Classic Comic Compendium: BATMAN - HUSH was a disruptive, tonal shift when first published

I know I normally use this space to highlight books that I like. Ones that I highly recommend to people over the years, whether they’re perennial sellers, critical darlings, or offbeat oddities. I love the chance to re-read favourites and write about them. This is a little bit different.

What is almost 23 years ago now, I read Batman #608. I can’t say that I particularly liked it. I’ll point out that this is not to say that it was bad, it just wasn’t for me. Batman – Hush, or just “Hush”, came after a couple of years of books written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka. It was a complete tonal shift that I found jarring and a bit disruptive, in a way to me it felt like abandoning long-term storytelling by inserting what could have been a standalone event series. And I wound up dropping the title with Batman #611. I didn’t come back to the book until the arc was over and Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso took over. (Yes, I’m aware of the irony of another roughly standalone short run being what brought me back in.)

I can’t deny, though, that it caught on with many people and is indeed one of those now perennial sellers. I’m still of two minds about it.

Batman - Hush

“Bruce. If you wanted to get together after all this time—you didn’t have to try to kill yourself to do it.”

Batman – Hush by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair, and Richard Starkings is a bit of an action mystery. It sets up a conspiracy early on of a new adversary and a potential unseen partner, working through a number of intermediaries to confound and attack Batman. Leading to a number of confrontations across his rogues gallery and setting up a situation where it gets deeply personal, leaving him wondering if he can trust the people around him.

In some ways, this is a familiar set up to pieces of both the Knightfall crossover, and Loeb’s previous Bat-epic with Tim Sale, The Long Halloween. There are thematic and structural similarities, in rolling out the villains, killing off one of the suspects, threading the mystery, but I feel like the comparison does it a disservice. Making that comparison is probably one of the reasons why I didn’t like it originally. The Long Halloween is driven by nostalgia, noir, and gangster stories, this is something else. More that stated action thriller.

To me, it works better centering the spectacle, rather than the mystery. Not focusing on the identity of Hush. (Though there is something there to dealing with the fallout of A Death in the Family and building on Batman’s trust issues. Just don’t get me started on the retcon of a heretofore unmentioned extremely important childhood friend. At least Conduit in the Superman books had the luxury of being an insert due to Zero Hour restructuring the timeline.) Or the mysterious person really pulling the strings. Because I feel like the first point is a feint and the second is an unearned reveal. That putting together the clues, the execution, and the reveal doesn’t feel nearly as satisfying as the explosions.

“Tonight…I nearly became a part of that evil…”

What was never in question is that the art from Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair is fairly spectacular. Lee developed into one of the quintessential superhero artists over the late ’80s and ’90s, taking that kind of stylistic base from Neal Adams, and refining the details, posing, and framing to consistently delivering visually interesting, highly compelling, bombastic storytelling. His work is the comics equivalent of a big tent-pole blockbuster movie.

There are a couple of questionable design choices, in the new Killer Croc and Huntress’ belly costume, but by and large this story looks good. Lee’s interpretation of Catwoman’s Darwyn Cooke-designed costume is wonderful. Also, there is a great use of washes for flashbacks, which I actually find kind of reminiscent of Tim Sale’s work. Scott Williams maintains much of the scratchy, kinetic energy of Lee’s pencils with his inks. The crinkles and creases, the use of hatching, really informing the style.

The art is rounded out with Alex Sinclair’s colours. It is a lot of blues and greys, giving a gloomy feel to many of the pages, but it works to highlight the villains when they show up, with a pop of their colour to set them apart from the rest. And to make those aforementioned flashbacks with singular colour washes all the more special. With a fair amount of introspective narration from Loeb, represented in a mixed-case dialogue box from Richard Starkings.

“So many deceptions…”

A sequel is slated to start in about a month’s time, March 5 2025, in Batman #158. I’m a bit hesitant, but I’ll still be reading. It feels weird to revisit the storyline now, especially since there really already have been sequels since. First in Gotham Knights and then in a number of stories across titles from Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen. It’s more than twenty years later, so I wonder how it will play out.

Still, I think Loeb, Lee, Williams, Sinclair, and Starkings were successful with what they set out to do with Batman: Hush. It’s a driven action spectacle, a thrill ride for people who want a little bit of mystery, a little bit of romance, and a preponderance of Batman’s rogues gallery. Even a Superman for good measure. While there is a bit more going on under the hood, it’s a nice shiny sport scar to ride around in for a bit. And I will say, I don’t think it makes a bad introduction to the world of Batman to new readers.

Batman - Hush