The Long Halloween Saga is Essential Reading
Just finished rereading Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and When in Rome, and then read The Last Halloween for the first time and what a series!
Loeb is such a high highs and low lows writer (he'll never live down Ultimatum) but I think this is some of his best work.
There's flaws definitely but as a sequel to Year One it's perfect, and the art from Sale (fucking RIP, taken too soon) is up there with Neal Adams in perfectly capturing both the humanity and the otherworldliness of Batman.
It's also a great intro to Robin. Harvey Dent gets his due. And even though Gordon's story hits a lot of the same beats over and over, it shows the human toll of trying to police a place like Gotham where as soon as you've erased organized crime and cleaned up a corrupt police force the fucking Joker shows up.
The biggest regret is not having Tim Sale alive to draw The Last Halloween but the artists they did get hit it out of the park.
Definitely one I'd advise a new Batman reader to add to their collection.