Punishment

Batman: The Long Halloween #13

December 1997

A gun wielding Alberto Falcone states “I am Holiday.” The armored officer who Alberto shot in the last issue rises to confront him. Captions reveal that this “officer” is Batman in disguise, and that his body armor was more than enough to stop the .22 pistol. He twists the gun out of Falcone’s hand. Gordon pounces on it. Batman brutally beats Falcone while thinking angrily about how he suspected his friend Harvey Dent of the killings and not this man who the coroner had pronounced dead. Gordon eventually puts a halt to the beating and Batman reluctantly allows the commissioner to arrest the man.

Carmine Falcone has come to visit his son in jail. Alberto has casts on both arms. Gordon and Batman watch the scene through a one-way mirror. Carmine whispers to his son that he thinks he can get him out of jail if he confesses to the Maroni murder and nothing else. Alberto gets angry. He tells his father that his birthday is on a holiday and dares him to name which one. He knows that Carmine will not know that it was Valentine’s Day because his father was always too busy to know when it was his birthday. Alberto states that Gotham has changed and no longer wants organized crime. He states that as Holiday he is bigger than all of Gotham’s mobsters put together.

Gilda Dent is handing out Halloween candy when the Gordon’s stop by. She confides in them how much she misses her husband. At Arkham Asylum numerous cells are open and empty. A coin tossing figure stops at the cell of Julian day, apologizes, and leaves him there.

At his high-rise The Roman is furious. He cannot believe that his son is choosing to defy him even though it means the gas chamber. Ivy creeps up the walls of his home. Gas leaks down the hallways, guards start laughing hysterically. The lights go out. Carmine tells Sofia he wants everyone downstairs. As they descend they find their path littered with the bodies of his men.

When Falcone enters his study he finds it occupied by the Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy, the Joker, Two-Face, the Penguin, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman. Two-Face rises from Falcone’s desk and accuses him of tearing his city in half. He calls attention to the .22 pistol he is holding. The Roman says he would rather burn down the city than surrender it to the freaks. Smoke and flash grenades fly in through the windows. Batman enters from the ceiling, landing on Grundy. He then takes out Joker, followed by Ivy, then Penguin and Mad Hatter. He takes out Scarecrow with a batarang. He asks Catwoman which side she’s on, she tells him it’s the same side she’s always on.

Before she can finish the thought Two-Face demands the hero’s attention. He is holding Carmine at gunpoint and explaining the futility of the legal process, since the criminals will never stay in jail or Arkham for long. He refuses to answer to Harvey. He tosses his coin. Te scarred side comes up and he puts two bullets in The Roman’s head. Sofia charges him. Catwoman attempts to subdue her. The two women plunge out the window. Catwoman is left holding onto her bolo and dangling tens of stories off the ground, there is no sign of Sofia. Batman tries to talk down Two-Face. Dent seems to buy it at first, approaching the hero, however, as soon as he gets close he clubs him with the gun and escapes.

Two-Face arrives at his former office. He confronts Vernon about giving Maroni the acid that was used to scar him. He flips his coin. When Batman arrives on the scene he finds Vernon dead with the gun and coin left next to his body. The batsignal lights the sky. When he responds to it he finds a reflective Two-Face waiting for him. Harvey says that what he did was necessary to eliminate The Roman. Then he turns himself in. As Gordon puts the cuffs on, Dents states that there were two Holiday killers. Later Gordon and Batman muse on what he meant by that. Batman suggests that by killing The Roman on Halloween Two-Face became the second Holiday killer. Both men then ponder whether their war on organized crime was worth the price they paid.
Gordon’s wife approaches him. She has heard he arrested his friend Harvey. She asks what he’ll do now. He states that he has to continue because he believes in Gotham.
Batman reflects from a rooftop about the promise he made his parents. He feels he must continue, because he believes in Batman.

In Arkham Two-Face calls out for Gilda.
On Christmas Eve, Gilda Dent is packing up to move. She states that she did what needed to be done so that she and Harvey could spend more time together when he didn’t have to work as much. She states that she read his case files about how to alter guns, and leaving clues at murder scenes. She figured if she did that no one would suspect someone as ordinary as her. She states that she performed the first three Holiday murders. When Harvey came home after the Alberto shooting with wet hair despite the fact he was wearing a hat, she knew that he had picked up where she left off. With Alberto behind bars she is confident that no one will ever know the truth. She states that she believes in Harvey Dent.