Batman’s Smartest Enemy is Back – And His Return Surprised Even the Dark Knight

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One of Bruce Wayne’s closest friends and Batman’s worst enemies is back to terrorize Gotham City all over again.

Batman #158 finds the Dark Knight on the hunt for the Joker, who has kicked off yet another villainous plot just as nefarious forces make their moves all across Gotham City. After picking up on every clue along the way and finally catching up with the Clown Prince of Crime, Batman finds himself staring down not a rampaging villain but a broken and crucified Joker instead. As it turns out, everything Batman has been through was the doing of none other than Thomas Elliot, and now that Hush is back, things are only going to keep getting worse.

Written by JEPH LOEB

Art by JIM LEE

Inks by SCOTT WILLIAMS

Colors by ALEX SINCLAIR

Letters by RICHARD STARKINGS

Main cover art by JIM LEE

Variant covers by JIM LEE & SCOTT WILLIAMS, J. SCOTT CAMPBELL, GABRIELE DELL’OTTO, DAN MORA, TONY S. DANIEL, SEAN GORDON MURPHY, LEE BURMEJO, SIMONE DI MEO, and JIM LEE

Introduced in 2003’s Batman #609 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, the malevolent Thomas Elliot, better known as Hush, is one of the most iconic modern additions to the overarching Batman mythos. Like Bruce Wayne, Thomas was born into an immensely wealthy family. During their school years, the two were fast friends, one of the few that Bruce ever had. Tragically, Thomas never knew the loving family life that Bruce had, instead being subjected to near-constant abuse at the hands of his father, Roger, while his mother, Marla, only ever enabled such treatment. This drove a ten-year-old Thomas to try and orchestrate his parents’ deaths, and when Thomas Wayne saved Marla’s life, the murderous youngster developed a dangerous new obsession.

In the years that followed, Thomas fell deeper and deeper into his hatred, eventually ending up institutionalized for his increasingly violent issues. Between the treatments he suffered and a string of personal tragedies in his early adulthood, Thomas took up the mantle of Hush and embarked upon a criminal career that was always part of a wider revenge plot targeting his old friend. Not only did Thomas terrorize Bruce personally as Hush, he manipulated nearly every member of Batman’s rogues gallery into playing their part in his sprawling scheme.

The sequel to the original Hush saga, entitled H2SH, follows hot on the heels of the fan-favorite team of writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Jorge Jimenez’ acclaimed run on Batman. Back in October, Zdarsky opened up about his departure, stating:

“I love Batman. It’s been a true joy working on the title. But some time in the spring I got the itch in the back of my brain to wrap things up. Partly because Jorge and I were finishing up the giant Failsafe/Zur story, but also because my amazing Bat-editor Ben Abernathy had left for Transforming G.I. Joes at Skybound. I also had a terrifying workload in front of me and had to make some hard decisions about what needed to be prioritized.”

Zdarsky added, “I’m super proud of our final story.”

Batman #158 is available now from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics

“}]] Batman has finally realized exactly which of his old enemies is back in Gotham City, and they might bring it all crumbling to the ground.  Read More