Graphic Novels that influences The Dark Knight. Batman: The Long Halloween

Batman: The Long Halloween is a 13-issue comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale. The collection of the series was also published as a graphic novel.

The Long Halloween is a major influence on the stories of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Hailed as one of the greatest Batman stories of all-time, it touches on Batman's early years with a noir theme.

Batman, Commissioner Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent vowed to capture the mob boss Carmine "The Roman" Falcone but a mysterious serial killer who calls himself "Holiday" is murdering family members of the mob one by one on every significant holidays on the calendar.

Batman, Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon investigates the murders to find out the identity of the killer. Batman runs into Catwoman, who has her own deals with the Falcone family and their "friendship" starts to build.

Batman seeks help from the Calendar Man, who is in Arkham Asylum for committing murders on holidays, and the Riddler, to analyze the notes left by Holiday. Batman finds that Holiday has accomplices and further investigations lead to surprising results.

The Long Halloween features the origin of Two-Face and spans an entire year of Batman's career as a masked vigilante following the events in Batman: Year One, another noir masterpiece. With intelligent writing from Jeph Loeb and great art by Tim Sale, The Long Halloween ends with a twist and lays down the anticipation for its sequel Dark Victory. ---Sean Hein