Batman The Long Halloween: A Comic vs Movie Comparison | Video Essay

[@thenerddesk111]

To clear up some things: 1. Apologies if the footage was a bit hard to follow at times, some of it is plane bad editing on my part, and fighting WB copyright is like herding cats. 2. I accidentally left out Catwoman’s investigation into the crime family in its entirety. It isn’t the most important thing, but it was basically the same in both versions. 3. Titus Welliver, the voice of Carmine Falcone was also really good, I just forgot to mention him in the script. Both him and Josh Duhamel are great underrated actors too.

[@brianwilcox1686]

Originally the director of the movies wanted the art style to be more in line with the comic, but since Warner Brothers wanted these movies to be a part of their new universe, they decided to go with the guard style for Superman man tomorrow

[@rjk537]

WB ruining movies as always

[@actually-will1606]

It’s genuinely what put me off watching the movie the most. The art is so good in the graphic novel it just makes the film look so much weaker.

[@brianwilcox1686]

@ right! And plus after the long Halloween movies it felt like Jensen was phoning it in. I don’t know if it was the acting direction or something else, but if we get another animated Batman movie, hopefully Jensen can get another shot

[@matthewschwartz6607]

@@actually-will1606- How were The Dark Knight Returns and Year One?

[@RRai2000]

​@@rjk537 And so are fans with thier bullshit drama. This makes me laugh sometimes

[@ghostwarrior3878]

The VA that did Catwoman does a gret job in the role, its a shame she passed away

[@matthewschwartz6607]

@@ghostwarrior3878 - I just found out. She was so young.

[@callmejacob3234]

There's a little moment in this comic that I really enjoy and it's when Batman leaves a plate for Grundy. I love when Batman is compassionate it's the best part of his character. Give me a Batman that's compassionate over a Batman that's edgy any day.

[@thenerddesk111]

It’s wholesome, Batman knows Grundy is a lost soul

[@callmejacob3234]

@@thenerddesk111 I miss when Batman actually cared about his villains. His no kill made sense then. He didn't kill because he wanted to help them. I wish we could go back to that. I'm kinda sick of Psycho Bat God it's annoying.

[@matthewschwartz6607]

@@callmejacob3234 - It depends on the villain. The villains like Killer Croc (At least the Post-Crisis version .), it works for . If it’s for a villain like Zzazz, NO!

[@callmejacob3234]

@@matthewschwartz6607 Batman despises villains like Zsasz but does believe they have some redemption in them. That's what makes him a great hero.

[@Regenmacher175]

Poison Ivy was in the post-credit scene for Part 1 and she started mind-crontrolling Bruce right away. So no, she does not come "out of nowhere" in the second part. Also, the movie vesion of the reveal at the end works better because I don't buy Gilda's motivation in the comic.

[@thenerddesk111]

I missed the ivy part in part 1 so thank you, and an other people have brought up the Gilda problem, it’s a fair point.

[@matthewjohnson9199]

Glad to have come across this channel. I've watched a lot more movies than read comics (though I have read a few). Appreciate the comparison. I do like them both, though I do prefer the movie a little more. One comparison where I feel like the comic is much better than the movie is Gotham by Gaslight.

[@thenerddesk111]

I’ll get to that one eventually, right now I’m chugging through flashpoint. Glad you like the videos!

[@bmo5852]

For Carmine figuring out Bruce was Batman, i think he figured it out right at the end when Bruce parroted his motto back to him

[@Stopmotionguy2049-cf2bp]

That one more day jab was hilarious. Also love that little Joker moment where he tells Falcones secretary to hold all his calls. Other than that though I for sure prefer the comic and as for adaptations of this story, I prefer The Dark Knight.

[@thenerddesk111]

I love making comic in-jokes, glad you liked it

[@anklebiter2323]

I confess, I like the movie better. The comic was great, don't get me wrong. But it suffers a lot of plot holes and gaps of logic that I feel the movie managed to make more sense of with their changes. Still iconic, but I think too many people don't realize how the details at times didn't really sync up that well with the final outcome. Holidays motives made way more sense for one, seeing how in the comic it felt like what Gilda wanted didn't really match with what she did. If you want to spend more time with your DA husband, giving him more work feels shortsighted to get what you want. Adding a story of a forced abortion also added more symbolic and emotional weight with the the baby bottle covers on the gun rather than a poorly researched gun silencer gimmick. Plus in the film, Harvey being the one who was damaged from the house explosion besides Gilda and being hospitalized made more sense given how Gilda in the comic would have been too hurt to take out the Irish hitmen on Thanksgiving, while if it wasn't her to begin with, taking out the Chinese members felt more believable. And Two Face being Gilda's SECOND husband? It's dramatic irony at it's finest. The VAs did amazing and while the animation doesn't reflect the comics style, out of all the Tomorrowverse movies, Long Halloween actually was the one that managed to roll with the style the best. Helped it feel film noir still, which is fitting for a dark mystery. I like both quite a lot for different reasons, but I feel a tad biased in the animated films favor. It's by no means perfect, but it still is very enjoyable and something I would rewatch happily. The rest of the universe not so much...

[@thenerddesk111]

Solid take, hats off to you

[@shabillalma4907]

​@@thenerddesk111 I'm also more of a fan of the film. My reasoning simply is because when you look into it, the story a lot of the time is an *almost direct copy* of things, mainly The Godfather. The film does a lot to try and simplify the story as well as distance itself from copying too much. It's a bit too long to explain here but I recommend watching a video here on YT titled "Is Batman: The Long Halloween OVERRATED?" By Superhero Stuff You Should Know, they brought on a guest star who noticed a lot of the similiarities and stuff. While I do understand people's love for the original, to me the movie works much better in certain areas, heck it even changed a few things for the better, like how the Irish mob being replaced with Triads is an (prolly massive over correction) attempt to not have the heavy Irish stereotypes. But yeah, while I'm glad for this comic's existence, I just think the film did a more solid job.

[@gundanout11]

Rest is peace Nia Rivera you are amazing voice of Catwoman.

[@Bobbybillybillbob]

I read there was suppose to be an animated mini that took place between the two fipms amd would have focused on The Riddler, however they felt that this was mostly a recap of what was already happening and they didn't feel it was necessary

[@gundanout11]

20:52 This is the reason why Catwoman never show up during Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths but why not replace her with Grey DeLisle from the Arkham games or Elizabeth Gillies from Catwoman: Hunted they both the same as Nia Rivera, Catwomen could show up in part 2 and meet her daughter the Huntress and part 3 were both Batman and Catwoman hold hands to enter the Monoverse.

[@mrkaji8913]

21:27 I was expecting Brade swaile

[@matthewschwartz6607]

Wow, I just found out that the actress who played Catwoman DIED!😳Wow! Very young, too. Sad.

[@mrkaji8913]

What other comics do you want to see get animated

[@thenerddesk111]

Dark Avengers for sure, old man Logan, and Kingdom Come

[@poopooman-q7r]

dark victory, batman kings of fear, batman ego

[@mrkaji8913]

@@thenerddesk111 for me, empire joker, nightfall, no man’s land, the sonic x dc crossover, Scott pilgrim (brother hood treatment), rebirth, Batman knightfall, titans 2000’s comics (it’s a anime series and then it gets an animated film adapting titans of tomorrow,) i’d like to see all the DC comics get adapted

[@mrkaji8913]

@@poopooman-q7r perfect selection

[@mrkaji8913]

I’d want you to compare this to the 2022 live action

[@ghostwarrior3878]

I do have to agree with you on the choice of art style for this film and the not understanding why they chose to connect it to the tomorrow verse movies, the only thing I can argue about the Catwoman costume, is that it's reminiscent of the Batman the Animated Series costume. I will also go on to say that having watched the movie first and read the book after that, I can wholeheartedly see why people like the comic so much better, outside of the performances for Catwoman and Ackles as Batman, I find it hard to justify why I like this movie. Completely unrelated, but It's the same thing as the Batman hush film, for me I enjoyed the moments with Catwoman and Bruce but that was it.

[@motor4X4kombat]

18:33 THANKS MARGE! WHY DON'T YOU TELL EM OUT LOUD!!

[@mrkaji8913]

21:12 I wish he played both in this film

[@mrkaji8913]

1:29 so does the 2022 one

[@ghostwarrior3878]

You should consider channel memberships

[@Yoshterspeeder1603]

Can you do ‘the killing joke’ please?

[@thenerddesk111]

I’m working on flashpoint right now, and I have some other videos planned, but I’ll add it to the next poll

[@Yoshterspeeder1603]

@@thenerddesk111 cool

[@mrkaji8913]

6:28 ironic how 2022 actually use him

[@Master_Kenway]

Ah, i recently got the same edition of the comic that i see you have

[@mrkaji8913]

17:48 she looks like videl and yosano

[@mrkaji8913]

11:23 it’s better than that

[@mrkaji8913]

Do berserk

[@JoJoDoe1997]

I lost most of my comics in the midel of the pandemic Lost A Lot Of Stuff Really But The Birthday Long Halloween Issue I Did Keep Even If Everything Was Falling Apart Not sure why, guess im just that mutch of two face fan, i Love Preaty Mutch Every Single Encarnation Of The Character Not all are equal, but idk Harvey is Confort Charcter for me Even if i wasent really diagnose till very late , i allways knew there was something wrong in my head Not Like Joker , something more Divicive and Seen The Duke Of Duality Dance A Walls In The Edge Whit His Old pal Bruce Well is allways a verry entretenig and emotional thing for me Even If The Movie Was Bad , It Did Has its Moments And Still The Best Thing Out Of The TomorrowVerse and hearring that little but simple speach Harv gives to Grundy Heck maybe it help me a bit in my Drakess moment Heh Can A Man Trully Live Two Lives? Heads Or Tails Boss? See Ya Arround

[@BatmanYearOne-k]

A good story

[@aliaubreyswink6767]

Wait part 2 isn’t great or the whole movie isn’t great?

[@thenerddesk111]

The whole thing unfortunately, but there are redeeming qualities in some places

[@Able406]

I couldn’t even finish the movie 😂. One of my favorite comics of all time though

[@winnerwatson1883]

There are some parts of the animated adaptation that take from The Long Halloween’s sequel story, Dark Victory. For example, Gilda and Alberto attending Oxford seems to be a corrupted version of Janice Porter and Alberto Falcone connection to Harvard as per Commissioner Gordon’s suspicions about her. This adaptation felt the most disappointing to me. I believe that the writers thought because it’s a mystery they wanted to place red herrings so they could avoid spoilers from people that were well versed in Batman. But it fall flat because they didn’t keep to the story or come up with something else. Like, yeah people who have read The Long Halloween or know about it are going to have an advantage over somebody who doesn’t. It should have just focussed on telling the story of The Long Halloween, not haphazardly rewrite the ending in last minute. I’m seriously considering that Warner Bros Animation can only do better adaptations of Jeph Loeb stories of Superman & Batman (Public Enemies & Apocalypse) than solo Batman stories (Hush & The Long Halloween). This adaptation has completely neutered the possiblity of adaptations of Dark Victory, When in Rome, and Haunted Knight. I understand that with whole mess happening with DC & Warner Bros there will be complications so maybe that’ll explain it. I just really wish that the writers could have thought more clearly about how the changes would affect the story and there’s probably no chance of a redo. But then again, The Death of Superman has had two animated adaptations so, who knows?…

[@mrkaji8913]

19:53 it’s better

[@mayonnaise3959]

I think the movies fine for the most part but there’s 2 things that keep me from fully liking and preferring it to the comic. The boring art style and Batman letting Gilda go. Batman’s obsessive discipline and mentality wouldn’t just have him let Gilda get away with all this. This also applies to the comic I guess BUT she wasn’t the only holiday killer in the comic. He at least also got Alberto. Granted either way I believe that he would arrest them both but still. At least the book had him get half. And the art style dear god. The comics art was phenomenal some of the greatest ever but the movies took such a bland and boring look at it. All of the characters looks too bland and basic and don’t have that same energy that the book had.

[@mrkaji8913]

It still has %100 rotten tomatoes

[@kwayneboy1524]

Didn't Glida want vengence on Carmine because he both split up her love life had her forcfully take an abortion?

[@thenerddesk111]

In the comic, she wanted to help Harvey so she could spend more time with him.

[@kwayneboy1524]

@@thenerddesk111 I know I was referring to the film.

[@gundanout11]

Batman The Long Halloween movie is the same change things just like they did in Batman Hush movie like they change the Identity of Hush and the same with Holiday.

[@paulc1553]

I prefer the comic to the film.

[@johnpryde]

Don't agree about movie version.

[@thenerddesk111]

Really? What’s your take?

[@johnpryde]

@@thenerddesk111 I just liked it. Maybe it's not perfect, comparing with original comic book, but I don't regret spending my time on that movie and I don't mind to rewatch it.

[@thenerddesk111]

@@johnprydeI respect that, good thoughts dude.

[@johnpryde]

@@thenerddesk111 Thanks.

[@joshuariccio9754]

The animated movies made way to many unnecessary changes

[@George_17-28]

This should have been a comparison between the comic against the dark knight or the Batman not against the animated version, animated movie just only copy and paste the comic book, barely do a little adaptation but overall animated movies are just copy and paste from comics

[@thenerddesk111]

That’s a good take, but for now I’d rather stick to “adaptations” than things that take lots of inspiration, maybe someday I’ll revisit it though

[@motor4X4kombat]

the thing about the dark knight and the batman is that they are both are loose adaptations, they both take elements from the book yes but they pretty much tell their own thing. With just having the joker causing harvey's ugly side insted of maroni or the riddler beeing the holiday killer insted of blank person, you can see these ain't the same story. the animated movies in the other hand are suppoust to be direct adaptations like manga-anime adaptation so its more easy to spot when the adaptation fails to capture the essence of the comic

[@aliaubreyswink6767]

I’d recommend the movie now stop doing your a disservice and go watch it

[@Rengokuo4o6]

Hated the movie.