Batman: Hush

[The Laughing Fish]

I read this over a year ago.

I thought it was exciting to read Batman encounter a lot of big name enemies as they're all tangled up in this crazy, convoluted plot set up by Hush. I enjoyed the tense and intimate relationship between Batman and Catwoman, as Bruce begins to trust Selina during their investigation of Poison Ivy and onwards. The ending where the relationship was put on hold indefinitely after Batman's paranoia got the better of him when he began to suspect Selina was involved in Hush's plot was typically bittersweet.

My favourite parts to read in the story would have to be Bruce comparing himself to Clark Kent upon visiting Metropolis while hunting down Poison Ivy. He looks to Clark as an inspiration for telling Lois his true identity as a sign of trust, and ponders to do the same thing with Selina.

What intrigues me is Batman's self-loathing though. He knows he must be prepared to use cheap tactics to gain advantage, no matter how morally shady it may be sometimes. When he's forced to fight Superman hypnotised by Poison Ivy, Batman knows that no matter how much Superman is compromised, he won't fight back dirty or ruthlessly, and still has some sort of control. He says "If Clark wanted to, he could use his superspeed and squish me into the cement. But I know one thing. Even more than than Kryptonite, he's got one big weakness. Deep down, Clark's essentially a good person...and deep down, I'm not".

I thought the flashbacks with Bruce and Thomas Elliot as kids were effectively creepy, with the washed out colour pallettes as you could tell that there was something quite odd with Tommy even as a kid. I liked the shoutout to the original Green Lantern playing as one of (if not the first) hero to precede before Superman and Batman. I'm aware that some comics have used Justice Society heroes to exist before the current Justice League of course, but it's still a nice homage here.

It's a shame that Harold Allnut, the abused deaf hunchback who got manipulated by the Penguin until Batman took him under his wing as his personal engineer, got manipulated again in exchange for a voice and had his whole body rebuilt as a healthy human being...and his reward is getting shot in the head. 

What are anybody else's thoughts about this comic?

[riddler]

definitely one of my favourites. My favourite part was the panels of the batcave with the tumbler, Burton batmobile, and catillac side by side.

[Azrael]

It's been a while since I read it, I remember loving it.

[The Laughing Fish]

definitely one of my favourites. My favourite part was the panels of the batcave with the tumbler, Burton batmobile, and catillac side by side.

?? I don't mean to be a smartass, but I think you got the wrong comic there. The only recognisable Batmobiles I saw in that panel were the Batman Forever, B66, and BTAS versions.

[Travesty]

I love Jim Lee's art in this. It's still my favorite depiction of Batman in comics. I hate his Joker, though.

But as far as the story goes, I'm not a huge fan of it. It's ok, but not great. I think the story is pretty convoluted at times, and can be a bit disjointed in places. But overall, I like the art more than the story. I may have to go back to read it, cause it's been about 12-13 years since I've read it.

[The Dark Knight]

I've always enjoyed Hush, and yeah, it's mostly for the art. I see people calling the story glorified fan fiction, but you know what? I don't care one inch. The story is fun for the most part, and gives me what I want to see. At their core, comics are meant to be enjoyable and re-readable. And Hush delivers on those fronts, and that's why I think it's continued to be a fan favourite.

[The Laughing Fish]

I do agree with Travesty that the story as a whole is only okay, but too convoluted as a whole for my liking. What made it exciting is the one-off confrontations between Batman and each villain he faced.

For instance, the Riddler boasts to Batman that he knows his true identity while in jail, but Batman takes advantage of Nygma's obsessive compulsive disorder by telling him to keep it a secret and making a comparison how riddles become less meaningful if they are commonly known. Great takedown there! Even better was Batman sucker punching Riddler when he left behind a distasteful riddle over Jason Todd's death.

[thecolorsblend]

I looked down my nose at Hush for a lot of years there. To me, it seem a bit like fanfic somehow.

But I reread it a few days ago and rather enjoyed it. I must say that I think it's because it comes off like a series finale. This is the last story in MY Batman's canon. Harold dies, Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman, Harvey Dent is cured, the Riddler tumbles onto Batman's secret identity and so forth. Big stuff happens. In a fair and just world, it's game-changing stuff. You can't leave this in continuity and maintain the usual status quo. So of course it all got walked back... except the Jason Todd stuff, which SHOULD have been walked back but wasn't.

It's also like Batman's Greatest Hits. "Here's all the cool stuff you love about Batman!"

This is all stuff you do for a series finale. And in that sense, it ends on some hope. Dent's back, Selina and Bruce may someday rekindle their romance, Talia has moved on to a possibly better destiny, etc.

But it leaves a lot to the imagination. If you're desperate for Batman's story to continue, it can. But for people like me, who like having an end point for their stories, well, Hush is a pretty convenient end point. It leaves this character's future to your imagination if you want it to. You can tune out after that.

Since a lot of what's happened with Batman since Hush is retarded with a side of fail, that's very appealing.

So yes, I rather enjoy Hush as my Batman's series finale.

[The Dark Knight]

Coming back to this, here's what I posted five years ago about Hush.

Picked up the Hush completed edition paperback today. Nice to have both books in one. Reflecting on it again, I do love this effort. The art is obviously breathtakingly good, and worth re-read after re-read for that alone. Which is a real plus, since comics, like films, are a visual medium. Also, what I appreciate about Hush is the story itself. It is pure spectacle and they cram a ton of things in. Namely with the cast. Catwoman. Ivy. Harley. Joker. Harvey. Ras. Huntress. Riddler. Nightwing. Superman. Lois. Clayface. Tim Drake references. Etc, etc. It feels like a Rocksteady Batman game in that sense. And it also has the fantasy angle where anything is possible. No constraints, but still with enough human grounding - which is evident in Batman's relationship with Selina, Harold, Drake's past and Elliot himself. While it may not be on the level of Year One, it's very entertaining and and never boring. And that's the main thing when it comes to escapism, right?

And I feel the same way today.

[The Laughing Fish]

I was finishing Under the Hood yesterday, and I noticed that it retconned the scene in Hush where Clayface impersonated Jason Todd. I got to say, I found Jason's return from the grave to be pretty underwhelming compared to the Under the Red Hood animated adapatation. But I liked how he begins to recount his life thanks to Talia al Ghul's help and persuades Hush to trick Batman psychologically with using Clayface as a decoy, with Jason taking turns in fighting Batman at the cemetery to get close to him. And going towards a much darker path challenging Batman's views, feeling betrayed that the father figure he looked up to wouldn't effectively stop his killer.

What's tragic about this is even if Batman had killed the Joker, Jason would've become a rogue anyway. As Under the Hood stated, he had too much of a mean streak. Which makes Batman's need to adopt him as his new sidekick to fill that void of loneliness costly for everybody involved.