Death in the Family (Starlin) or Long Halloween?

..Mulling over which Bat book to add next to my collection, which only started at Christmas but now comprises TDKR, Year one, Earth One, Hush and Court of Owls.

Death of the Family and Long Halloween come recommended with interesting stories, which one?

Are you talking about Death in the family? Anyways I prefer Long Halloween to both DitF and DotF.

Long Halloween is the better story. I loved that book, kept me guessing the entire time.

@ninjablade09: it did more than make the reader guess the whole time as we still don't know each killer. I love the mystery and tone but the fact that they never answer and the way they handle the mystery at the scene with gillida is both a success and a failure. Still an amazing book.

@bezza: Death of the family was by Snyder and death in the family was by starlin so I'm going to assume you meant death in the family? In that case, DITF was a good story in its own right, but I would only recommend it over the long halloween if the novelty of seeing robin die is valuable to you. Otherwise, the long halloween is the better book and that's what you should get. Plus the art really gives the book its own feel and mood and really ties everything together.

Long Halloween is the better of the two.

But there are many better stories than these two.

@redleader1: Definitely. That ending still gets me. I still love the scene with Calendar Man and Holiday just naming off days throughout the year. That and Sales art completely gave off an eerie and dark feeling to Gotham. I think I'm going to go read that book again now.

Agreed.

It depends on the direction you want to go. If you're wanting to dig into new 52, get Death in the Family. If you're wanting to work through from Year One into the modern continuity, go with Long Halloween. Long Halloween is a huge classic, but I think Death stands up in terms of quality. Bottom line: you can't go wrong.

I've never been much of a fan of Long Halloween. Most fans cite Long Halloween as necessary reading when it comes to impacting Batman stories, but I'd choose Death of the Family over it.

@jayc1324: said it best.

I'll have it agree with Ninjablade09, the art is a bit... But the story does keep you guessing. Definitely read Death IN the Family though, much better than Death OF the family.

Pick the long halloween, one of the few works from jeph loeb that isn't pure crap

Yes I meant Death in the Family, rather than Death of the Family..the older book

In that case I'd say Halloween.

His Batman stuff is pretty good.

Thanks to Tim Sale's artwork. Otherwise it's pretty crappy.

BB

@ninjablade09: oh and the whole I believe in batman thing was great with Bruce on a roof.

Death in the Family.

Guys, the art isn't bad. Its stylized. And it perfectly gives off a kind of noir feel that fits Gotham so well. Its not like Tim sale can't draw and the art is crappy. Its supposed to look like that.

I love Tim Sale's art.

Long Halloween

Long Halloween.

I know this isn't what you asked for, but if you enjoyed Hush, I recommend reading Heart of Hush next. It's less well known than the original story, but I think that it greatly surpasses it, adding elements to Elliot's character that made him more interesting, in my opinion.

If you're not interested, Long Halloween over Death in the Family, but Death of the Family over Long Halloween. I'm not the biggest fan of Long Halloween, but I'd choose it over Death in the Family - which is quite dated and an awkward read compared to modern Batman comics.

Hong Lalloween.

The Long Halloween. If you enjoyed Hush then this would be a similar story were Batman tries to figure out who Holiday is. Art work is amazing as well.

Long Halloween over Death in the Family. Long Halloween may not be the new material, but in collection standpoint, you have to go with Long Halloween. Great writing, I mean superb. I was just flabbergasted at the ending of the story as said by other members, it keeps you up on your toes through-out the read. Definitely, Long Halloween for sure.

TLH is better value for money.

DitF is a collection of 4 issues.

..Well I loved Hush so going by the responses here, TLH it is!

Hey why limit yourself to one? It's not too much trouble to get both right? :)

But if I had to choose just one I'd pick The Long Halloween, one of personal favorite Batman stories

Neither are really that great IMO

1st time I read Long Halloween I thought it was good, 2nd time I though it was decent as throwaway entertainment.

These days I can't really overlook what a mess it makes of continuity, as most of Batman's rogues actually have Two-Face mentioned in their origin's already because he was supposed to be one of Batman's earlier villains, after Hugo Strange, Catwoman and the Joker.

Loeb just wanted his usual "Procession of Villains" so he dumped in a whole load of characters before they were supposed to exist.