Comic #1: The Long Halloween - the Concept of the Long Defeat
I recently read a few Batman stories. Here are some reflections.
Credit to Matt Draper for making this observation
The Long Halloween is set in the early years of Batman’s career as a crime fighter. The core idea of the story is how Batman’s ruthless quest to rid the city of organised crime gave birth to a new class of the criminally insane to replace former mobsters. This marks the beginning of the chaos and madness that Gotham is soon to descend into. The concept of Long Defeat, popularised by Tolkien, runs through the story as an undercurrent as the tangible short-term “victory” at the end of the book comes with heavy “intangible” losses that contribute to the motif of a long but inevitable defeat of the good of the city (Batman and Gordon) at the hands of the corruption that runs inherent to Gotham.
