I read 3 of the bat family books which means I had a choice of buying the other books to get the story or reading small chunks of the story which didn't make a lot of sense.  I went for the small chunks.

I wish they would put a morituim on these giant crossover events for a while. 

You were fair enough tgo give us a spoiler warning, so why not tell us what was under the silver platter?  You're going to make me read this, aren't you?  I agree with Karas1, no more giant crossovers, especially when the payoff is, as you admit, subtle.

As long as it's identified in the comments as SPOILERS, it would be fun for someone to share what whas or, who was in the platter.

SPOILERS- All the members of the Bat-family are tied up at the table with their faces bandaged. Underneath each platter is their severed face on ice. It's a fantastic image by Capullo, but you immediately know it's not true. DC isn't going to let their entire Batman roster of characters have their faces carved off. As is par for the course- It's just another joke.

THanks Joel, pretty cool...

I read the other tie-ins and was very aware of the platters.  It never occurred to me that it might be something personal until the end of Teen Titans #16 when he (SPOILER ALERT!) displayed two of the platters.  One for Jason and one for Tim.

I think the hype was way overblown for what ultimately ended up to be a fairly phsychological thriller. 

Another way to read that scene at Arkham with Bruce and Joker was that since it wasn't Batman standing there, the card also meant nothing.  To Joker's mind it might have been "You found a Joker card somewhere and thought of me?  Whatever."

So wait noone died?

Yep, this whole story line was a big build-up to absolutely nothing.

What some may consider SPOILERS follow.

I had almost convinced myself that Alfred was done for (the only reason I hadn't was that is what I assumed the writers wanted us to believe).  I admit that I didn't really want that to happen, but it was practically the only conclusion that would have had any lasting impact.  As it is, yes, the Joker knows Batman's identity.  So what?  We know he isn't going to do anything about it.

So the bat-family has it's feelings hurt. Whah, whah, whah.  All that will contribute to is a throw-away line mentioned in a comic book or two down the road.  It wasn't a horrible story, just a victim of it's own hype as Joel mentioned.