Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One

At a June wedding, Carmine Falcone pressures Bruce Wayne to help launder his money, but Bruce refuses. Later, Bruce (as Batman) returns to Falcone’s penthouse and finds Catwoman similarly involved. Batman meets with district attorney Harvey Dent and police captain Jim Gordon. The trio forges a pact to end Falcone’s crime reign, choosing to bend the law rather than break it to achieve their goal.

Bruce, on the board of Gotham City Bank, uses his influence as Batman to oust the bank’s president, Richard Daniel, and install a leadership that will cut Falcone’s money flow. Under orders from his uncle, Falcone’s nephew Johnny Viti, Daniel is assassinated. Viti himself is killed on Halloween by an unknown assailant, leaving behind an untraceable pistol, a baby-bottle nipple used as a crude silencer, and a carved jack-o’-lantern. [Catwoman] leads Batman to a warehouse where Falcone has been forced to stash his funds, and the two allies set the warehouse ablaze to destroy the money. Falcone answers by hiring the Sullivan family, a gang of Irish hitmen led by Donald “Donny Boy” Sullivan, to destroy Dent’s home with a bomb, but Dent and his wife survive. On Thanksgiving, the hitmen themselves are killed by an unknown agent who leaves the same pistol and silencer behind, along with a Thanksgiving decoration. The killer is dubbed “Holiday” by the media. Milos Grapa, Falcone’s bodyguard, is killed in a similar fashion on Christmas. Holiday is believed to be a rival of the Falcone family.

On New Year’s Eve, Batman stops the Joker from using deadly laughing gas to kill everyone in Gotham Square. Meanwhile, Dent’s corrupt assistant, Vernon Fields, finds evidence supposedly linking Falcone to Wayne. Aboard the Falcone yacht, Falcone’s son, Alberto Alberto Falcone, is killed by Holiday on New Year’s Eve. Over the next few months, Holiday’s targets shift to the Maroni gang, a rival in Gotham. A war between the Falcones and Maronis erupts, and Falcone turns to Gotham’s so‑called “freaks” (such as the Riddler, Poison Ivy, the Scarecrow, and Mad Hatter) to hold his ground. Following Falcone’s orders, Poison Ivy ensnares Bruce Wayne on Valentine’s Day, coercing him to launder money for Falcone. This inadvertently removes Batman from the equation. It is not until Saint Patrick’s Day that Selina Kyle realizes what has happened to him and, as Catwoman, frees him from Poison Ivy’s grip.

On April Fool’s Day, the Riddler becomes the first target to be spared by Holiday, a move Batman suspects is a message from Holiday to Falcone. The pistols left by Holiday and the bullets from his victims lead to a Chinatown gunmaker, who is found dead as Holiday’s next victim on Mother’s Day. The following day, Dent follows Vernon’s investigation and has Bruce arrested, claiming that, as Bruce’s father Thomas Wayne saved Falcone’s life after he was shot, Bruce is loyal to the Falcones. Alfred testifies that Thomas Wayne’s report never surfaced due to police corruption, helping to declare Bruce innocent, especially in light of the Gotham City coroner’s murder on Independence Day.

Sal Maroni, having been arrested earlier, offers to testify against Falcone after his father is killed on Father’s Day. During the trial, he throws a vial of acid—secretly given to him by Vernon—at Dent, disfiguring half of Dent’s face. Dent is rushed to a hospital but escapes into the sewers, befriending Solomon Grundy when he encounters him. Gordon deduces Dent may be Holiday, but Batman refuses to believe it until he can talk to Dent himself.

After Falcone’s sister Carla Viti is murdered on Falcone’s birthday in August, Batman questions Calendar Man, Julian Gregory Day, about where to find Dent. Day suggests that, since it is Labor Day, Holiday will try to kill Maroni. Batman stages a plan with Gordon to move Maroni, giving Holiday the means and opportunity. During the transfer, Holiday murders Maroni, but Batman—disguised as one of the security guards—takes him down. Holiday is revealed to be Alberto Falcone, the son of Carmine Falcone, who had faked his death.

On Halloween, Dent resurfaces as Two-Face. He releases most of the super-criminals from Arkham Asylum, then seeks out and kills both Carmine Falcone and Vernon, despite Batman’s attempts to stop him. Falcone’s daughter Sofia is also apparently killed in a struggle with Catwoman.

Having exacted his revenge, Two‑Face turns himself in to Gordon and Batman but claims there were two Holiday killers. Gordon is confused, as Alberto has already confessed to the killings. While Batman initially doubts Two‑Face’s statement, he notes that, with Dent finishing Falcone and his remaining allies on Halloween, the notion of a second Holiday killer remains possible. Alberto’s confession allows the authorities to delay his execution, pending sanity hearings.

Months later, on Christmas Eve, Gilda is packing to leave Gotham and takes a box to her furnace, containing a pistol, a hat, and what looks like her husband’s clothing. As she burns the items, she reflects on starting the Holiday killings to ease Falcone’s grip on Gotham and give her and her husband time together. She can’t shake the suspicion that Alberto lied, preferring to believe that Dent himself began the killings on New Year’s Eve and that the two were secretly coordinating. Still, she remains convinced that Alberto served as their scapegoat, believing the authorities cannot uncover the other Holiday killer without Dent’s cooperation—and she holds on to the hope that her husband can be cured.