Batman: Hush Returns

Batman: Hush

by A.J. Lieberman (Writer), Al Barrionuevo (Illustrator), Javier Pina (Illustrator)

Batman knew his deadliest new enemy Hush, who first appeared in the Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee hit storyline, was going to come back, but he never expected him to return so quickly! And with his reappearance come more questions about his true identity, origins and motivations. As the new battle of wits begins, the trail leads to Star City and an encounter with its protector, Green Arrow.

Collecting: Batman: Gotham Knights 50-55, 66

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2006

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, Batman: Hush Returns is one weird ass comic. Seriously, what the hell?

Hush feels like a completely different character, which threw me off right away. And the Joker is so far out of character, it's almost insulting, he comes across like some bitch-made mobster wannabe.

Then there's Riddler, who's just a pussy, and it makes absolutely no sense why he's such a little chicken shit the whole time. And Batman? He's always too late, every goddamn time, to do anything of real consequence. The resolution is totally half-baked, too.

Look, it's a fast read and there are some entertaining bits, even some decent moments (Green Arrow showing up was a highlight!), but as a story, it just doesn't stack up. It's nowhere near as good as the original Hush, which was great.

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wait....what?


This started out decent and just got worse and worse.

First and foremost, CAN NO ONE STAY DEAD!?!


Second, what is up with the Joker? He acts completely out of character for the entire book.

The Joker is supposed to be predictably unpredictable, he is INSANE! I was like who is this guy dressed up like the Joker? He's terrible. Then it gets all sappy as I hear the "Red Hood" origin story for the umpteenth. Ugh! Boy do I hate that origin story. No I don't want some sob story about the man Joker was before. I don't care about his pregnant wife being blown up or his need for vengeance, it completely ruins the character! The best thing about the Joker is his insanity, he seems to have no real motive and that is scary as hell!

Oh and when he does a spin roll into the open manhole...





Thirdly, who the hell edited this thing? The book should have ended with the Batman: Gotham Knights #55 but instead it gives a brief and confusing summary of events that seem pretty important to the story and pick up with Batman: Gotham Knights #66 which aside from a complete change in circumstance was almost too boring to read. Prometheus III, really who gives a crap? Oh and I'm not a huge Talia fan either...



Overall, this comic is a terrible sequel to Batman: Hush. Don't get me wrong, it is terrible in its own right, but even more so when compared to the original. It is so melodramatic, every aspect is so over played, all of the forced emotion made me a little ill.



I mean, there is even a scene where Green Arrow and Batman have a cat fight.



Just skip it!


(see what I did there)

[Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some books, like this one, have a terrible reputation: they are mostly hated, sometimes laughed out, or leave people holding their head, sobbing uncontrollably, not comprehending how something so akin to manure could ever be published (other examples of this are Ultimatum, Holy Terror, World War Hulks: Hulked-Out Heroes, to name just a few). You probably have your own list, and I'm sure this would make a great topic for a discussion, or even a sort of "To Avoid" List on Goodreads.

And then there's that odd time when, upon reading such a book, and expecting the worst, I find that "Hey, this is okay. Not often, mind you, but sometimes (Loeb's Ultimatum surprised me in this way - see my review).

But! This book deserves any and all derisive comments. Even the whole premise of the book, the "Return" of Hush, doesn't happen. CHaracters behave out-of-character, continuity is ignored. If you've never heard of this book, or didn't read it yet, don't worry. There ARE books you can skip, and this is one of them.

To DC Editorial: What the hell, guys??

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Batman thought things would settle down now that Hush has been killed. While it was horrifying to learn that his childhood friend Tommy decided to take on the role of a supervillain to get revenge for the death of his father on the operating table of Bruce Wayne's father, Batman had to do what he could to stop Hush's reign of terror. The belief is that he can go back to bringing in the usual coterie of villains.

When the Riddler is thrown through a skylight of a museum during a major fundraiser, Batman comes face-to-face with Hush once again. Hush is back and he wants to take over the city. This does not exactly sit well with the Joker, who pretty much sees Gotham as his already. The Joker decides to bring together some of the supervillains to stand against Hush.

Knowing that he is outnumbered, Hush decides he might need some allies as well and makes his way to Star City, Green Arrow's domain. He comes across Green Lantern, who is working diligently at bringing in Prometheus. Hush arrives just in time to save Prometheus and bring him over as an ally in his mission.

From there the story continues to quick up pace as more and more people get caught up into the maelstrom surrounding Hush. Lots of people want him taken down for different reasons, and it will be a race to see if someone can actually succeed in that. Will it be a supervillain or superhero?

Written and illustrated by different artists from the original Hush storyline, this tale seems to be just as well done on both fronts. The only odd thing is that the tale seems to unravel at the end rather than coming to a strong and exciting conclusion. I am not sure of the reasons behind the decision.

On an interesting note, the book also re-examines the backstories of Hush and the Joker as they were presented in the two other graphic novels I read today.

[Prince · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast paced, shorter (6 issues) follow up to the Jeph Loeb penned Batman: Hush , Hush Returns is a breezy read. We have Hush, who was presumed dead (do any of them really die?) at the end of the first series, return to Gotham with a new plan to bring Batman down and take over Gotham. The Joker - self appointed king of the criminal underworld - does not take to this idea easily. Thus we have Batman, Joker and Hush in a three-way duel. Add to that, the Riddler with a secret of his own, and we have a fairly engaging tale.

That being said, now the downsides. The series ends in a distinctly depressive note for all the players involved and almost all the interesting story threads really go nowhere - similar to a season-end cliffhanger that TV series employ quite a lot these days. We never get to learn Hush's master plan for Gotham. The newly recruited thug Prometheus (introduced with much fan fare and a Green Arrow cameo) really does nothing except gun down a few of Joker's men. Batman is absent for most of the last two issues. Also there is no mention of Catwoman. Hopefully Heart of Hush (the third in the Hush series) will provide some closure to these storylines.

The artwork, compared to the vibrant and glitzy images of Batman: Hush , is muted and gritty; and the dialogues are sharper. Scenes with the Joker and Hush really light up the page. Pick this one up if you enjoyed Batman: Hush.

[Justyn Rampa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the right price in one of the most awesome used bookstores in the USA, so I decided to give it a try.

I think it has gotten somewhat of a bum wrap for reasons that are not its own fault. The coloring is a bit off (as in sometimes the ethnicity of characters is hard to decipher or just plain confusing). Also, for some reason, they include Gotham Knights issues 50-55 and then randomly throw in issue 66. I was disappointed to learn that the remaining issues of the Gotham Knights line were not collected in a volume so I may have to buy the remaining single issues to finish the storyline. Finally, the art is somewhat generic. It does a fine job, but there is no real defined style which makes it difficult to compare to the original Batman Hush project.

That's the bad.

The good is even without Loeb and Lee, Hush Returns is a fairly interesting read that allows us to spend more time with a psychotic villain! There is also a wonderful interlude with Green Arrow in the mix! The character of Hush presents a sort of "what if" scenario which presents the reader with a different version of Bruce Wayne.

I recommend this despite the low collective rating, although I suspect the arc would be much better with a proper collection.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stumbled across this one at a used bookstore and was immediately interested. A Hush story that isn't on any recommended reading lists I've seen, where he enlists Prometheus to help him with his ongoing plot against Batman and anyone who gets in the way of him trying to kill Batman. It sounds like it could be a pretty underrated find.

It was not. A large chunk of the story is bogged down with incredibly questionable characterization and the writer deciding to continuously reference and call back to Alan Moore's the Killing Joke as if it's the only story with the Joker he's ever read with the other villains seemingly existing merely to react to Joker's sad tale of woe.

What, judging from the cover, was meant to be another part in DC's attempt to push Hush as the definitive mirror match for Batman becomes yet another story derailed by bringing in the Joker and attempting to do something profound and meaningful with the character only to fall incredibly flat. There are better stories for every character involved. This is absolutely worth skipping unless you're a completionist.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this comic mainly, because I saw that Green Arrow was going to be in it and I LOVE Green Arrow. But I continued reading it because it was really interesting. Hush was back and that got Batman...scared, not that you saw much of Batman. The main characters were the Riddler, The Joker, Hush and later Prometheus. The Joker was really different than he is in other comics, he was calmer and not so big with the crazy scheme's and things. I know now why the Riddler was hiding from everyone in the Batman: War Games series but this series left a lot of things open and it kind of frustrates me, not knowing what is going to happen next.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 2 out of 5]

No soy fanático de "Hush", la saga donde nace el personaje epónimo, ni mucho menos. Pero dentro de todo me parece una historia entretenida y bien llevada, con un retcon que no llega a contradecir historias de la continuidad de Batman. No es el caso de esta secuela, sobre todo cuando sus retcons entran en contradicción directa con una joya del noveno arte como "La broma asesina". No le pongo sólo una estrella porque los primeros capítulos no son malos y porque el dibujo, sin ser la octava maravilla, está bien hecho y tiene una buena narrativa.

[Tala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good follow up on the Hush storyline. It makes the Riddler look like a pussy but makes Hush look incredibly bad ass. I love the portrayal of the Joker in this one and the Killing Joke tie in to Joker's past. I found it interesting that Joker and Penguin would sit around an open fire to consult over the going-ons of Gotham City. It got a little weird at the end when Joker decided to run to the Circus naked though. Why did he take off all his clothes...?

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

good story....I liked Hush teaming with Prometheus because both are pretty much 'unknowns.' However, for a graphic novel, the story wasn't complete. It left me wanting to know what happens next, which is great for a story. But graphic novels should be a complete storyline.

What book comes next in this story?

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is really cool. Batman goes to Starling City, Green Arrow's turf, Hush and The Joker battle for control of the Gotham underworld, and other Batman villains are also involved. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is, I'm not crazy about the very end. The last few pages are kind of a let down.

[Dean Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember loving this the first time I read when I was new to comics. It doesn't stand up over time. I liked the idea of villains fighting each other but the uncharacteristic portrayal of The Joker is really strange.

[Deepak Saxena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlike its prequel, this one focusses on few characters, still doesn't get a grip on the story. Especially the last part feels like unnecessary diversion and leaves things open ended. Worse is, we don't get much of Batman or his investigating. A huge disappointment.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, bad writing (too many stories going on at once) combined with some of the worst Batman art that I've ever seen. One panel featured the ugliest Bruce Wayne that has ever crossed my eyeballs. Whew. Yikes, yowza.

[Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t think much of this at all! The joker was completely out of character throughout and they even tried to retcon parts of The Killing Joke. The story wasn’t particularly compelling either, it didn’t really go anywhere, I’d advise anyone thinking of reading this not to bother.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style changes I'm this book. I really didn't like the illustration and how many characters looked very similar. This book did make the joker seem more human though and I liked that.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muitas pessoas não gostam quando mexem em vespeiros e eu até concordo com essas pessoas, mas é necessário ter a mente aberta e analisar quando o material fonte não é violado e sim enriquecido e aqui achei que complementou histórias anteriores.



CONTÉM SPOILERS

Após os eventos de Batman: Hush, O vilão Hush retorna após ser dado como morto e está procurando por Riddler. Hush o encontra e o espanca. Posteriormente Hush também bate de frente com o Joker, mas nessa quem se deu mau foi o Hush apanhando dos capangas de Joker. Hush então se alia a um vilão chamado Prometheus. Posteriormente Riddler em troca de proteção da perseguição de Hush dá ao Joker um nome importante do passado dele.

E aqui encontra-se o vespeiro. Neste ponto há um flashback interessante envolvendo o Joker, dando mais background pra ele e para seu passado. No flashback parte da história de Killing Joke é mostrada e complementada fazendo com que Riddler, que ainda não era o Riddler nessa época, fosse testemunha da sacada de onde morava do assassino da esposa de Joker no passado.

De volta aos tempos atuais, Joker após receber o nome do assassino de sua esposa, promete um dia ir atrás do culpado por mata-la. Joker decide levar Riddler para esconde-lo em um lugar seguro, mas Hush e Prometheus param eles no caminho e se vinga da surra que levou de Joker. Riddler foge e pede ajuda a Poison Ivy para esconde-lo. Enquanto isso Joker machucado retorna ao local que iria esconder Riddler. O circo abandonado que ele usou em Killing Joke e aqueles anões estão lá para recepciona-lo.



Há algumas coisas diferentes aqui:
- Uma é que nesta história o Joker não está pirado como ele vinha sendo mostrado neste ponto da cronologia, aqui ele parece meio são de si e de seu passado e não há motivo aparente para esta mudança, a não ser se for considerado que este é um dos três Jokers (risos).
- Outra coisa é que o Riddler está mais jovem, pra quem não sabe, ele havia usado o poço de lázaro para se curar de seu câncer terminal e isso o fez ficar mais jovem como foi referenciado em Batman: Hush.
- Há uma participação do Green Arrow totalmente irrelevante.
- O Batman aqui é um coadjuvante de luxo.

[Dan Prestwich · Rating 1 out of 5]

A quick bit of housekeeping. The collection listed here is an odd one. It collects Batman: Gotham Knights #50–55 & #66. This is not, as you might assume, a complete arc plus a later related issue. Rather, issue #50 (I believe Hush's first appearance since the famous and incredibly overrated story arc Batman: Hush ended less than 6 months earlier) reintroduces Hush as new lead villain of Gotham Knights, which continues for much of the next 2 years of this title. So, this collection gives you the first run of issues featuring Hush (his first arc in this series, let's say), and then a random, tenuously connected issue from later on in the series. That issue does not clearly follow from the earlier ones, nor does it wrap anything from the previous issues up. So, in search of something like closure, I read basically all of those 2 years of Gotham Knights (minus a few months where it was part of the War Games crossover event, which apparently features Hush but was not following the ongoing Gotham Knights storyline). The irony being that, as it turns out, Gotham Knights was cancelled after issue #74, leaving its 2 year Hush storyline unresolved.

Still with me? I wouldn't blame you if you weren't. Anyways, this is a pretty bad comic book. Hush, in his famous storyline, was a terrible villain with a backstory and motivation so stupid that you almost feel embarrassed for all of the professionals who had to put their name on the comic, but his characterization was thin enough that a new writer could really mold him into whatever they wanted. How they blow it so bad, I don't understand. His whole deal was that he was some sort of mastermind who is obsessed with getting revenge on Bruce Wayne, but here experiences some serious mission drift by deciding that he wants to become a major crime boss in Gotham, and spends the series doing things like feuding with the Joker, becoming BFFs with Poison Ivy, and trying to turn himself into a new Clayface for some reason. He also has a whole scheme (that doesn't work) to convince Bruce that he's not actually Bruce's childhood friend Tommy even though the entire climax of Batman: Hush was him revealing who he is and what his motivations were in excruciating detail.

I suspect there were editorial problems during this run, because plot threads are introduced, dropped and picked back up again with wild abandon, to the point of near incoherence. There's other weird shit. The Joker stuff ties directly into his backstory from The Killing Joke, to the degree that this is partially a sequel, but with prominent retcons, and then the whole thing is forgotten. Hush teams up with Prometheus, who is suddenly very bad at his job, and there's an issue that is mostly devoted to telling Prometheus's backstory WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN TOLD IDENTICALLY AND AT GREAT LENGTH IN PROMETHEUS: NEW YEAR'S EVIL but hey instead of just putting in an editor's note why not just re-tell the plot of a 7-year-old comic scene for scene in the panels of an unrelated comic, BUT WAIT because immediately after that an editor's note does helpfully tell us that Prometheus's story will continue in a different series, and he doesn't show up in Gotham Knights again. (Additionally, the internet tells me that the Prometheus in this series is later retconned to not be the real Prometheus but rather a protégé of his, which makes sense because this version of the character sucks, but also makes his recitation of his backstory even more pointless since it's not actually his backstory).

Anyways, I'm getting angry about the continuity in a forgotten and relatively short-lived Batman title, which means that I've reached phase 3 of my Batman project and am officially an insufferable Batman nerd.

D

[Matthieu Savignac · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mais qu'est-ce que je viens de lire...

J'avais fini Hush, je voulais lire son retour... Déjà, on passe de Jim Lee à Al Barrionuevo, et on n'est pas dans le même style.
Alors oui, bon, ce n'est pas moche... mais c'est quand même très moyen. Tout semble assez plat, propre, mais sans saveur, un peu comme une salade de pâtes sans sauce.

Voilà.

Ah, l'histoire ? Bah, l'histoire... je ne sais pas, je crois que je n'ai rien compris. Pas que ce soit trop complexe, juste qu'il n'y a finalement pas d'histoire. Il y a des subplots un peu partout, qui ne sont pas intéressants et qui ne sont même pas utiles à l'intrigue.

Le fait que le Riddler connaisse un énorme secret suite à la première saga de Hush ? Hop, poubelle. À la place, il connaît par pure chance le nom d'un type qui a un lien avec l'ex-femme du Joker... Ce qui est d'ailleurs un autre subplot dont on se fout éperdument.
Et Hush ? Oui, Hush, d'ailleurs, parce que le recueil porte son nom finalement. Oui, Hush, c'est le méchant très méchant qui n'est pas content, donc il est méchant. Il va rester dans l'ombre et faire le rire du méchant. Il va quand même aller chercher un type de seconde zone dans une ville dont tout le monde se fout pour...

Pour rien, en fait. Même le type n'a aucun intérêt dans l'histoire (et il n'en aura pas plus dans la suite d'ailleurs, on ne va pas se voiler la face).

Heureusement, heureusement qu'avant le dernier chapitre, qui se passe quasi un an dans le futur et qui n'a aucun bon sang de sens, on a un petit texte qui nous spoile l'intégralité du gros crossover Batman: War Games, qui doit se passer juste après cette saga de Hush.

Bon sang, il n'y a rien qui va dans ce livre.

[20hrsinamerica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I want to give this a 3.5. I found a lot of parts of it interesting - like, Joker backstory! ANd his very exhausted annoyed, "who the hell is this?!" when they find Prometheus standing in the road actually cracked me up.

Barrionueve and Pina have some absolutelty stunning background and ambiance art. The sceenes are perfect. The city looks vibrant, things look shadowed but not dark. The detail of the buildings and the people are astounding. What they're not that great at, is people's faces. Yeah, they're detailed, but still kind of ugly. Except for the Joker whre it works. Basically I don't get why Tim has a five-head and why he looks 15 when in the first Hush he looked 20. Sigh. DC cannot figure out these Robins' ages.

I'm also curious about the Joker ending...knowing Hush's first plan involved Jason...and seeing the Joker at a deserted (mostly) fair ground, it certainly looks like where Jason finds him in Under the Red Hood. So how much time has passed? On that note, I also appreciate the nod to the cemetary scenes between the two stories.

Generally, what I was not impressed with was Batman himself. He didn't do much. It was definitely less of a Batman story than a bad guys story. Which is totally fine, but doesn't mean I would have liked more from Batman. Though I did enjoy his apology to Ollie and his conversation with Tim where Tim notees he's scared. Those were powerful moments.

[Jake Kilroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started off with some of the best pacing I've seen in a Batman collection, and I don't know if I've ever been more baffled by the perplexingly erratic and bad quality of what I have to call, by definition, an ending. I loved the beat of the first half so much, in no way slogged by Batman cliches, just sharp with movement and quick with dialogue, and then the last part feels as though someone else stepped in to guess what things were without reading the first part. Nothing wraps up. It suddenly shifts focus. Characters act like new people. It was just so bizarre. I want to watch a short documentary on how this whole collection came to be.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wut? Half of This is sorta readable, hush isnt dead. He wants to kill Batman and collects allies and enemies along the way.

But then, big jump and it’s like it’s missing a great big chunk because the story continues at a point where prometheus seems to have fought Ivy and we get his disjointed clumsy backstory

Anyhoo, this is a shambles of slides that don’t hold together and a complete waste of time. Characters jump in and out and behave very out of their norm. No depth. Pure manure.

[Sutton Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this story. I liked following Hush most of this story and his team up with Prometheus. Joker seeking vengeance, especially for something from his old life, did not seem in character. The ending was not very convulsive as it skipped over a lot and the last issue in the book had nothing to do with anything else. Really liked the gritty realistic art except for Bruce’s face which just looked weird every time. Had that great Tim Sale flowy, living, Bat cape which I like a lot.

[Lavell]

Artwork: Pretty good.Story: Did not like it. I hated the story and It went to a cliff-hanger that Left you hanging more. The hanging cliff was not interesting enough for you to keep reading. The cover was excellent.

[Krystian Knaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very meh story. The art style is cool and the plot is alright but the characters are all out of wack, green arrow and joker are like different characters and hush is the only real funny one. Feels more like an out of cannon one shot than a universe fitting story.

[Vee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really disappointing follow-up as someone who really loves Hush and considers it one of my favourite Batman comics. Almost everyone acts out of character and the choices made are... interesting.
The art is great, and that's about the best I can say for this.

3/10

[Jacob Shelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The least believable thing about this collection is that a plastic tarp costs $100.

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

More Hush, less of....whatever the hell else was happening.

[Nial · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great