Batman: Hush "almost 10 Year Anniversary" Discussion

[Statham]

I tried to kill my parents so I could get my inheritance sooner.
Your dad the doctor prevented this, so now I have vowed vengeance on you, and have become a doctor myself.

That's not even golden age terrible, that's just Loeb trolling us.

It was explained far, far better in Heart of Hush, really, where Dini really gets into how messed up the Elliots were, but.. Yeah. That really doesn't explain Loeb's laziness, but given I think it was the case that Jason was meant to be Hush, then he might have scrambled to explain why Tommy - who would've been the red herring - had such a grudge against Bruce.

[Disco Pyg]

I do like Hush, but only as a dumb blockbuster where I can admire the pretty pictures and enjoy all the guest appearances. As a piece of writing it stinks. It's the same thing with Long Halloween really, just not to quite as great an extent. Most of the same flaws are there, but the strong characterisation and noir aesthetic prevent it from being as noticeable.

[manymade1]

People love to jump on a bandwagon and turn against anything popular. This happened with Hush, it was hyped big time and so the long term fans were always going to turn on it. Then newcomers come in, read forums like these and see all the negativity and jump on board with it. Hush was flawed in my opinion but what story isn't? It was very entertaining and the art was stunning.

This is the same thought I had when I first saw the negativity. "Hush" is actually one of the stories that got me into Batman and I would certainly recommend it to someone that was becoming interested in The Dark Knight but I'm sure many who haven't read it yet wouldn't plan on it after seeing a thread like this.

[rZi]

it's a story that i like but i don't take too seriously, if u look at it like that it can be quite enjoyable

[thwhtGuardian]

In fiction, we want fictional character to have clear and logical motivation, much more so than we do in real life. It's how stories work.

In a comicbook universe, Batma, makes sense.
Life destroyed by crime --> grows up to be a crimefighter. Logical.

Life destroyed by a doctor --> grows up to kill doctors. Logical.
--> grows up to be a... doctor? And vowing to kill your best friend, only tangentially connected to your 'trauma', but not doing anything about it for decades until you findout that he's also a superhero? Ludicrous.

That doesn't really seem all that logical to me. I

f he just became a detective or a cop sure that'd be logical, but deciding to dress up as a bat to scare people after mastering a dozen types of martial arts and various other skills? That's patently absurd, and no less absurd than Hush's origin. They're both heavily contrived and incredibly unbelievable but that's the nature of superhero origins.

[carabas]

That doesn't really seem all that logical to me. I

f he just became a detective or a cop sure that'd be logical, but deciding to dress up as a bat to scare people after mastering a dozen types of martial arts and various other skills?

He lives in a superhero universe. Putting on a costume to fight crime is normal and rational behaviour.

[thwhtGuardian]

And Hush lives in that same universe so having a convoluted back story is pretty normal too.

[TheJester]

so i am reading hush and i have many questions to ask.
1.how did selina and bruce meet?
2.sarah essen is gordons wife?in year one its barbara gordon.
heres some more questions thanks for answering first ones.
lex luthor is a president?i don't read superman comics but i know that he is main antagonist in superman comics how did he manage to become a president?

[Dark-Flux]

so i am reading hush and i have many questions to ask.
1.how did selina and bruce meet?
2.sarah essen is gordons wife?in year one its barbara gordon.

Hi and welcome!

1. Exactly when Bruce and Selina met isnt really clear in current continuity. They are seen to be dating in Long Halloween, but meet for the first time during Knightfall (published much earlier but chronologically takes place much later.) Those events of Knightfall are probably no longer canon.

2. Gordon had an affair with Sarah during Year One. After Barbara leaves him he goes on to marry Sarah who is later murdered by Joker during No Mans Land.

[James Hunter]

so i am reading hush and i have many questions to ask.
1.how did selina and bruce meet?
2.sarah essen is gordons wife?in year one its barbara gordon.

I'm drawing a blank on #1 (to many Crisis revamps ) but with regards to question 2 Gordon had an affair with Sarah Essen (in BATMAN YEAR ONE, IIRC) which caused marital problems (shockingly enough!) and led to his first wife, Barbara Gordon Sr leaving him.

Of course, not reading the current BATGIRL series I don't know if all of this has been retconned.

Cheers.

James.

[Kensei]

I did not realize that Gordon's first wife's name was Barbara. That's odd, since his daughter's name is also Barbara and you don't generally see the Jr. thing done with girls' names, only boys. In the Christopher Nolan movies, I thought that having his wife named Barbara and also showing that they had a daughter but that she was only two or three years old was Nolan's way of saying to everybody- "I am NOT doing Batgirl!"

[Dark-Flux]

I did not realize that Gordon's first wife's name was Barbara. That's odd, since his daughter's name is also Barbara and you don't generally see the Jr. thing done with girls' names, only boys. In the Christopher Nolan movies, I thought that having his wife named Barbara and also showing that they had a daughter but that she was only two or three years old was Nolan's way of saying to everybody- "I am NOT doing Batgirl!"

Yeah his first wife was called Barbara too. But remember that (until the new 52 came along) Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) was actually his adopted niece, not his biological daughter.

[Jim Thompson]

The story seems to have a lot of haters, but I have been re-reading it this weekend and I have to say, it's a pretty enjoyable tale.

[Don Yoyo]

so i am reading hush and i have many questions to ask.
1.how did selina and bruce meet?

At the time of Hush, I think you had roughly two versions of Bruce and Selina's relationship :

1) In the first one, from the main continuity, Bruce and Selina didn't know each other at all but their alter-egos Batman and Catwoman interacted a lot and had the usual sexual tension going on. Batman never learned Catwoman's identity 'on screen', but he apparently knew that she was Selina Kyle under the mask by the end of Catwoman's first series (this one still has me confused).

2) In the second one, from the Loeb & Sale's works (Long Halloween, Dark Victory, When in Rome), who form a sort of separated mini-continuity, Bruce and Selina dated in their civilian identities, as Selina had managed to enter the same social circles as Bruce through her stolen money and natural class. Batman and Catwoman had their usual relationship.

Brubaker, writer of Catwoman's second series, apparently went with the Loeb & Sale work : Bruce and Selina dated, Selina was a former socialite, etc. And Loeb continued in that vein in Hush.

[X-23_1977]

Plus sadly now most if not all of Hush is retconned out due to the new Catwoman series, as Selina no longer knows Batman is Bruce Wayne.