1. The Long Halloween
The Long Halloween is, without a doubt, one of the greatest Batman stories ever told. It was a 13-issue limited monthly series, written by Jeph Loeb with artwork by Tim Sale, that ran from 1996 to 1997. It takes place early in Batman's career, and tells the story of a mysterious killer named Holiday, who murders people on a holiday once a month. Batman desperately tries to find the killer before he can kill again, while also attempting to stop the crime war between Gotham's two most powerful mob families, the Maronis and the Falcones. It also depicts Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face, and was highly influential to Christopher Nolan, who used elements of the story in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The Long Halloween has everything a great Batman story needs: a unique killer, an interesting and intricate mystery for Bats to solve, several appearances from notable villains, and great artwork. It also gives one of Batman's dumbest adversaries, Calendar Man, a new spin that makes him relevant and interesting. Though we've seen aspects of the story so far on film, the series truly deserves to be adapted into its own feature-length movie, and could be given the same two-part structure that The Dark Knight Returns was given earlier this year.