THIS WEEK: In a special bonus edition of the DC Round-Up, we look at Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s return to the Dark Knight in Batman #158, the first chapter of H2SH.
And don’t miss the regularly-scheduled DC Round-Up, which looks at Absolute Martian Manhunter #1!
Note: the review below contains spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Batman #158
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Penciller: Jim Lee
Inker: Scott Williams
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Cover Artists: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, & Alex Sinclair
Early on in Batman #158, the first part of “H2SH,” Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair, and Richard Starkings’s long-awaited sequel to their now-classic “Hush” storyline, the dark knight is, as he frequently is, on the trail of The Joker. Batman muses on what The Joker is up to, noting that he’s apparently recreating earlier crimes. As he’s smashed in the face with a crowbar, Joker’s longtime weapon of choice, Batman wonders: “Why repeat the old jokes?”
The very next narrative caption is about how The Joker brings chaos to Gotham, and Batman is there to restore order. It is virtually identical to a line of narration from the original “Hush.” During the underwater sequence that follows, Batman attempts to force his mask off in order to activate the electrical defenses he has in place against that, and zap the laughing fish who are trying to eat him. Those defenses are also repeated from the original “Hush”…except this time they backfire, electrocuting Batman along with the fish.
I don’t know whether this is intended as a meta-commentary by Loeb, Lee, and company on returning to one of their most successful projects. I could see The Joker repeating past crimes as an in-joke. The repetition of elements from the original storyline doesn’t necessarily feel intentionally reflexive, though, but it’s also probably not something you would immediately pick up on if you haven’t read the original recently. But for readers who have returned to that original story before picking up the sequel, it’s certainly an interesting way to kick things off. And the backfiring of the mask removal gimmick…well, what worked once won’t necessarily work a second time.
The question of why to bring Loeb, Lee, and company back together is a no-brainer: DC and their parent company like money, and the original “Hush” was an absolute juggernaut, and has become a perennial standout of the publisher’s back catalog. “H2SH” has already proven to be equally as massive, with over 400,000 copies ordered by retailers ahead of its release. From a business standpoint, the answer is easy.
From a storytelling perspective, though, it gets a little hazier. We live in a post-Grant Morrison, post-Tom King world. Batman has been deconstructed and reconstructed at least a half-dozen times between “Hush”’s 2002 release and today’s sequel launch. Then again, the original story didn’t particularly try to reinvent the wheel, instead presenting a very action-oriented, ‘greatest hits’ playlist for Batman and his rogues gallery over the course of twelve issues. With one issue of six under their belt, Loeb and Lee appear to have a similar goal in mind this time around, though not without a few differences.
Loeb’s script here picks up the feel of the original storyline seamlessly. Inner monologue from Batman frames every scene he’s present for and sets the tone from the jump. That also makes an area where “H2SH” does something new stand out: there are multiple scenes in this issue that Batman is not in, something that happened only sparingly in the original story. A scene between Nightwing and Batgirl nods towards how much the Bat-family has grown over the past two decades, while a confrontation between Hush and The Joker does little to reveal what Thomas Elliot is up to now that he’s back but does set up a dilemma for the dark knight later on in the issue, albeit not one readers have never seen before.
On the visual side, Lee, Williams, and Sinclair’s work is as sharp and stylized as ever. The storytelling is solid, and the characters overall have good physicality, though there are a few images of Batman that feel less energetic and more staticly posed than they once might have. An appearance by Talia Al Ghul feels tacked on so that Lee has an excuse to draw a woman in a skin-tight suit. New character Silence’s first appearance is certainly imposing, even if the character design is pretty boring overall. Honestly, though, what is there to say about this team that hasn’t been said a hundred times before? It’s exactly the work that they’ve been doing together for decades, and you either love it or you don’t at this point. As it is, it fits right in with the look and feel of the original “Hush” storyline.
That ‘sameness’ is probably ultimately what this project is going for, though. Unfortunately, instead of being a fun throwback it ends up giving the whole thing a dated, tired air. What felt modern and exciting in 2002 now feels stale and derivative of itself. The repetition of elements from the original storyline certainly doesn’t help with that. The bit about The Joker repeating his past jokes gets carried on later in the issue as Batman walks down a virtual ‘memory lane’ of the horrendous things The Joker has done over the years – to Jim Gordon, to Barbara, to Jason Todd – and it leaves one wondering why The Joker doesn’t come up with some new material.
But then, why bother when the old favorites sell so well.
Final Verdict: BROWSE.
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English (US) · 