Creators Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale crafted two of the most seminal Batman comics of all time in Batman: The Long Halloween and its sequel Batman: Dark Victory. But as it turns out, The Long Halloween was the start of a trilogy, and the final act will finally be released in 2024.
DC announced Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween at the MCM London convention today. This ten-issue series will again be written by Loeb. Unfortunately, due to Sale's death in 2022, the series won't feature new work from him beyond the cover art to issue #1. Instead, The Last Halloween will be illustrated by a rotating team of artists working in tribute to Sale. Those artists include Eduardo Risso (Flashpoint: Batman - Knight of Vengeance), Klaus Janson (The Dark Knight Returns) and Mark Chiarello (Batman: Black and White).
As with its holiday-themed predecessors, The Last Halloween opens during the spookiest season of the year. While a new threat looms over James Gordon's head, Batman and Robin find themselves tested like never before. DC teases that the series will feature the return of the Holiday Killer, whose identity was a central mystery in both The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.
“Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween is Tim Sale’s parting gift to me,” said Loeb in DC's press release. “Tim and I had already decided to tell this last chapter following Batman: The Long Halloween Special, which will serve as the prologue to this 10-part action-packed mystery.”
“Tim’s unfortunate passing put our plans for this series on hold,” Loeb said. “About a year later, after speaking with Mark Chiarello and Richard Starkings, my partners on the previous Long Halloween titles, we decided the time was right to move this forward as a tribute to Tim, who continues to be with us in spirit.”
Loeb added, “This story concludes the war between the freaks and the crime families forever, as Batman, Robin, and DC’s most infamous Bat-villains face off against Holiday, and secrets dating back to Batman The Long Halloween Special will be revealed.”
Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween #1 will be released on September 28, 2024.
For more on the Long Halloween series, check out IGN's reviews of the animated adaptations Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One and Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two, and see where the original graphic novel ranks in our list of the greatest Batman graphic novels of all time.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
