Joker in Hush Returns

[yourverysilly]

anyone who's read this did they hate the way the joker just never smiled or cracked a joke or did anything joker-like? he was just a crime boss, he was awful. What the hell was this lieberman guy thinking? he obviously has a hard on for the killing joke, but how come he doesn't get the joker character at all? killing joke is awesome and all, but its not meant to be taken seriously! the joker should NEVER have a deifning origin, they're all just fantasies anyway.

[OverMaster]

I love Killing Joke, and I see it as the definitive Joker origin so far, but at least in that story, Joker behaved like himself. Not so in Hush Returns at all.

[TheWraith]

AJ Lieberman is one of the very worst writers in comics today IMO.

[bannermanonemillion]

Didn't we collectively "Hama" that story?

What "Hush Returns"? I dunno what you're talking about!

*hands over ears*

Not there! Not there not there nottherenottherenothere!!

[DWEarhart]

Lieberman's interpretation of the Joker reminded me of how he used to be way back when Bill Finger was still writing; a greedy devilish figure who used all of the clown wackiness as a front.

I didn't mind Joker's persona-tweak in Hush Returns. It would have been better if the plot-holes were not wide enough to fit a pregnant elephant through.

Lieberman took the Harley Quinn series out, and it was a good job. I had high hopes for his Gotham Knights run. While I was let down, it wasn't ultimate, but it was rough. Having Al Barrionuevo helped out alot. I think he should stick to covers for now, and tinker with his in-book work. He's good and has potential to be great.

[Chris N]

The points of the origin in Killing Joke included:

a) his situation was absurd; terrible to the point of being funny

Lieberman's take on this was only absurd that somebody would think making her a victim of the criminals (a nonsenical plan on their part) would be a better story then a freak accident

b) The story was not definitive; Killing Joke left it open

Lieberman made it like this was what happened and Joker knew it


In the meantime, Joker was played not as himself but as a generic criminal.

You're absolutely right to forget that story ever happened

[Kristofer]

I, also, did not like how Joker was depicted in Hush Returns. Tho, my main question is "Is there a continuation ?" The TPB I have ends with Joker going back "home" and the skipping around of what is to come. Have they made the part 2 for it yet ?

[OverMaster]

Lieberman took the Harley Quinn series out, and it was a good job.

Good God, no. Lieberman never got Harley Quinn's character. He basically was writing Demented Catwoman instead of Harley.

[The Xenos]

Lieberman who? I quickly dropped Gotham Knights (again) after reading that Joker story. It just didn't smell kosher and was really weird. Plus I already didn't care for Hush. For all I care, Hush is an elseworlds. They took a number of characters I liked and treated them like throwaway characters or killed them (Huntress, Harold) and then propped up corpses or nobodies as the center of the show (Jason, Hush).

Unlike what DC says, Hush isn't one of the best things to happen to Batman in years. It was one of the worst.

[Carter Hall]

I also read Hush Returns with some enthusiasm for the artwork and was very quickly let down. The plot holes were enormous, everyone seemed out of character and it was a sorry continuation of a good story, in my opinion. Let's not forget that there was some ambiguity with Hush's identity at the end of Hush, and Lieberman messed that up, too, by saying that it was certainly Tommy Elliott (although that has been changed by a number of subsequent writers, too). Hush became a stale, one-dimensional character when all the mystery was taken out of his identity. Joker was notably out of character, too. Everything was just bad. Killing Joke was great, Hush was good, Hush Returns sucked.

I should also say that I was looking forward to the current Martian Manhunter miniseries at first and I think that sucks, too. Up to this point, Lieberman has shown me nothing to make me believe he's a good writer.

[DoctorDoom]

I, also, did not like how Joker was depicted in Hush Returns. Tho, my main question is "Is there a continuation ?" The TPB I have ends with Joker going back "home" and the skipping around of what is to come. Have they made the part 2 for it yet ?
Sorta...the conclusion was left on a cliffhanger. Then Gotham Knights was canceled.

[Kristofer]

Sorta...the conclusion was left on a cliffhanger. Then Gotham Knights was canceled.

ah, I see. Thank you. I've been seeking the Internet for a while for "Hush Returns Volume 2" ever since I bought Hush Returns presuming somehow, someway it will all make sense....I guess its like the question "How many licks does it take to get to the centre of a Tootsie Roll Pop ?"... the world may never know

[Keehar]

Hush Returns was horrible.

Joker keeping a photo album of his dead wife?? Riddler a witness to her murder [she wasn't even murdered according to the Killing Joke]. Joker having a heart to heart with Penguin about his past life??

What rubbish!!!!

[reddkryten]

Lieberman took the Harley Quinn series out, and it was a good job.

Wait, was he the guy who ruined Harley's series? I remember the series started out with wacky Harley hijinks in hell. Then a new writer came on-board, everything in the previous 50ish issues became a dream and Harley morphed into a mafia thug in a clown costume who went around blinding little girls.
If so, my interest in reading Hush Returns has went from zero to minus several million. I'm going to get his name tattooed on my hand so I won't forget his name again and accidentally buy one of his comics.

[The Xenos]

I also read Hush Returns with some enthusiasm for the artwork and was very quickly let down. The plot holes were enormous, everyone seemed out of character and it was a sorry continuation of a good story, in my opinion. Let's not forget that there was some ambiguity with Hush's identity at the end of Hush, and Lieberman messed that up, too, by saying that it was certainly Tommy Elliott (although that has been changed by a number of subsequent writers, too). Hush became a stale, one-dimensional character when all the mystery was taken out of his identity.
Funny. I could say pretty much the same thing about the Hush series itself.

Hush Returns was horrible.

Joker keeping a photo album of his dead wife?? Riddler a witness to her murder [she wasn't even murdered according to the Killing Joke]. Joker having a heart to heart with Penguin about his past life??

What rubbish!!!!

Wow. I'm glad I didn't read that far. You really have to wonder how someone in the Bat-office or editorial at DC would let crap like this slide. Did they know the book was getting canned, so they just let it keep rolling even with such crap just to make a few more bucks?

[OverMaster]

Wait, was he the guy who ruined Harley's series? I remember the series started out with wacky Harley hijinks in hell. Then a new writer came on-board, everything in the previous 50ish issues became a dream and Harley morphed into a mafia thug in a clown costume who went around blinding little girls.
If so, my interest in reading Hush Returns has went from zero to minus several million. I'm going to get his name tattooed on my hand so I won't forget his name again and accidentally buy one of his comics.

Yeah, that's the guy.

Actually, there was ONE Lieberman issue of GK I found rather good, the one-shot issue dealing with Bruce finding some papers of his late father and investigating on an old woman tied to Thomas Wayne's past. All other issues, however, were awful.

Heck, I found Hush Returns to be marginally better than those painful Poison Ivy and Clayface arcs. That should tell you the series only got worse as it went by.