Where we interview the stars, write about comics, TV, movies, books, music, games and anything fandom related.
Fan Retrospectives: 'The Long Halloween' #11
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
"Roman Holiday”
Writer: Jeph Loeb Artist: Tim Sale Color Artist: Gregory Wright Letterer: Richard Starkings
Review by Eric Lee
Harvey Dent’s life changes forever as the Holiday killings ramp up. It’s Carmine “The Roman” Falcone’s birthday, and crime takes the cake.
The previous issues have all been leading up to this, the moment where Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face. Jeph Loeb has gone through painstaking lengths to set up all of the pieces to bring us here. Gordon and Batman have been gunning for Falcone. The Holiday killer murdered Maroni’s father, motivating him to turn himself in. The year-long hunt for Holiday has been slowly turning the screws on Dent, causing him to lose it. Loeb’s meticulous pacing has finally paid off.
Gilda Dent is watching Harvey unravel.
Probably the Worst Plot Thread in the Story
The issue does introduce a strange-and honestly confusing-plot thread too. When Batman interrogates the Riddler at the bar, he asks why the Holiday killer spared him. The implication is that Holiday worked for Falcone and purposefully spared the Riddler so Falcone can announce that he is trying to discover Holiday’s identity.
I am still not sure how Batman reached that conclusion.
Wait, what? This revelation does not add anything to the story. If anything, it actually hurts it. It not only seems random, but also directly contradicts later scenes. Truthfully, it would be better if this whole bit was excised from the main plot.
‘The Godfather’ and Harvey Dent’s Transformation
Superfluous plot twists aside, Falcone also has a huge fight with his sister about employing costumed villains. Naturally, the overconfident Falcone believes he can control villains, but Carla Viti is not so sure. This little spat is brief, but touches on the whole ‘old crime versus new crime’ theme.
Carla Viti disapproves of Falcone employing super-criminals.
It is an increasingly prevalent motif as the story continues and really escalates later in Dark Victory. But for now, Sofia Gigante interrupts the bickering siblings with a surprise birthday party for Falcone.
Here is where Loeb wears his Godfather influence on his sleeve with the scene of juxtaposition of a happy event with an appalling event. While Falcone enjoys a joyful occasion, Dent’s court hearing with Maroni worsens. Dent ratchets up his questioning to Maroni. In turn, Maroni throws acid in Dent’s face.
Tim Sale uses the juxtaposition of Falcone blowing out his candles and Dent getting hit with acid to great effect.
Similarly, in The Godfather, as Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone at his godchild’s christening, is intercut with his assassins murdering rival gang leaders.
Loeb slows the pace down to get the full effect of the horror of Dent’s injuries. Even the traditional structure of the comic book page is disrupted to represent Dent’s painful transition into Two-Face. The one page of Dent screaming in anguish as the panels crookedly fall off is a perfect example of the synergy between Loeb’s script and Tim Sale’s art.
Dent’s anguish is captured perfectly by Sale’s art and composition.
With all the drama with Dent, one could easily forget that the Holiday killer is still out there, but Carla Viti remembers as she searches through the coroner’s files. However, that act proves to be fatal as the Holiday killer fatally shoots her in the back. Interestingly, this Holiday leaves no holiday-themed item at the crime scene.
That is because there are no major American holidays in August. Instead Loeb uses Falcone’s birthday as the holiday. Loeb has been cited for choosing August 2nd as the date, because that is also his own father’s birthday.
Conclusion
The payoff for this comic was fantastic. Readers experienced ten issues of foreshadowing and build-up to Dent’s turn to Two-Face. Now, the dominos begin to fall leaving Batman and Jim Gordon to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, the issue also hosts that perplexing Riddler scene that is wholly unnecessary. This one scene is so bad, that for me it really drags down quality of the over-arching plot.
Images Courtesy Of DC Entertainment
(This review was originally published on the Dark Knight News website on August 3rd 2018)
Interview panel led by Steve J. Ray, with a gathering of Comic/TV Media Journalists. I've spoken to some amazing people over the last couple of years; writers, artists, costume designers, and actors from some of my favorite TV shows. It's no secret that I'm a huge comic-book fan, and one of the TV series that's based on and inspired by a comics title - but has gone on to be so much more - is The Walking Dead . At a recent Comic-Con in London, I had the great opportunity of leading a panel where some fellow journalists and I spoke with Madison, Matthew and Macsen Lintz, three siblings who played Sophia and both iterations of Henry on the show. The eldest, Madison Lintz (born 1999) played Sophia Peletier - Carol's daughter - in the first two seasons. She's also well known for playing Maddie Bosch in the Amazon series Bosch . She started acting at the age of six, filming commercials and voice-overs. Matthew (born 2001) took over the role of Henry from
SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL… The Twilight Zone , a television series that shows no signs of letting up, is still going strong 60 years since it first debuted on CBS in 1959. Created by the already popular writer Rod Serling, the show became a series with an infinite lifespan. The Twilight Zone is now 60 years young and still has a massive appeal to those who love a bit of twisted, comedic, moralistic and, at times horrifying, science fiction. I have been a fan of this show for many years, from the original to the latest version by Jordan Peele. It was probably in the 1980’s that I first came across this show and I was amazed. Back then, just a teenager, I thought black and white shows were old and ‘fuddy duddy’ (as my kids would say nowadays). That was until my late mam (who was always there when I found my love for various things as a youngster) turned on the tv and an episode of the TZ was showing. I always remember the first episode I saw being "Ti
Article by Steve J. Ray There are always conversations, wherever you go; “Who’s the best Batman ?” Older fans may say Adam West, others will root for Michael Keaton. Modern audiences may prefer Christian Bale, or Ben Affleck. If you ask me THE Batman ; the most prolific, the most versatile, the ultimate, will always be Kevin Conroy. Think about it. When you read a Batman comic… whose voice do you hear? This is the man that took on the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman way back in 1992. He played the Dark Knight in 85 episodes of the cult hit “Batman: The Animated Series”, and then in the animated movies “Mask Of The Phantasm” (1993), “World’s Finest” (A.K.A. “The Batman/Superman Movie” 1997), “Sub Zero” (1998), and “Mystery Of The Batwoman” (2003). Let’s not forget that he also reprised the role/s in 52 episodes of the “Justice League” animated series (2001-2004), 39 episodes of “Justice League: Unlimited” (2004-2006) and in three episodes of “Static Shock” too (2003
Comments
Post a Comment