“Hush 2” continues this week in Batman #161, and we’re coming off a whopper of a cliffhanger: Damian and Bane have teamed up! A surprise to be sure, since Damian was made to watch Bane kill Alfred right in front of him. After you get over that shock, Batman must save Damian from Hush, who has a knife to his throat. It’s an intense opening as the series begins to delve deeper into the mystery.
Batman #161 opens with a four-panel layout of Batman facing off against Hush, who holds a knife to Damian’s throat. Hush talks big, but doesn’t anticipate Damian holding a wild card of a weapon, straight out of Batman Begins. It’s an interesting wrinkle tying to Talia giving her son weaponry to survive this latest war. This leads to a strong period put on the befriending of Bane that helps rationalize a bit of Damian’s choice, though it’s not the strangest element in this issue.
I’ve seen this trick before.
Credit: DC Comics
Once again, Jim Lee is the star of this show with incredible full-page spreads, iconic shots of Batman reminiscent of his earlier days, and plenty of dynamic shots over the city streets. When the action kicks into gear or Batman does his detective work in secret hideouts, the visuals look great. Every time.
As far as the ongoing mystery of why Hush is back, there’s not much new to build on the clues that came before. There are some new targets to keep in mind, but there’s no telling if they are red herrings. There is an intriguing new wrinkle involving Batgirl, though. She’s pissed that Batman let Joker off, and takes that frustration out on Batman. Clever of her to save him but let him take some hits, and she has an interesting secret tech trick up her sleeve too. It’s nice to see Loeb and Lee playing with the longtime canon. It’s safe to say that when part one comes to a close, we’ll only have a smidge to go on.
A couple of things bothered me while reading this book, however. First off, Batman needs rescuing more than once, which is quite odd to see. For a guy always prepared, he comes close to death way too much in a single night. Another is Barbara, who is understandably angry at Batman for sparing the Joker, but then seems hell-bent on killing the Joker. Killing is way out of line for this group, but I guess we’re exploring her anger with Joker shooting her.
Batman #161 delivers classic visuals and a tense continuation of the Hush sequel, but some questionable character decisions and limited plot development hold it back from greatness.
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