Headscratchers / The Long Halloween

• It's been awhile since I read The Long Halloween, but what are some hints that Gilda might be absolutely delusional?
  • This is coming from something I read online, but one of the major problems that some readers have with Gilda being Holiday is that it would have been very difficult for her to sneak out of the hospital and kill the Irish Gang on Thanksgiving. Shooting Johnny Viti is more believable, as it's a quick, painless death; even the murder of Milos, Falcone's bodyguard, would be relatively simple to pull off. But the hit on the Irish is a lot more complicated: it's five armed guys in a private hotel room, and Gilda was pretty badly injured by the bomb explosion on Halloween; note that on Christmas, she's still in a wheelchair. It wouldn't be completely impossible, but it certainly wouldn't be easy, either.
  • Gilda wasn't nearly as incapacitated as she let on. There is a scene in chapter 3 where Harvey surprises Gilda with their new house. Gilda, overcome with happiness, basically leaps out her wheelchair to hug her husband, prompting Harvey to say "Gilda, you shouldn't be standing! The doctors said..." Gilda interrupts with "Doctors! What do THEY know?" I took that as a sign that Gilda was playing everybody by faking a debilitating injury. Remember- she and Harvey were together in the same house when the explosion went off, and Harvey was perfectly fine, able to participate in Gordon and Batman's scheme to trick "The Irish" (the bombers) into confessing. It could very well be that the doctors at Gotham General or whatever are either criminally negligent or just plain suck, but it is also possible to fool even competent medical practitioners into thinking that you have lost (at least momentarily) the usage of your legs. Hospitals are not prisons. The medical staff are there to treat you for illness and/or injury, not hold you there against your will. It is fairly easy for a woman who has been admitted for treatment and kept there for observation to dress into her civilian clothing, stroll right out of the hospital, hop a cab, uh, gun down a small mob, then scoot back into her hospital bed before anybody notices.
  • I always assumed that all three suspects committed at least some of the killings. One of them started the pattern, and the others followed it for their own killings.
  • A lot of the evidence points to Alberto, working under orders from his father, with Gilda and Harvey as viable, but still red herrings. As stated above, Gilda is at one point too injured to do one of the killings. Harvey committing the murders would detract from him finally snapping and becoming Two-Face, and getting his Ironic Echo about "couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." This will be debated for sure, but much of the evidence points to Alberto, who early on shows an interest in the family business, is dismissed by his dad so as to not be seen as a threat. The first half of the killings are all members of the Falcone crime family who failed The Roman in some way, by either selling him out or being inept. In the second half, it becomes the family's enemies, such as Maroni. The first killings serve two purposes: Clear house, and also destroy any suspicion that Falcone is secretly behind it all. Of course, the plan falls apart as the supervillains gain more power. Since the series uses so many Godfather allusions, Alberto is basically Michael (seen as out of the game, but the weapon striking at the family's enemies) hiding under the mask of Fredo's ineptitude.
  • Also, if Alberto wasn't either committing most of the murders or planning on committing more at the time of his "attack," then he would have no reason to fake his own death or go on to murder his coroner.
  • There is a Word of God that stated: There were three killers total, Gilda was the first killer till she was injured, then Harvey picked up where she left off, her dialog stated she believed he knew she was the killer but never confirmed. Then Alberto did the remaining murders but claimed credit for all of them.
  • Nope, Word of God didn't name the killer and that it is up to the readers to decide.
• How the hell could Calendar Man have known who the Holiday Killer is when he's spent the entire story arc locked up in Arkham? What exactly has he seen and/or heard to even know about Alberto or Gilda Dent, much less finger them as the killer(s)?
  • Some online reviews of the story have pointed out that Calendar Man's dialogue covers all possibilities. By alternating between "he" and "her" and mostly asking open-ended questions, he ensures that something he says will seem to be right in retrospect. Notably, nothing he says seems to help Batman solve the mystery in any meaningful way.
    • He does complain that Calendar Man is being forgotten. He may have been bullshitting just to remain relevant.
  • As stated on the headscratchers page for Telltale's Batman, smart people become omniscient when incarcerated. Calendar Man in this story is a reference to Hannibal Lecter, but they forget that it was explained how Hannibal knew Buffalo Bill's true identity.
  • His cell is covered in newspaper clippings. He may have figured it out from finding a pattern in those.
• Why do the Dents spend the story one step away from the poorhouse? Harvey's clearly a successful enough prosecutor to make District Attorney, which is not a job that pays peanuts. He should be making more than enough to give his family a comfortable living, unless he financed his election himself (The DA is an elected official, for those who are confused) out of his own pocket, which I'm pretty sure is against the law, but I may be wrong there. Point is, he should have no trouble bringing in the groceries.
  • What gave you the idea the Dents were having financial trouble? They bought a brand new house near the beginning of the story. The only domestic discord they were having was Harvey working too hard, and their failure to have a baby. None of that was due to financial troubles.
  • The original poster is probably referring to the remark after seeing the new house. Gilda asks "Can we really afford it?," and Harvey frankly replies "No." But that's an extreme circumstance: not only was their original home absolutely destroyed by a bomb, but Gilda had just been in the hospital for over a month, suggesting costly medical bills. Plus it's a quiet reminder of Gotham's corruption: it's established early in the story that Falcone has bought off dozens of cops, politicians, and judges, but Harvey himself refuses to accept bribes or give into temptation, so he's probably making less than a District Attorney would in a city that isn't controlled by the Mob.
• Where was Alfred when Bruce was under Poison Ivy's control? It was going on for at least a month at which point Alfred disappears from the story, but afterward he shows up again completely unharmed and it's never referenced.
  • The above is a good point that I never really reflected upon until the troper brought it up. Maybe Ivy had Bruce dismiss Alfred by forcing him to take a vacation, so her ruse would not be discovered?
  • It's also possible that Ivy can control more than one person at once, so she could have easily infected Alfred with her powers. It only took a single scratch from a rose's thorn to bring Bruce—the epitome of physical and mental fitness—under her spell; Alfred would have been even easier to capture.