Perfect story. Perfect coloring, drawing, atmosphere. Perfect Batman.

Dark Victory takes place in the aftermath of the Holiday killings that ravaged Gotham City in The Long Halloween. The triumvirate of crime fighting from the previous book has been deeply changed with an overwhelmed Jim Gordon as the newly appointed Comissioner of Police, Harvey Dent turned into the psychotic Two-Face, and Batman darker, lonelier, and more violent than ever. As Batman's influence on Gotham continues to increase, so do the number of "freaks" that infest Gotham and its insane asylum, Arkham. After a prison break from Arkham, the "freaks" start wreaking havoc on the organized crime families which are quickly losing their grip on the city. Batman is struggling to fight villain after villain while juggling the newly orphaned Dick Grayson and trying to solve the case that could break his crime-fighting career. Dark Victory gives another twisted crime mystery for its readers to unravel with all the darkness and drama they've come to expect from a Loeb/Sale book. The twist in Dark Victory is just as good as The Long Halloween's but takes a backseat to the changes befalling Gotham City which are brilliantly and subtly written by Jeph Loeb. The slow overtaking of Gotham City by such villains as Two-Face, The Joker, and Penguin by having them duke it out with traditional organized crime is a stroke of genius that has been creeping its way through this story since the last page of Year One. Dark Victory is almost as classic as The Long Halloween but since the story is slightly recycled and the art a bit more rushed, it isn't flat-out amazing as consistently as its predecessor. Even despite those minor flaws, Dark Victory is a fantastic book and a perfect way to wrap up the mythos of Batman's early career and segue into the classic Batman universe.

Loeb and Sale improve upon the Long Halloween with a gripping mystery that succeeds in tension and suspense where I felt the long Halloween failed. More important than the mystery is the continued look at the relationships of the characters in Gotham City. Jim Gordon and Batman, Jim Gordon and his wife. Batman and Selina Kyle in their heart-breakingly unconsummated relationship and Batman and Robin.

We also get to see the interactions of the remnants of the crime families, the new super-villains under Two-Face's lead and a new D.A., Harvey Dent's replacement getting her fingers dirty interacting with both sides. More than the mystery of who Hangman is, it is the characterization of Batman, the D.A., Jim Gordon and Two Face that make this a superior work. Dualism abounds in this work as you would expect in a story about Two Face and Batman. We get to see the two sides of many characters as well as their dramatic foils. I speak not just of the two sides as in alter-egos, but the emotional dualism of each character as well as contrasting and comparing each character such as the quartet of Selina/Bruce/Catwoman/Batman. That's one complex relationship.

The art...well it ranged from good to serviceably abstract. I prefer realism though I understand what Sale was going for. However it wasn't distracting to me so it worked for the story.

In the sequel to the amazing The Long Halloween, Batman/Bruce Wayne and Police Commissioner Jim Gordon are out to catch a cop-killer who hangs both current and ex cops on holidays, very similar to the exploits of Holiday, AKA Alberto Falcone. The difference is that Holiday always struck at members of the Falcone crime family. Complicating the investigation is the fact that, with the Falcone family in ruins, the streets of Gotham City have become infested with "freaks", the supervillains who comprise Batman's Rogues Gallery. Chief among them are Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, the ex-District Attorney whose face was half burned off by acid. Furthermore, the Joker, Batman's chief nemesis, the Scarecrow, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, and Catwoman are making things very hard for Batman.
Meanwhile a new D.A. named Janice Porter has taken over for Dent, and her misguided idealism causes problems for Gordon and Batman. Furthermore, when Harvey Dent's files are stolen out of her archives, his old documents begin appearing on the victims. These, along with intricate knowledge of the dead cops suggests that Dent is the Hangman, as the killer is called, but Batman thinks that they are merely being misdirected (although, it is strange that one of the notes implies that the killer knows something only the true Holiday would know).
Dark Victory shows the final attempts of the Falcone and Maroni crime families to regain power in Gotham. When one of the plans involves using a circus as a front for their illegal activity, a young Dick Grayson witnesses the death of his parents, very similar to Bruce Wayne.
Overall, this is a great story and worthy follow-up to The Long Halloween. While it isn't as good as its predecessor (it's a hard story to top) and it does somewhat follow the same formula (holiday killings), it is still a great read.

Another instant classic in the Long Halloween tradition, Loeb and Sale deliver on all counts. This time, adding Robin's origin story to another mobster-and-super-villain-filled romp through Gotham City. If you like Batman, and enjoy different art styles, you'll love this masterly crafted work.