STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS - “Batman: Hush”
While I try to only talk about self-contained stories for comics, especially those with characters that has decades worth of backstory, this one is still considered self-contained. After all, the entire story arc is combined into a single paperback. Still, some backstory is required to understand who the major players are. Luckily, the driving force (the antagonist) is a brand new character introduced into this week’s topic, whose name is coincidentally in the title.
Hush is a 12-issue story arc (Batman #608-619) written by Jeph Loeb, pencils by Jim Lee, and inked by Scott Williams. The story starts off with Bruce Wayne as Batman saving a boy from Killer Croc.
After successfully saving him, the ransom money is stolen by Catwoman. While chasing her, Batman’s grappling rope is cut off by an unknown person. After being healed by his friend, Dr. Thomas Elliot, Bruce finds out that Poison Ivy used her powers to manipulate Catwoman to steal the money.
Batman saves her, starting a tense relationship with her.
More trouble comes throughout the story arc; Poison Ivy controlling Superman to fight Batman and Catwoman, and appearances by the Joker and Harley Quinn, the Riddler, and Ra’s Al Ghul, and other surprise characters.
All of this is being witnessed by a man wearing bandages over his face, seemingly to be responsible for all this. This is Hush.
There is a lot to digest about Hush. Not just the characters, some being very famous, and others not so much, but also plot. While a plot point may not seem important, it’s considered a piece of the puzzle that will be fully revealed in the final issues. Much like a novel, all it takes is a little patience.
Batman may be inherently a hero, but the proper description for him is “detective.” Some of his villains may have powers and abilities, but let’s not forget his most famous villains are the ones without any. Hush is one of those story arcs that show him being one. Despite the appearance of Superman, the story IS mystery that Batman has to solve, and who the perpetrator is.
Hush is one of the first comic book storylines I bought after learning of its existence. The artwork is beautiful as well as scary when it needs to be. It has lots of narration boxes, which is helpful when introducing a pre-established character into the story just in case the reader has no idea who this character is.
Suit up, and check it out.
