The Comics That Inspired Matt Reeves' The Batman

The Long Halloween has played a huge role in Batman's on-screen evolution and is considered to be a definitive, seminal iteration of the character and respective universe. Chris Nolan had referenced The Long Halloween on more than one occasion and it's easy to see why as the book is one of the more expansive, lengthy detective-style takes on the Batman.

Created by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, TLH was originally published in 1996 and 1997 as a thirteen issue run. The original inspiration for the story came from writer Mark Waid, who upon learning that Loeb was working on another Batman story, suggested that they focus again on the years before Harvey Dent became Two-Face, as it had been touched on before in Frank Miller's Batman: Year One.

The plot is a long, complex crime investigation that takes places over a year and sees Batman take on a mysterious new serial killer who strikes every month on a special day, earning him the name 'Holiday.'

As Batman investigates, he is still juggling the issue of organised crime in Gotham, as numerous super-villains begin to take centre stage, such as the Joker, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy and The Riddler. We do know some of these will feature in Reeves' film, and he has already stated on Twitter that TLH is a major inspiration: "There are many... I love Year One, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Ego... "

The visual style is worth noting too as TLH has some of the most beautiful depictions of the character ever published.