A review by somecallmejim
Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Okay, so, I really enjoyed this one. So much so, that I'm fairly certain that I'll be re-reading it fairly soon. It's a proper good who-dunnit caper and while I guessed who was behind it fairly early on, I was thrown a couple of times. It all starts with what appears to be a straightforward kidnapping involving Killer Croc... eventually becoming a bigger mystery when Batman's line is cut while in pursuit of Catwoman. Anyhoo, the writing by Loeb is great... I was a bit concerned that pretty much every friend and foe turned up, but the characters were introduced and used really well. All serving a purpose, so it was a joy to see how their appearance would be woven into the plot...

Now, I haven't read a whole lot of comics and suchlike and my familiarity with Bats comes from TV and film, so I can't comment on how this sits with other story arcs, but I've always been drawn to the darker, more realistic, detective side of the character and there's plenty of that here despite the wider superhero vs. supervillains element. I don't want to give anything away for those who might want to read Hush so that's all I'll say...

The art is exceptional. Despite all the darkness, it was vibrant without being garish. Really great stuff.