We all love Batman when he does his typical “Batman stuff.” That is, when he’s being the World’s Greatest Detective or he’s taking down villains like Doctor Phosphorous with nothing but his wits and gadgets, he doesn’t let himself get surprised by anything. But I think Batman’s staying power lies in his vulnerabilities, and I’m not just talking about the fact that he’s a regular human being. Under all that kevlar and black fabric, it’s Batman’s regrets, traumas, dreams and hopes that keep us so engaged with his character.
Batman: Hush brings all of these elements together in a perfect storm of a narrative that set the tone for how Batman would be characterized in the 21st century. For many Batman fans today, it would be difficult to imagine a time before the status quo that Hush helped usher in. Jason Todd, Batman’s second Robin, was still dead, and it would be years until Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert would create Damian Wayne. The Dark Knight was coming off of a rather macho stint during the 1990s, where he clashed with the likes of Bane during the Knightfall storyline, and discovered the evils of Venom in the storyline of the same title in Legends of the Dark Knight. Batman’s body went through a lot in the 1990s, and now it was time for his mind to do the same.
Hush gave us a rare glimpse into Bruce Wayne’s childhood through his friendship with Tommy Elliot, laying the groundwork for a more vulnerable vision of Batman. While Grant Morrison and Klaus Janson had explored Bruce Wayne’s experiences in boarding school during the “Gothic” storyline from Legends of the Dark Knight in 1990, Hush was more interested in representing Batman’s psychological state and individual perspective with all of his biases and anxieties.
This was emphasized through Jim Lee’s use of watercolors during flashback scenes with young Bruce and Tommy, the imprecise look of the medium representing the haziness of Batman’s memory. For once, Batman was no longer the authority of his own story and life. He was beginning to feel unsure about things, the lines on the page literally bleeding into each other. While this feeling might be normal for a character like Wally West, it feels startling for someone like Batman, who has a profound need for control over himself and his environment.
Writer Jeph Loeb constructs the story of Hush so that Batman cannot complete his duties as a detective without examining himself and his actions as Batman over the years. To investigate Hush, Batman must come to terms with how his childhood friendship with Tommy Elliot fizzled out. This mystery isn’t something that can be solved with cold calculation. As such, it’s not surprising that Batman ends up ruminating about the death of Jason Todd. His past relationship with Tommy opens the doors to examining the other hidden areas of his psyche.
It should be noted that Hush laid the seeds for the eventual resurrection of Jason Todd in DC canon. In Batman #617, the Caped Crusader is confronted by what appears to be a fully grown Jason Todd, who holds a knife to the current Robin, Tim Drake’s neck. Of course, this “Jason” is later revealed to be Clayface posing as the former Boy Wonder. But it’s not surprising that two years later, in Batman #635, Jason would crawl his way back into Batman’s life with the now seminal “Under the Hood” storyline by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen. “Under the Hood” was an emotional reckoning about Batman’s mistakes as a father and mentor to Jason Todd and became emblematic of a new type of 21st century Batman story where the drama emanated from Batman’s humanity—his flaws—more than anything else.
Without Batman: Hush, we never would have gotten a crop of intimate stories like “Under the Hood” and the recent Batman: Failsafe from Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez. Before Hush, the final frontier for Batman stories was one where the Dark Knight grappled with his personal life and mistakes. And Hush provided an example of how compelling Batman is because of his capacity to disappoint, fail and regret—just like all of us. Batman is inspiring because of how he pushes the bounds of human ability, but it’s his core humanity that keeps us all waiting to read the next issue.
Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair is available in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers. It can also be read in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE and has been reformatted to be read on your phone as part of DC GO!
Don’t miss the start of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee’s H2SH, kicking off this month in Batman #158.
Jules Chin Greene writes about comics, TV, games and film for DC.com, and his work can also be found at Nerdist, Popverse and Multiverse of Color. You can follow him on Bluesky at @JulesChinGreene and on Instagram at @infinitevibes.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Jules Chin Greene and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
