10 Times DC Comics Tricked You

Many of DC's best comics rely on trickery to have that little extra something. After all, everyone likes to be surprised, and everyone hates having the same overused storylines hashed out time and time again - so why not mix things up with a little good old school plot twist? Or a new school plot twist, because many of these tricks and surprises genuinely feel like they've never been done before.

Most of the best applications of these are in comic mysteries, because all the best share the fact they have an ocean's worth of red herrings in them. That said, plenty of regular comics also trick you a fair few times, as the ever-changing timelines and backstories of DC and its characters often leads to you getting pranked by the proverbial prank patrol.

And you generally don't even feel mad, because when you're handed fake Jokers, secret assassins and Ric goddamn Grayson, you know the writers and artists are doing their absolute best to keep you on your toes, even if they have to change several iconic characters to do so.

Perhaps the most famous of DC's clever twist endings is that of the ending of The Long Halloween - and deservedly so, as it gets its rep for being a simply fantastic story.

The Long Halloween is largely a mystery story, centered around a mysterious serial killer named Holiday. Half-way through the story, it appears as though this mystery is solved, when Holiday is revealed to be Alberto Falcone, who has been systematically killing off people on holidays in order to spite his father for never letting him join in the mafia activities of the Falcone families.

At the very end of the last issue, however, things suddenly take a drastic change. Gilda Dent - Two-Face's partner - is revealed to have been responsible for the majority of the Holiday murders, in an attempt to get vengeance for her supervillain former paramour.