Batman: Hush, Vol. 2

This was supercool. I absolutely loved it, and while I managed to restrict myself to small portions in the beginning, in the end I gave up and devoured the books in one go.

First of all, the artwork is so fucking pretty. It was one of those cases where sometimes I'd turn a page and be breathless for a moment, because wow. So gorgeous. So even if the story was, I dunno, boring or not to my liking, I would have had a great time just because of the whole look of it.

But the story wasn't boring, and it was exactly to my liking. I was even right about who the villain was! At least sort of. It was a wonderful read - trying to figure out who the bad guy was while at the same time experiencing some sort of emotional rollercoaster ride (Superman! show more Catwoman! Nightwing! Robin! Jim Gordon! Alfred!).

And with every Batman comic I read I want to read more. It's a good thing there are so many out there *g* show less

While Volume 1 is better than this volume, Hush continues at a break-neck pace toward a conclusion. I thought that part of the solution was obvious (especially for those familiar with Jeph Loeb mysteries), but a second twist caught me by surprise. But the mystery is not as important as the art and personality. Loeb and Jim Lee work well together, and I hope we will see more from this team.

Second and concluding part to the now-classic Hush saga. Batman closes in on who has been manipulating him, his friends and allies, and some of his classic foes. If there's a weakness in the book, I'd say it's in the depiction of Huntress: she is depicted as little more than a cipher and the character deserves better than that. There are lots of twists and turns along the way in this convoluted -- but not too convoluted -- plot. The art, plot, and characterization are all top-notch. Highly recommended if you enjoyed the first part and want to see how it all turns out.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers

Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee conclude one of the best Batman storylines in Batman: Hush- Volume 2! Picking up where Volume 1 left off, Batman must discover who is pitting his most deadly adversaries against him and, worse yet, the evidence indicates that this new enemy knows his secret identity. Volume 2 collects material originally published in Batman 613-619 and Wizard 0. This half of the story was pivotal to the pre-New 52 Batman comics as it portrays Batman revealing his secret identity to Catwoman and dealing with the possibility of Jason Todd, the second Robin's, resurrection, including the disappearance of Todd's body. While the New 52 and DC Rebirth reboots have retconned much of this away, the story remains one of the best.

The conclusion of Jeph Loeb's "Hush" story. There is much going for this book. Jim Lee's artwork is some of the best I've seen for the character, and that's saying a lot. Loeb has a sure sense of dialogue and character. His interchanges between Batman and Catwoman and Nightwing miraculously touch new levels of feeling and motivation, and that too is saying a lot. But the plot, while intriguing and plausible, is too convoluted, with an ending that leaves too many loose ends and fails to satisfy. I'm still a little confused about which of two bad guys here was the original instigator against Batman. And the final scene with Catwoman did much to erase the magic of their earlier scenes together, also. I'd love to see more work by this show more creative pair, if only Jeph Loeb can rein in his plotlines a tad. show less

I'm just reviewing both of these volumes as one, as that's how they were to be read and the two volume set seems to me part of the problem. Each volume is slim---maybe a hundred pages---and this could have easily been released as a single, collected volume. As for the story: I found this to a very weak Batman tale. It had come pretty highly recommended to me by a few different people, but besides for a few highlights---which I won't mention as not to spoil the plot---this story seemed contrived and the payoff, or motivation for the main bad guy was very, very unbelievable and corny. I give it three because Jim Lee has some great art in here and some of the writing is good, but overall a very disappointing story.

As graphic novels go, this was okay. It's a good mystery and brings in a ton of different characters. The artwork is slick, superhero comic art. Batman's internal dialogues started to seem forced in the second volume and essentially started to make him sound stupid. Let the man brood in silence. He is the Dark Knight.