Batman: Haunted Knight
is a collection of three Halloween 'specials' focusing on different aspects of Batman/Bruce Wayne's past, present and possible future, written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale.
The first story focuses on Batman's attempt to re-capture the Scarecrow, at the same time as Bruce Wayne finds himself starting up a new relationship. I can't really say anymore than that without giving the twist away... and there is a twist. In my opinion, this was the pick of the bunch.
The second story, draws on the Alice in Wonderland mythology and follows Batman's attempts to re-capture the Mad Hatter. In this story we learn that battling the Mad Hatter almost always trawls up memories of Bruce Wayne's mother, due to the Hatters association with the Alice in Wonderland tale. This story was ok. Not outstanding, just ok.
The third and final story is the Batman version of the old Christmas Carol story, with Bruce Wayne visited by the spirits of the past, present and future. In this story, the first meeting between Lucias Fox and Bruce Wayne is revealed, and we also learn how Fox finds himself at Wayne Enterprises. Besides that, you can probably guess how this plays out. In the end, Wayne realises that not all his money needs to go toward crime fighting, and that it can also be used to help others. Wayne also realises that he needs to retain his humanity even if those he fights show no humanity themselves.
Having read Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, both also products of Loeb and Sale, I held high expectations for Haunted Knight. Unfortunately, however, this time around they weren't quite able to meet my expectations. That's not to say Haunted Knight is a bad collection, just that I didn't like it as much as either The Long Halloween or Dark Victory. This collection is best suited to the Loeb/Sale completest and the die hard Batman fans. Casual readers would probably not enjoy this as much as other stories Loeb and Sale have worked on. Overall I'd give this one a 6 out of 10.
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