[quote=@Master Bruce]I agree that Bruce's characterization was a bit weird, but I took that as him being unhinged for this particular story. Murphy really wanted to go for the idea of painting Batman as the villain in a Joker POV story, and sometimes that worked, sometimes... not so much. That's always a tough line to straddle, because on one hand, you have [i]The Dark Knight Returns[/i]. And on the other hand, you have [i]The Dark Knight Strikes Again[/i]. :sick

The two Harleys thing was definitely an element I thoroughly enjoyed, just because I've been so sickened by the way Harley's been portrayed ever since The New 52 between either being an outright unrepentant murderer like Joker himself, or a self-aware loudmouth that wants to be Deadpool. Dini and Timm's Harley felt like an entirely separate character, by contrast, and I liked that Murphy built in an awareness of that. 

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Yeah, but given it was the author’s first foray into DC Comics, I think I’m going to catch them a break. The story could’ve used more revisions and proofreading, but it had too many moments that felt satisifactory (anything with Barbara, Harleen, Fries, or Alfred in the panel, oddly enough) and it did touch on many points that we might want to take notes on for Ultimate One Universe – particularly on the social commentary angle and how the public can be manipulated through the right lens. It might be worth a re-read or two at some point. I know when I’m going to end up doing my Gotham game to re-read it because it covered a few story beats I was thinking about before I even read the comic. Weird.