Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee and Scott Williams (graphic novel review).
Reading the two-page Batman origin as related by Alfred Pennyworth, and he explains how Bruce Wayne was taught by various experts, you do have to wonder why none of them have called him up and asked how their best student used his abilities. Surely, if they were that smart they might even have made the Gotham connection. Ergo, one would have to think that he must have been taught under a variety of pseudonyms.
The principal part of this story is Batman rescuing the child heir, Edward Lamont, to the Lamont Chemicals fortune, only to have a damaging run-in with Killer Croc, who was stealing ten million for something or other. The money is then taken by Catwoman, and in pursuit, the batline is cut, and Batman suffers serious physical damage in the fall and is rescued by the Huntress. He then has to have some serious repairs done by a friend turned surgeon, Thomas Elliot, who doesn’t know he’s also Batman and disguises his injuries as a car accident and then gets back on the case. While all this is going on, the hypnotised Catwoman has delivered the money case to Poison Ivy, who in turn vanishes.
Batman and Catwoman form an alliance as they work their way through his rogues gallery, looking for who has the money or who it was passed onto. Of course, much of this is a spoiler. Oddly, the only major villains missing are the Penguin, Bane and Mr Freeze, and maybe the Ventriloquist, assuming you regard him as major league, but that would have increased the page count. It’ll be interesting to see who was used in the animated version.
Without going too spoilery, a lot of the early clues are reinterpreted, but the choice of overall villain is basically an old technique of being one of the ones passed by.
There are a lot of extras, mostly at the back of the book, showing Jim Lee’s preliminaries and alternate covers. At the front there is an interview with Lee and writer Jeph Loeb, which I decided to read last. I’m glad I did because there were a lot of references to things that were changed in the story, including giving away the endings, although I’m still puzzled why it’s called ‘Hush’ as the disguised character is rarely referred to as such.
It’s an interesting read, and I’m glad I’m not involved in where it fits into continuity.
GF Willmetts
January 2026
(pub: DC Comics, 2019. 320-page graphic novel. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-40129-724-4)
Check out the website: www.dc.com.
