History ComicBook / TheLongHalloween

** Mad hatter is also seen one with in the climax.

The mini-series was extremely popular, in large part because it came out at the time that DC was overtly whoring out the main Batman books with crossover after crossover, meaning that fans were happy to have a compelling and well-written Batman book to read that didn't require them to buy four books and spin-off books to understand. It had a great deal of impact on later Batman books, most notably its exploration of the idea of the crime-fighting alliance between Harvey Dent[[note]]whose pre-Two-Face self had not received much focus prior to this series[[/note]] Batman, and Jim Gordon, as well as the subtext of the conflict between traditional organized crime and the up-and-coming supervillains. This was also a major influence on Nolan's ''Batman'' films: ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' copies the alliance between Batman, Gordon, and Dent straight from here, and homages this series in a number of other scenes--even the slogan "I believe in Harvey Dent" came from here.

Spawned two sequels, the less critically acclaimed (but still considered excellent) ''ComicBook/DarkVictory,'' and was concluded in ''ComicBook/CatwomanWhenInRome''.

** Of course, considering that the Riddler is generally not portrayed as one of Batman's more physical adversaries, so long as his attacker looked intimidating and was quick to reload he would probably have stayed still and silent to try and save his life.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Holiday's guns come from a weaponsmith in Gotham's Chinatown district who goes by the moniker "The Chinaman"; no one knows his real name, and he's killed on Mother's Day before Carla Vitti can get him to talk.

* YouAreTooLate: Carla Vitti tortures a {{Mook}} on Mother's Day for whatever information he has on Holiday. He eventually blabs that the serial killer's guns come from a weapon maker in Chinatown known only as "The Chinaman." She heads there to continue her investigation, only to find that Holiday beat her to the punch and chose the Chinaman for their Mother's Day murder, leaving behind the CallingCard of a basket of flowers.
** Holiday pulls a similar trick on St. Patrick's Day. Sofia Falcone correctly guesses that one of Maroni's safehouses will be the killer's target, so Holiday commits a mass shooting there in the early hours of the morning when it's ''technically'' St. Patrick's Day to prevent her from being on the scene.

A [[MovieMultiPack two-part]] AnimatedAdaptation of the story [[https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/dc-animated-films-2021-announcement has been announced]] to release in 2021.

* MakeAnExampleOutOfThem: Batman theorizes that this is why Holiday let Edward Nygma, the Riddler, live on April Fool's Day. Falcone hired Nygma to determine Holiday's true identity, showing that he was truly worried about the serial killer and at a loss as to who it might be. Riddler's surviving allowed him to share that information with others, which made it clear to everyone that Falcone's grip on the city was slipping.

* ConsultingAConvictedKiller: Batman visits Calendar Man in his cell at Arkham Asylum to ask him where he might find the killer known as "Holiday". Calendar Man suggests that, the day Batman is paying this visit being a holiday, Holiday is likely looking to commit a murder.

* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Holiday strikes on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, a birthday, then Halloween again, notably ''not'' killing the Riddler (deliberately) on April Fool's Day.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_the_long_halloween_9684.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"I believe in Jim Gordon. I believe in Harvey Dent. [[Film/TheGodfather I believe in Gotham City]]."]]

%%* BaldOfEvil: Calendar Man.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Poison Ivy, unlike the rest of Gotham's costumed villains, has [[GreenThumb actual superpowers]] and looks almost like an evil fairy rather than a human being, given her green lips, completely white skin, and "hair" made of plants.

* PlantPerson: Poison Ivy, who up until this point in the comics was usually depicted as a human being with a plant motif, receives a redesign that pushes her into this territory. Her skin is chalk-white, her lips and eyes are green, and--most tellingly of all--her "hair" is now a gigantic, moving set of vines, leaves, and creepers. It's so long that it can completely wrap around her body, and she even seems to control it independently.

** The title, and part of the plot, are a reference to ''Film/TheLongGoodFriday'', which also centres around traditional criminals (TheMafia here, a LondonGangster in the film) being pushed out by a new breed of criminal (super villains here, ||[[WesternTerrorists the IRA]] in the film||).

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler;Gilda]], if one believes [[her MotiveRant at the end of the story]].

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Alberto is identified as Holiday and is arrested and convicted for his crimes, but the last few pages seem to imply that Gilda and/or Harvey could've been Holiday all along.]] ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' does little to dispel the ambiguity--most characters, given what they witness in the story, believe the first option is true, [[spoiler:but several characters wonder about Gilda's sudden vanishment into the ether, and dialogue from Calendar Man interrupted by Two-Face implies that the actual culprit wasn't Alberto]].

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:A couple different ones that make for an AmbiguousEnding. Initially it's revealed that Alberto Falcone, previously believed to be another victim of Holiday, is actually Holiday himself, and he claims responsibility for all of the murders. However, when Dent is arrested he says that there were two Holidays, and while Batman assumes this refers to Dent killing Falcone on Halloween, Dent's wife Gilda claims in the final pages that ''she'' started the Holiday killings, but that she suspects Dent might have been responsible for some of them, particularly the "killing" of Alberto. Ultimately, which killings were done by which individuals is [[TheUnreveal completely up in the air.]]]]

* AssholeVictim: Most of Holiday's victims are mobsters. The only exceptions are some innocent patrons who witnessed Holiday's Valentine's Day murder of Falcone's men, a gun store owner Holiday had been buying from, and the coroner [[spoiler:who had pronounced Alberto Falcone dead when he was actually alive]]. Lampshaded by Dent after Johnny Vitti is murdered. "[[DoubleTap Two shots to the head]]. If you ask me, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy".
%%** [[IronicEcho Twice, even.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Organized crime in Gotham is in ruins, but through little effectual effort on the part of the heroes. In the process, Dent's life and reputation were completely destroyed. Worse still, this is essentially essentially the beginning of the rise of Batman's more colorful Rogue's Gallery to plague Gotham.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Solomon Grundy's "hideout".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: First thing we see Dent do is talk to himself in the third person, foreshadowing his split personality when he becomes Two-Face.

** "Working late again, [[EtTuBrute Vernon?]]"
* IronicNurseryTune: Practically all of Scarecrow's lines are nursery rhymes. Also "Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday." The Mad Hatter also only talks in lines from ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.'' And, of course, Joker quotes ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' as he invades Harvey Dent's new house.

* MoneyToBurn: Ever wonder where ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' got the inspiration for that scene?

** Many, especially to ''Film/TheGodfather''.

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Alberto is identified as Holiday and is arrested and convicted for his crimes, but the last few pages seem to imply that Gilda or Harvey could've been the killer all along.]] ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' does little to dispel the ambiguity--most characters, given what they witness in the story, believe the first option is true, [[spoiler:but several characters wonder about Gilda's sudden vanishment into the ether, and dialogue from Calendar Man interrupted by Two-Face implies that the actual culprit wasn't Alberto]].

* RunTheGauntlet: Much like Jeph Loeb's other Bat-books, this one practically parades all of Batman's major rogues. [[TropesAreNotBad God bless him for it.]]