Dude... speechless, almost! I'll try to be as vague as possible... A lot of the story reminded me of The Long Halloween - the villains Batman dealt with, the rise of the freaks and fall of the mob, and its emphasis on how tragic a character Harvey Dent truly is. The victims being murdered reminded me of Dark Victory, and I could totally tell that arc influenced this movie as well. And how heartless the Joker was, how evil and destructive, and how far ahead of Batman and the police - totally The Joker's Five-Way Revenge and The Man Who Laughs. Everyone was a pawn, it was amazing, and it was all true to these characters. I was so impressed by everything, especially Ledger. He was The Joker in The Dark Knight, no question about it. He was so terrifying it reminded me of Grant Morrison's take on the character, and what seemed like false pleas for sympathy was reminiscent of Alan Moore's Joker. These guys definitely did their homework! And the way the bad guys are caught... it was seriously a comic on film. And besides all of this, it was probably one of the best movies I've ever seen.