Saturday, June 18, 2005

Batman: Hush

I was a regular reader of comic books for years, decades, even, and I nearly always read BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS and every other title that had Batman in it. He's easily my favorite character from the DC Universe. I haven't been reading many comics at all in recent years, though, and I'll probably wait for the DVD of the new Batman movie.

However, I recently had the opportunity to read a couple of trade paperbacks that collect a year-long story arc from BATMAN called "Hush". The writer on these is Jeph Loeb, who I think is one of the best modern-day comics writers, and the art is by the very popular Jim Lee, with inks by Scott Williams. The story is set in present-day Batman continuity, and since I've been out of touch for a while, there were several things that surprised me quite a bit . . . like the fact that Lex Luthor is now the President of the United States and Bruce Wayne owns the Daily Planet. I got up to speed pretty quickly, though, and was thoroughly caught up in this tale of a mysterious mastermind called Hush who seems to know all of Batman's secrets, including his life as Bruce Wayne. This enigmatic figure enlists a lot of Batman's old foes, feeds them important information, teaches them new ways to approach their battles with their old enemy, and generally makes Batman's life a living hell.

This is a wonderful story, probably the best Batman story I've read since the early Seventies, when Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams were producing classics like "Night of the Reaper". Loeb's writing is sharp, and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep even the canniest reader off-balance. I thought I had everything figured out several times, only to have some new surprise come along. Lee's very detailed artwork is good, although there were a few times when I had a little trouble following the action. Comic book storytelling has evolved over the years, of course, and I'm a traditionalist, so the art in modern comic books never grabs me like that of, say, Jack Kirby.

Overall, I highly recommend both volumes of BATMAN: HUSH. And I'm a comic book curmudgeon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you love Jack Kirby's work, both Marvel and DC have recently published beautiful trade paperbacks of Jack's 70s work on Captain America, Black Panther and Jimmy Olsen.

Also, Marvel's Essential series compiles 500 or more pages in a black-and-white trade paperback. Last week I picked up The Essential Fantastic Four Volume 4, 500 pages of classic Kirby for about fifteen bucks.

Mark Justice

James Reasoner said...

I think I have most of Marvel's Essentials volumes and agree that they're very good, although I do miss the color. I read most of those comics when they were new and have pretty vivid memories of them. At the moment I'm slowly reading my way through THE ESSENTIAL IRON MAN, VOLUME I. I also have the first Jimmy Olsen trade paperback from DC, though I haven't read it yet. Again, I'll actually be rereading the stories. I was a freshman in college when Kirby went from Marvel to DC and started the Fourth World stuff, and although I liked all the titles, I was the fondest of Jimmy Olsen, probably because I really liked the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion. Just talking about them makes me want to read those stories again.

Anonymous said...

DC has just announced a version of Marvel's Essetntial series. Called "Showcase" after their classic try-out series, the first volume features Superman. Green Lantern stars in the second, both from the Slver Age. Both are out in September.

One of the future volumes features Metamorpho.

Mark Justice

James Reasoner said...

I'll definitely have to pick up those Showcase volumes. DC did a lot of interesting stuff during the Sixties. I remember buying the first issue of Metamorpho when it was new and enjoying it a lot, just the sort of off-beat comic I really liked. I hope they'll do a Showcase volume of the original Doom Patrol, too.