Harper Row: Bluebird Appreciation 2022

[Stars & Stripes]

I was finally able to read The Joker 13 and wow, the trial the entire series revolves around is eight pages? I'm still curious as to why Harper felt the best way to find Kelly was to get thrown into Blackgate, it's come back to bite her (and Cullen). If it weren't for Gotham Knights I'd be suspicious of DC trying to put Harper and Cullen "On The Bus".

I'm really not feeling how pathetic Bluebird feels in this story that she's supposedly the protagonist of. Again, not asking her to be some perfect hero who can do no wrong, but at least she should be written to be competent at her job.

[Westbats]

I'm really not feeling how pathetic Bluebird feels in this story that she's supposedly the protagonist of. Again, not asking her to be some perfect hero who can do no wrong, but at least she should be written to be competent at her job.

Yeah I get what you mean; maybe it's the lack of pages to develop the story, or that plans got derailed with Tynion's Substack offer, but Punchline always seems to be ahead of everyone. There's no challenge for her, she seems to get through every situation with ease, with Harper struggling at every twist and turn.

Maybe Tynion and Johns are trying to show that Harper's rusty? To me it feels like the story is disjointed and the writers may struggle to wrap everything up in the next eight pages.

[Stars & Stripes]

Really hoping she shows up on Batwoman and the Gotham Knights spinoff (as well as the game of the same name, but is otherwise unconnected).

I guess I kinda called it?

[Stars & Stripes]

Now that the Punchline backups in The Joker have wrapped, how did everyone feel about how Bluebird was used in these stories? Will it be enough for you to seek the continuation if Harper shows up in it?

[Westbats]

Now that the Punchline backups in The Joker have wrapped, how did everyone feel about how Bluebird was used in these stories? Will it be enough for you to seek the continuation if Harper shows up in it?

I haven't read The Joker 15 yet (my shop typically receives their titles one day later after a stat holiday), so my conclusion is based off of backup issues 1-13.

When DC announced Punchline I guess I thought it'd be similar to The Joker in that the titular character (The Joker/Punchline) was what spurred the protagonist (Jim Gordon/Harper Row) to action. I didn't mind it at first, felt that four pages each would be enough to balance each other out. Thought maybw we would see the success of one impair the plans of the other through the series. But it never came to that, Punchline always seemed to have the advantage against whoever she faced, whether it be the judicial system, the (former) Queen of Spades, Orca, Harper, or Kelly.

She played Harper at every twist and turn; despite coming out of retirement to do the investigation Harper was made out to be rusty at best, and out of her league at worst, not even being able to anticipate even the use of Joker Toxin, despite fighting with the Batfamily against The Joker during Endgame. When she got into Blackgate to investigate Kelly, Harper didn't do anything besides apply tattoos to alter her appearance, which made her an easy target for Alexis once she got there (and later when the defence attorney accused Harper of targeting her in prison to try and shake her down).

Like I get the conspiracy aspect of Punchline controlling everything about the trial, but it felt excessive.

That being said, I do want to see Harper Row used as the foil in Punchline: The Gotham Game. The backups were prime evidence of what Harper is missing:

• Investigative Experience
• Blending into crowds
• Subtlety

Harper's skills as an engineer are great, but if she's going to even stand a chance against Punchline, she's going to have to grow her skills and grow them fast.

I want Harper to be the one who puts Punchline away, having any other member of the Batfamily go after her now would cheapen Harper. And if there's anything audiences love more than an underdog story, it's a comeback story.

[Stars & Stripes]

My dream is that Gotham Game has a Bluebird title spinning out of it. Would be a great way to keep the character relevant with the CW Gotham Knights show on the air.

[Westbats]

My dream is that Gotham Game has a Bluebird title spinning out of it. Would be a great way to keep the character relevant with the CW Gotham Knights show on the air.

The story writes itself:

The Row siblings have gone to ground post-trial, having abandoned their apartment and taking refuge in Red Robin's microcave in The Narrows (Batman Eternal). Harper's got a bone to pick with Punchline and in the midst of approaching her investigation from a different angle.


Something The Gotham Game has to address is why have Harper and Leslie been working alone during the investigation, all of the Batfamily have been absent.

[Stars & Stripes]

The story writes itself:

The Row siblings have gone to ground post-trial, having abandoned their apartment and taking refuge in Red Robin's microcave in The Narrows (Batman Eternal). Harper's got a bone to pick with Punchline and in the midst of approaching her investigation from a different angle.


Something The Gotham Game has to address is why have Harper and Leslie been working alone during the investigation, all of the Batfamily have been absent.

For that, would Harper hold a bit of a grudge (but not one that’s overdone) for the Batfamily forgetting about her?

[Westbats]

For that, would Harper hold a bit of a grudge (but not one that’s overdone) for the Batfamily forgetting about her?

Her as in Punchline or Her as in Harper? Because I can kinda see both. The ignoring of Harper directed at Bruce, Tim, and maybe Cass? I can also see Leslie holding it against them as well, not to mention Lucius.

Bruce and Tim were both mentors to Harper, and her accidents and slip-ups during the events of the trial could be accredited to them not training her fully. I mean Dick did teach her a bit of espionage during Batman and Robin Eternal but I wouldn't call him a mentor.

Cass is a bit more personal in that the last Harper would have seen of her would have been when the Batgirls were accused of destroying The Clocktower when The Magistrate was around.

And the whole hands off approach the family has had on Punchline post-Joker War, that's got to be story in itself, several of their allies would be beside themselves to see Alexis run free and amass a cult following.

[Majesty]

I'm really not feeling how pathetic Bluebird feels in this story that she's supposedly the protagonist of. Again, not asking her to be some perfect hero who can do no wrong, but at least she should be written to be competent at her job.

Agreed, don't need Harper to be the perfect hero. But we do need Punchline to stop being the perfect villain that essentially can do no wrong and never makes mistakes. If a mary sue could be a villain it'd be Punchline. Which gets tiring after a while. Particularly when it's constantly made to portray that she is somehow just levels above Harper. There's being rusty and then there's ridiculousness. If you look at what Punchline has accomplished in about 2 years time, considering she is essentially just a college student

1. Creating an immunity to Joker toxins
2. Figuring out the Joker toxins via the internet
3. Becoming Joker's main confidant
4. Dodging Bullets and nearly killing Harley Quinn
5. Standing toe to toe with Barbara and Dick Grayson in a 2v1 situation
6. Being able to hang with Batman
7. AMBUSHING BATMAN IN HIS OWN LAIR
8. Getting off scott free due to a youtube/influencer apology
9. "Killing" the leader of the Royal Flush game and owning them
10. Running Blackgate
11. Making Harper look like an amateur in near every way
12. Goes to trial and gets off, making the entire comic and witness pointless because they 'disappear'.
13. Continuing to gloat about her plans and not ONCE does the tech savvy Harper secretly record her doing so and expose her.


It's beyond ridiculous how strong Punchline is booked at this point, she literally has no weaknesses, can stand toe to toe with and get the drop on Batman, can dodge bullets and can make every single superhero look like an idiot while remaining 50 steps ahead of them at all times. Not because she's been trained or anything of that nature. She's just a social media guru that is in her 2nd year of college, yet can stand toe to toe with Batman, Dick Grayson, Harley Quinn and Batgirl and get the drop on Batman in his own lair.

It's beyond ridiculous and stupid at this point. Actually show how smart Harper is, have her catch Punchline off guard, and have some of punchline's plans ACTUALLY fail for once. Not "fail" and then she knew it would fail so she already had 20 different things in motion. Enough is a freaking nough. It doesn't 'endear' Punchline to the audience, it doesn't make them go "oooh she's so freaking awesome!" it's just annoying. With no setup whatsoever she's just the greatest and smartest villain Gotham has ever seen with no explanation as to why and for all intents and purposes is just a 2nd year college student that knows how the internet works. Give us a freaking break.

The Batman did this tons better with how they portrayed the Riddler and how you can use social media to your advantage and ALSO be a genius at it. But if that was Punchline the movie would have ended in 30 minutes with her turning all of Gotham against Batman, running the Police Department and putting Batman in jail after beating him in hand to hand combat, after blowing up his lair and killing Alfred. All before tea-time.

Enough is enough.

[Westbats]

Agreed, don't need Harper to be the perfect hero. But we do need Punchline to stop being the perfect villain that essentially can do no wrong and never makes mistakes. If a mary sue could be a villain it'd be Punchline. Which gets tiring after a while. Particularly when it's constantly made to portray that she is somehow just levels above Harper. There's being rusty and then there's ridiculousness.

What makes this especially frustrating to me is that story-wise it would make sense for the narrative to follow Harper's perspective post-Punchline and build from there rather than follow Punchline fully. Harper lost, she failed to give the prosecution the evidence necessary to discredit Punchline's story and have her put into Arkham.

So why can't we follow that?

If the creative team were to lean into the lack of the Batfamily following the trial, the audience could get plenty of storytelling potential:

• How does the trial influence Mayor Nakano and his trauma from Joker War? How would this affect his policies, especially after Fear State and Saint Industries?
• How does the verdict affect Lucius Fox's recovery from what happened to him from Joker War? How does this affect Lucius's relationship with Bruce?
• How does Punchline's proclaimed innocence affect Clownhunter learning from Ghost-Maker? Does he go back to Gotham? Secret Files: Clownhunter sought to imply a future Clownhunter-Punchline confrontation.
• How does the Batfamily's absence during the trial affect their relationship with Harper? With Leslie?

As for technology, I've always believed that Harper could've used the Batboxes to create blindspots from Punchline looking for her from the moment it appeared that Punchline was targeting the Row Siblings. You could even go one step further and retroactively say that Punchline got something from Lucius that allows her to use the Batbox blindspots as well, which would explain how little video evidence there was of Punchline during Joker War.

It makes sense with Harper losing for the subsequent story to focus on her growth and development as a hero and confront the shortcomings that resulted the trial's verdict.

[Stars & Stripes]

What makes this especially frustrating to me is that story-wise it would make sense for the narrative to follow Harper's perspective post-Punchline and build from there rather than follow Punchline fully. Harper lost, she failed to give the prosecution the evidence necessary to discredit Punchline's story and have her put into Arkham.

So why can't we follow that?

If the creative team were to lean into the lack of the Batfamily following the trial, the audience could get plenty of storytelling potential:

• How does the trial influence Mayor Nakano and his trauma from Joker War? How would this affect his policies, especially after Fear State and Saint Industries?
• How does the verdict affect Lucius Fox's recovery from what happened to him from Joker War? How does this affect Lucius's relationship with Bruce?
• How does Punchline's proclaimed innocence affect Clownhunter learning from Ghost-Maker? Does he go back to Gotham? Secret Files: Clownhunter sought to imply a future Clownhunter-Punchline confrontation.
• How does the Batfamily's absence during the trial affect their relationship with Harper? With Leslie?

As for technology, I've always believed that Harper could've used the Batboxes to create blindspots from Punchline looking for her from the moment it appeared that Punchline was targeting the Row Siblings. You could even go one step further and retroactively say that Punchline got something from Lucius that allows her to use the Batbox blindspots as well, which would explain how little video evidence there was of Punchline during Joker War.

It makes sense with Harper losing for the subsequent story to focus on her growth and development as a hero and confront the shortcomings that resulted the trial's verdict.

Sadly, though, based on the lack of Bluebird being mentioned in hyping The Gotham Game, I guess we’re just left with her being a loser in this fight. Ugh.

[Westbats]

Sadly, though, based on the lack of Bluebird being mentioned in hyping The Gotham Game, I guess we’re just left with her being a loser in this fight. Ugh.

Honestly my first impression from the Punchline: The Gotham Game #1 was wondering if the person doing the vlog was Cullen. Though honestly it wouldn't make sense for either Harper nor Cullen to be anywhere near The Royal Flush Gang or clowns right now.

If the Punchline backups were the conclusion of Harper, Cullen, and Leslie's interactions with Punchline then I would all for them holding various degrees of grudges against the Batfamily for their absence during the trial (Cullen probably would probably feel guilty due to being toyed with by Bluff/Ace and Punchline as an extension).

Another thing I've noticed (I'm not sure where else to put this) is the lack of cohesive planning for Gotham from DC editorial. For all of the Batfamily titles DC is publishing right now, it certainly feels like whatever happens in one book occurs in a vacuum and doesn't affect other titles in any form.

[millernumber1]

Another thing I've noticed (I'm not sure where else to put this) is the lack of cohesive planning for Gotham from DC editorial. For all of the Batfamily titles DC is publishing right now, it certainly feels like whatever happens in one book occurs in a vacuum and doesn't affect other titles in any form.

Zdarsky and Tini Howard and to some extent Taylor and the Batgirls team are trying hard to coordinate.

[Stars & Stripes]

Suppose Harper was a DLC in Gotham Knights (game), what would you want her moveset to be and what outfits would she wear?