Comic Info
Comic Name: Batman (Volume 1)/Batman: Hush
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Jim Lee
# of Issues: 13
Release Date: 2009
Batman (1) #608 (Variant Cover)
Reprints Batman (1) #608-619 and Batman: Hush #0 (Wizard) (December 2002-November 2003). Batman suffers a near fatal fall, and Bruce is saved by his childhood friend Thomas Elliot. Batman finds himself targeted by a slew of enemies and an unknown mastermind calling himself Hush. As Batman seeks to uncover Hush’s identity, some of his biggest defeats will challenge him again.
Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Jim Lee, Batman: Hush was a year-long event taking place in the Batman comic. The story has been collected in one volume but was originally published in two six issue volumes. It was well-received by critics and fans.
I like Batman: Hush, but not because of the story. Loeb does a good job incorporating tons of Batman villains. Almost every major Batman villain gets in on the action, but the story has an obvious twist. Who is the mysterious Hush? Could it be the man we’ve never have met before but is supposedly the best friend of Bruce Wayne when he was growing up? Gee, I wonder.
Batman (1) #612
Throughout the year as “Hush” was being released, there was tons of speculation to Hush’s identity…and Loeb picked the lamest, most obvious person to be Hush. Throughout the series there were a lot of red herrings with Two-Face (or just Harvey Dent), the return of Jason Todd (or really just Clayface), and finally Elliot (though he didn’t do it alone). I particularly liked the rumor that everything after Batman’s fall in the first issue of the story was a fevered dream as Batman fights for life. This would be a better explanation for some of the craziness that occurs including the possibility of Jason Todd’s return. It definitely made more sense than the Thomas Elliot solution.
It is kind of processed writing…I’ve never been a big Loeb fan, but he often works with good people, and Jim Lee is no exception. In fact, Batman: Hush has some of the best art for Batman. With Loeb’s writing, he threw all sorts of Batman characters at Lee so we got to see how Jim Lee would tackle each character.
Batman: Hush is an ok read with great art. Don’t buy it for the story; “read” it for the art. I love Jim Lee’s work here…Batman has never looked better! The Batman: Hush storyline was followed by Batman: Broken City by Brian Azzarello.
