Batman The Last Halloween: Concluding the Epic Saga of The Long Halloween

Nearly three decades on, Batman: The Last Halloween wraps up the beloved narrative started in The Long Halloween. A novel Batman mini-series is launching to persist and conclude the narrative initiated by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale in 1996. The ten-part series titled Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween will see Loeb at the helm of writing, with creation duties taken up by various admired artists.

The inaugural issue will feature the talents of Eduardo Risso, Dave Stewart, and Richard Starkings, following up on the narrative cues from 2021's The Long Halloween Special one-shot, which had been poised to launch a new storyline but was put on hiatus due to Tim Sale's passing in 2022. "Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween represent’s Tim Sale's final contribution to our shared storytelling," Loeb remarked. He added, "Following The Long Halloween Special, Tim and I had set our sights on this concluding chapter, which now doubles as an action-packed mystery spanning ten parts." Loeb elucidated that the series' delay was due to Sale's departure but, after discussions with Mark Chiarello and Richard Starkings, his co-contributors on earlier Long Halloween editions, they felt it timely to proceed with this series as an homage to Sale, whose presence remains felt. Loeb disclosed, "This narrative rounds off the conflict between the outlandish foes and the mob families for good, with Batman, Robin, and DC's notorious Bat-antagonists coming head to head with Holiday, uncovering truths hidden since Batman The Long Halloween Special."

The roster of contributing artists for the series will also include Klaus Janson and Mark Chiarello, among others awaiting disclosure. The Long Halloween is widely acclaimed as one of the quintessential Batman tales and among the most significant comics of the 1990s, famed for its convoluted murder mystery plot and the mood-setting art by Sale. It greatly inspired Matt Reeves' 2022 film The Batman and was adapted into animation in 2021. The original narrative also inspired sequels, notably Batman: Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome, in addition to the Batman The Long Halloween Special. Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #1 will be available from DC on September 25, celebrating its place as a paramount Batman story.