When I was a kid, I remember having a strange issue of Batman, and I'd like to know more about it, whether it was part of a longer story arc, and when it was published. All I remember was that Batman was utterly insane, the joker dressed like a jester, there was an evil and violent bat-hound, the batmobile could talk, and there was a particularly disturbing scene where batman appears in a kid's mirror that ends with him holding the child and crying. Does anyone remember this strange and interesting issue?

Well, first off, is it possible that you're confusing details because it was so long ago? I was legitimately curious and looked around. I thought I remembered Joker dressed as a jester in one Arc, but he wasn't. But reading this, my gut said it was "Batman: RIP." Here's the similarities:

• It is all about Batman descenting into madness
• According to Comicvine, both Bathound and Joker appear in it(one of very few books to include them both)
• There is heavy use of mirrors and glass through the arc
• Joker is NOT dressed as a jester. HOWEVER, there are both thugs and a hero that appear dressed as a jester. Personally, I confused the two images and thought it was Joker.
• I skimmed through it again and did not see the child, though.

Here's an example of the art, in case it looks familiar at all:

http://im.glogster.com/media/15/46/72/75/46727524.jpg

Any other details that you can recall from it? Or any idea how recent or old it was?

Well, since that comic sounds pretty weird and insane the closest thing that comes to mind is:

Gallery

That middle one certainly looks like a great candidate.

Yup, it was Detective Comics 623 that I had. I found it shortly after posting this, but thanks for the quick reply! The jester joker I now remember was from another issue I had where Batman gets a Tarot reading, so the Joker is being represented as a literal joker in a tarot deck. Anyway, I found out that it's actually not Batman going insane in these issues here, it's an in-universe Gotham comic writer's take on what he thinks the origin of Batman is. Now I have to track down the issues, because I've always wanted to read the full arc, and the whole comic within a comic device allows for some pretty interesting departures from traditional Batman constraints. And just looking at it now gives me the strangest feelings, like nostalgia, but more visceral and less easygoing. Thanks for the help!

@serpent222: It's not that arc, but I have long wanted to read that one. Note how much the Joker looks like Marilyn Manson in the linked artwork.

Hey, guess what three years later? I found all three issues at Ontario comics in Philadelphia. How about that? My childhood is complete... sorta.