Published on November 27th, 2002
This "Hush" storyline only runs 12 issues, and not a lot must happen in it because the plot is moving as slow as molasses. Batman was swinging through the city chasing after Catwoman in the last issue and his rope was cut, sending him plunging down into Crime Alley where some homeless men approach ready to kill him for no apparent reason. In this issue, Huntress shows up to beat up the homeless men and save the day. I read Batman comics all the time and don't even know who Huntress is. Is she even still around? Was she a flash in the pan? She's basically just a female Robin, and these days there are too many Robins to count. There's Nightwing. There's Damian. There's the one that the Joker killed with a crowbar but is somehow still alive now. That might be Nightwing. Nightwing actually has his own book. So do a bunch of the female Robins who are known as The Birds of Prey. I guess considering Batman has been around for, like, a hundred years, there's bound to be a billion characters in the universe. We do finally get to see Hush in this issue, although very briefly as he stands on a building rooftop quoting poetry. It seems that he cut Batman's rope. Poison Ivy also gives the money she got from Catwoman to a mysterious stranger who doesn't appear on the page. The mystery deepens! Batman ends up so beat up that he needs surgery, so he gets an old childhood friend, Thomas Elliot, who's a doctor now, to fly in to Gotham to do the work. Alfred and co. give the press the fake story that Bruce Wayne was in a car accident. Okay. So maybe that is a lot of plot. The shining star in this "Hush" storyline is still the dynamic Jim Lee art. I can't even think of an artist working today in the superhero books that's as fantastic as Jim Lee was. I have heard this complaint before; that there are no great artists on the big superhero books anymore. Where did they all go? Some have mentioned that the pay and schedule sucks now. Or...it could just be old heads bitching about how things were better "in their day." I haven't read "Hush 2" yet so I don't know if Jim Lee's art is still great. Erik Larsen is one of the few original Image artists still working on a monthly book, and his art isn't as good as it once was. I suppose "Hush" is at least an easy, quick read. I swear, though, if Thomas Elliot turns out to be Hush than this is the dumbest storyline ever. **1/2
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