I can't say I was excited about this issue. For one thing, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it's been so long since the last issue, I've kind of lost my place in the story. No one's fault. Who could have predicted this?

But Punchline is not actually an interesting sidekick. She just likes killing people. Harley Quinn started out as a cartoon character, so the voice actress brought real pathos and emotion to the story of her.

Punchlike just strikes me as a cynical attempt to catch lightning in a bottle a second time. Her "origin" is in the Joker 80th anniversary issue and she apparently is just some college chick who wants to be a killer and auditioned for the Joker. Whatever. Doesn't work for me.

So having Harley and Punchline fight does nothing for me. Having Batman fight the Riddler did nothing for me. I did like how Batman called on Riddler to stick the "rules" of the Riddler's game, but we don't actually see Batman sweat, so there's no tension, no sense of "boy, I better solve these riddles or people will die."

Also, Slade knows who Batman is? I don't like that. I don't as a rule like villains knowing heroes' secret identities. If forces all kinds of twists to justify having the villain not do anything with that fact.

So we finally get to the main villain on the last page. He is in his dumb costume and has a picture of Alfred and another one of the Waynes with young Bruce on the table next to him. So this shows that another villain knows who Batman is. Hey writers, either get rid of secret identities or due justice to the tropes about them. None of this well everyone knows, but no one does anything about it stuff. All right?

So the action wasn't exciting and we still don't know the real villain's ultimate identity or goals. Not great. (Also, again the virus delay also really took steam out, but like I said, no one's fault. But it does have an impact in how I view the story. Just want to put that out there.)

So nice art, but all in all, not a great issue.

Or I could be wrong.