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The Holiday Killer, more commonly referred to as Holiday, is one of the principle antagonists of the Batman story The Long Halloween (1996-1997) by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale. A serial killer operating in Batman's early career, the murderer targeted various members and associates of Gotham's crime families. Holiday's identity is only revealed in the final issues of the story, though their identity is apparently resolved.

History[]

After the events of Batman: Year One, Batman, James Gordon and Harvey Dent united to take down Carmine Falcone, the leader of the Falcone Crime Family and the most powerful criminal in Gotham City. Around the same time, a mysterious assailant begins targeting Mafiosi members and killing them. Each of the killings use the same M.O.: victim is shot with a .22 pistol with a baby bottle cap used as a silencer and a memento is left signifying each Holiday (e.g. a Jack-'o-Lantern for Halloween). Each victim is also connected either directly or indirectly to the Falcone and Maroni crime families, though at least two are only connected to Holiday's operations. Several red herrings are also left to misdirect reader suspicions towards other characters.

Over the course of the story, Batman attempts to both discover "Holiday's" identity whilst also dismantle Falcone's operations. Gordon and Dent also become involved, resulting in pressures on their personal lives. Holiday's actions also cause Falcone and Maroni's organizations to escalate their activities, including more drastic crimes and hiring "freaks" like the Joker, Poison Ivy, the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter. Blame is placed on multiple characters, including Dent, who is attacked and disfigured by Maroni due to these suspicions.

By the end of The Long Halloween, Batman and Gordon are able to capture two of the suspects: Alberto Falcone and Dent, the latter having become Two-Face.

Victims[]

Over the course of The Long Halloween, the following character are targeted by Holiday. Only two (Alberto and Riddler) survive, the others dying at the scene.

  • Halloween - Johnny Viti (Carmine Falcone's nephew), who had threatened to testify against his uncle at one point; a jack-o-lantern was left behind
  • Thanksgiving - The Irish (a gang of five Irish assassins hired by Falcone to murder District Attorney Harvey Dent); a Thanksgiving basket was left behind
  • Christmas - Milos Grapa (Falcone's personal bodyguard); a snow globe was left behind
  • New Year's Eve - Alberto Falcone (Carmine Falcone's son); a glass of champagne and some confetti was left behind
  • Valentine's Day - Mobsters hired by Falcone as well as innocent patrons of rival mob boss Sal Maroni's restaurant; a box of chocolates was left behind
  • St. Patrick's Day - A large number of Maroni's men; a leprechaun figurine was left behind
  • April Fools' Day - The Riddler (shot at, purposely unharmed. A play on the theme of April Fools' Day); Holiday left behind his own umbrella
  • Mother's Day - The Gunsmith (a shop owner who had been making Holiday's guns); a basket of flowers with a Mother's Day card was left behind
  • Father's Day - Luigi Maroni (Sal Maroni's father); a tie in a gift package was left behind
  • Independence Day - Jasper Dolan (Gotham City Coroner); a Statue of Liberty figurine was left behind
  • The Roman's Birthday - Carla Viti (Falcone's sister and Johnny Viti's mother)
  • Labor Day - Sal Maroni
  • Halloween - Carmine Falcone, Vernon Field (corrupt assistant to Harvey Dent)

Identity[]

The identity of Holiday is apparently resolved at the end of the series. However, three major suspects are directly connected to the Holiday identity:

Holiday 1

Alberto Falcone

  • Alberto Falcone: The youngest of the Falcone children and the least respected. Though believed to be the fourth murder, Alberto is revealed on Labor Day to be alive when he kills Sal Maroni and is captured by Batman. Alberto's guilt would also explain the murders of Dolan, the coroner being able to confirm he'd faked his death and help replace his body, Carla Viti, who was investigating police records and would have possibly discovered the ruse, and the Gunsmith, who was associated with both the Falcone family and provided Holiday with their weapons. Falcone is also captured moments after apparently killing Sal Maroni, thus tied directly to the scene and murder of a Holiday victim. Alberto also claims credit just after his capture. Alberto's identity as Holiday becomes problematic when the first three attacks are considered. Johnny Viti was his cousin, albeit a traitorous one. The Irish were on Falcone's payroll, and Milos Grapa was Carmine Falcone's trusted bodyguard. There are many theories as to how or why Alberto committed these attacks, though he claims to his father that he'd become Holiday to lash out at his father and one-up him as a new "freak" in Gotham, thus more remembered than Falcone.
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Gilda Dent

  • Gilda Dent: In the final pages, Gilda Dent is shown burning evidence and equipment used by Holiday, including the trademark pistol and fedora. In a monologue, she claims responsibility for the first three murders, citing her wishes to have a child with Harvey as her main motive. She also claims to have taken a more passive role after come to believe another Holiday had taken her place, allowing them to destroy Falcone's operations whilst she settled down with Harvey. There are several problems with Gilda's "confession," such as the fact that she was bedridden and hospitalized during the murder of the Irish Gang, and her apparent ease of access to Falcone's penthouse to kill Viti and Grapa. Dark Victory also seems to indicate that Gilda's confessions were in-part true when Calendar Man and Two-Face have an exchange where the former offered the identity, thought the latter quickly cuts him off.
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Two-Face

  • Harvey Dent/Two-Face: During her monologue in the story's close, Gilda expresses a belief that Harvey is in fact another Holiday, having taken up the murders from New Years Eve and used Alberto as a scapegoat. She had heard of Alberto's murder and come the conclusion that Harvey, having lost his hat and come home wet during snow, had taken a boat out to continue her activities. Technically, Two-Face was also a Holiday killer, with Batman noting that Dent had followed the M.O. in Carmine and Field's murders and left his coin on the scene of the latter. Dent is seen as a main suspect for a large portion of the story, notably for a number of enigmatic comments he makes during the investigations. Dent is also shown maintaining a .22 pistol throughout the story, which was found in his briefcase after Maroni's attack on him. Dent also possess a ledge with the list of family members provided by Batman, which he could have used to track down and kill the victims. The discovery of these lead Batman and Gordon to conclude that Dent was Holiday since the beginning, but the sudden reappearance of Alberto seemed to put an end to the theory.

By the end of the story, Batman and the GCPD are able to capture Alberto Falcone and Harvey Dent (now the criminal Two-Face), both of whom either are blamed or take credit from the Holiday murder. However, Batman believes to be both of them were Holiday killers: Alberto being responsible for the murders from Halloween to Labor Day whilst Dent killing both Carmine and Fields on the second Halloween, thus the second Holiday. Specific details remain ambiguous for who Holiday really was, though it's possible that all three suspects were, in part, responsible.

Other suspects[]

There were several characters in the story that were deliberate red herrings. Their various activities and motives pointed suspicion towards themselves. Batman postulates several possible murderers himself on April Fool's Day, but these five remained the strongest superfluous suspects until each one were either cleared or became victims themselves.

  • Salvatore Maroni: Falcone's chief rival is one of the first suspects put under investigation as a suspect. He was always determined to outdo Falcone and come out on top, and the killings of Johnny Vitti, Milos, and the Irish were all affiliated with Falcone in some form; the murders, therefore, benefitted Maroni and his mob. However, when a number of his men were murdered at Maroni's Italian restaurant, his innocence is gradually revealed. The final proof comes on both Father's Day, when his father becomes a victim and Maroni himself is shot, and in September when he becomes Holiday's final victim.
  • Selina Kyle/Catwoman: The Riddler theorized that Catwoman could be Holiday because the .22 pistols that Holiday employed were lightweight and easy for a woman to handle. Since the break-in at Falcone's penthouse early on in the story, Catwoman had access to Falcone's safe and information on everyone in his criminal empire. With a million-dollar bounty on her head, her best defense would be a justifiable offense. Batman however, abandoned her as a suspect when she assisted him in capturing the Scarecrow and Mad Hatter. In both Dark Victory and Catwoman: When in Rome, it is revealed that Catwoman's actions were done to prove that Carmine was actually her real father: the true reason for her interest in the Holiday case.
  • Carla Vitti: Johnny Vitti, Carla's son, was briefly shunned by the Falcone family after threatening to testify against his uncle. It was briefly considered by Riddler that Carla Vitti, his mother, killed her son after he nearly betrayed them all. Moreover, she was driven by the goal to expand her outfit in Chicago and outgrow her brother's empire. Riddler theorized that by starting with killing her own son, Carla would divert all suspicion for the later Holiday killings away from herself. All the killings were initially directed at Falcone, but Carla, as an enemy of Maroni, would have no problem attacking Sal's family as well. Carla was one of the characters shown using a .22 pistol (supporting The Riddler's suspicion) although she maintained that she would kill Holiday using the weapon the murderer had used on Johnny. Carla was finally cleared of suspicion when she became Holiday's victim.
  • Carmine Falcone: Carmine Falcone is another Holiday suspect and was the one the Riddler was certain on being Holiday. The Riddler, although, never goes into detail on why he thinks Holiday is him. No-one, although, has this opinion besides the Riddler including Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent.
  • Julian Day/Calendar Man: The Calendar Man was of the one suspects Batman thought Holiday could be. Due to his obsession with committing crimes with a calendar, it was possible that he could be using another alias. Although, he was a minor suspect because during the entire year, the Calendar Man was behind bars. Batman, however, suspects that Day could have altered the Arkham files making him seem like he was always there.

In Other Media[]

  • In the animated film adaptation of The Long Halloween, Holiday is changed to be solely Gilda Dent (voiced by Julie Nathanson). The film also changes her backstory to have been once a member of the Falcone family, having once been in a relationship with Alberto and, after becoming pregnant, married him. However, they'd been forced into annulling the marriage and aborting their child by Carmine, due to prejudice about the unification. The rejection from the family was also part of Gilda's motivation, her feud ending after Carmine's death. Alberto's murder is legitimate and Harvey, though innocent, takes credit for the murders to protect her. Batman also discovers Gilda's guilt at the end of the film, though it remains ambiguous whether he plans to arrest her, reveal his discoveries to Gordon or let her go. Several of Holiday's victims are changed or removed, such as The Irish, Dolan and Riddler.
  • An apparent acknowledgement of the Holiday killer is mentioned briefly in Batman: Arkham Knight when Alfred recalling a series of grueling murders early in Batman's career on Halloween.
  • While not appearing in the film, the version of the Riddler in The Batman (2022) is similar to Holiday, being a serial-killer who targets affiliates of Carmine Falcone around Halloween early in Batman's career, and is then sent to Arkham Asylum.
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