begin appearing on the victims. These, along with intricate knowledge of the dead cops suggests that Dent is the Hangman, as the killer is called, but Batman thinks that they are merely being misdirected (although, it is strange that one of the notes implies that the killer knows something only the true Holiday would know).
Dark Victory shows the final attempts of the Falcone and Maroni crime families to regain power in Gotham. When one of the plans involves using a circus as a front for their illegal activity, a young Dick Grayson witnesses the death of his parents, very similar to Bruce Wayne.
Overall, this is a great story and worthy follow-up to The Long Halloween. While it isn't as good as its predecessor (it's a hard story to top) and it does somewhat follow the same formula (holiday killings), it is still a great read.


A Worthy Follow Up To One Of The Best Batman Stories.   December 5, 2005
 9 out of 12 found this review helpful

Here we have a direct follow up to one of the most acclaimed batman stories of all time. But does it live up to the quality of the previous book that had sweet art and great story? The Answer is a deffinite YES.

What can I say? I don't want to spoil the story for you, or anyone else. But I'm gonna have to feed you on what the story is about and yada, yada, yada. So I'm goonna jump to it!

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale return to give you another mind boggiling murder mystery set in batman's third year of kickin' a** and takin' names. This time round there is a new case that Jim Gordon , Batman, Catwoman, and the most gotham police department have to bury through. A new killer is on the loose in gotham, but it's not the old 'holiday' killer, but a new one who murders police officers and former police officers. This killer is later dubbed as the hangman killer, due to the victims being hung, with a hangman game pinned on to the victim's body. So it looks like batman and all his little friends are gonna have to bash some skulls and kick some a** in order to stop this new killer who also strikes on holidays. But there is more trouble thrown into this massive story 13 issue story line. Arkham Asylum's most notorius and dangerous madmen have escaped into the streets of gotham. These classic villains are Two Face, The Joker, Poisin Ivy, Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy, Mr Freeze, The Riddler, and The Calander Man. We also encouter alot of familliar faces from Frank Miller's Year One title, this is set two years later.

This follow-up is even thicker than it's predecesor and has smooth beter quality paper, so it will last longer. The art in this book is Tim Sale's best, it looks much neater and much clearer than his previous projects, it also has a more powerful look to the drawings, so you immediatly get grasped by his gorgeous art work. The story isn't as good as the previous title but still is very creative and unique, what put the story down was Robin, it was good that they introduced him back to the batman story, but he got kind of annoying towards the end.
All in all it's a really great read. If you haven't read or got Year One and The Long Halloween, I suggest reading year one first then the long halloween, every batman fan or comic book wierdo should own this fantastic title. Thank you and good night!


Dualling Identities   June 5, 2006
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Loeb and Sale improve upon the Long Halloween with a gripping mystery that succeeds in tension and suspense where I felt the long Halloween failed. More important than the mystery is the continued look at the relationships of the characters in Gotham City. Jim Gordon and Batman, Jim Gordon and his wife. Batman and Selina Kyle in their heart-breakingly unconsummated relationship and Batman and Robin.

We also get to see the interactions of the remnants of the crime families, the new super-villains under Two-Face's lead and a new D.A., Harvey Dent's replacement getting her fingers dirty interacting with both sides. More than the mystery of who Hangman is, it is the characterization of Batman, the D.A., Jim Gordon and Two Face that make this a superior work. Dualism abounds in this work as you would expect in a story about Two Face and Batman. We get to see the two sides of many characters as well as their dramatic foils. I speak not just of the two sides as in alter-egos, but the emotional dualism of each character as well as contrasting and comparing each character such as the quartet of Selina/Bruce/Catwoman/Batman. That's one complex relationship.

The art...well it ranged from good to serviceably abstract. I prefer realism though I understand what Sale was going for. However it wasn't distracting to me so it worked for the story.


A page turner, a little confusing, but the best Robin story.   February 16, 2002
 8 out of 10 found this review helpful

This book, the sequel to The Long Halloween, is yet another winner from Jeph Loeb. All the best from the Batman universe are in here, and his notion of how Robin came to be is the best use of the Boy Wonder I've read yet.

One of the real strength of this one is the use of all the supervillains; every character from The Scarecrow to Mr. Freeze makes an appearance and plays a roll in the story. A part of me wonders if that might not be a continuity error (as Dark Victory is set early on in the Batman universe), but that's certainly a minor quibble. I also really liked the development of Jim Gordon in this book.

The two reasons I knocked this story down: the new ADA, and the confusing elements of the plot. The motives behind the new ADA (the lady who took over Dent's job) aren't really explained that well--more of a backstory would have helped to explain her better. I also thought the book had too many elements at times; three competing crime families, a cast of characters that probably numbers 30+, plus two seperate yet intertwined storylines that both demand a lot of attention. This isn't an inherently bad thing, and the things that I'm still not quite sure of will probably resolve themselves on a second reading.

All in all, a great story. Thumbs up, and highly recommended!