In my opinion, there are several different kinds of Batman fans in the world. The first kind are the movie fans, people who have seen the Christian Bale Movies and perhaps one or two of the earlier ones starring Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney. The second kind of Batman fan are those who grew up watching the animated cartoon series on television. Finally, the third kind is someone who has immersed themselves in some of the comic books that make up the history of the greatest detective in history. In my opinion, no one can truly consider them self a Batman fan until they have read The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.
The story follows the Caped Crusader through Gotham as Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and his vicious mob family hold a vice grip on the city. As a series of murders corresponding with major holidays, Batman seeks to stop the killer and the Falcone family from causing any more harm to Gotham city or it's inhabitants.
I don't want to say much more about the plot to The Long Halloween because I think that every comic book fan should be required to read the book. However, I will say that this is one of the greatest books i have ever read, not only in the graphic novel format, but in the all other genres of literature. It was also used as a part of the inspiration for the film "The Dark Knight" starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.
The graphic novel allows the reader to plunge headfirst into the world of some of your favorite super heroes in a way that no other medium can. Graphic novels allow for the reader to see what is going on as it is happening, much like a visual story, but is able to use their imagination to fill in the blanks in between sequences, much like reading a book.
Movie adaptations
Normally I don't like when a comic is made into a movie, but the notable exception has been the Batman films (excluding that god-awful Catwoman starring Halle Berry). I like seeing the different interpretations the directors come up with to encompass the tone and character development of the comics, what they keep in and what they change, etc.. For example back when Tommy Lee Jones played Two-Face he was rendered two-faced because Falcone threw acid on his face during a trial. But in the Dark Knight it was because of the explosion. I also like seeing how the actors interpret the varying degrees of exaggeration that the comics use, comic characters tend to be static and exaggerated, and in film there's sort of a happy medium but borderline exaggeration (ie: Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, Danny Devito as The Penguin). I know it's been said too much but I really enjoyed Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker, I prefer it over Jack Nicholson's.
From my perspective, the
From my perspective, the original films were actually a little more true to some of the aspects of the original TV show and original comics. The best example of this being Robin's line later on "Batman Forever" :
Robin: Holey rusted metal, Batman!
Batman: Huh?
Robin: The ground, it's all metal. It's full of holes. You know, holey.
The film the "Dark Knight" and "Batman Begins" both take more off the more recent adaptations from the Batman story, namely "The Long Halloween" but also off other pieces of work, including Frank Miller's own stories. The original films do well in what they were trying to achieve, which, with the release of "Batman and Robin" became a movie based on old Batman Jokes and colorful characters with an Oceans Eleven Flair. You gotta love it.
Third, Heath Ledger did an amazing job playing the Joker, but credit should go to the comic book writers over the past 40 years that have been building and providing history for one of the greatest comic book villains of all time.
Filling in the blanks
Right on. And some will argue that this particular gap-filling comprises the core poetics of the comics medium.
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