So I'm reposting this on the Batman side of things because this is where it belongs, with you guys.

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A couple of years back I read Jim Lee's Hush. It's still to this day one of my all-time favorite Batman comics (and I have a lot of those). With having recently read Batman: Eternal, late I know, I'm honestly quite disappointed with Hush. Before I proceed with comparisons etc. I'd like to ask, does he pop up any more in any other Batfam comic title? Because after Eternal I've heard nothing about him? General question, would rather avoid spoilers if it's all the same!

What really sold Hush for me when he first appeared as an original character was that this was a character who knew who Batman was, who knew how to pull his strings and who was closer to Bruce than Batman, which was a first. He was a whole new kind of menace, one that could do damage to Batman in ways others have yet to be able to! That's where his appearance in New 52 sort of falters. When he first appears in this story, it seems like him and Batman have already been doing this dance once before because Batman refers to him as "Hush". I don't know about you guys but I would've loved to have seen their first encounter re-done with a new twist on Tommy's character and his "gimmick".

As villains often do, and especially the amazing rogues of Batman's corner in the universe, Hush eventually evolved. He stepped up his game and got his face reconfigured to perfectly resemble the face of Bruce Wayne! Not only did he do that but he also struck at Catwoman, Batman's girl, making him a threat not to take lightly. Here he was a pawn, not just that but a pawn taken out quickly too. Here's what makes me so very disappointed. His obsession with Bruce Wayne stemmed from jealousy on both parts, yes this is true, but the reason he HATES Bruce is what made me love this character so very much. In his first appearance, he hated Bruce because Bruce's dad had saved his mother on the operating table from the accident Tommy had caused with the intent to inherit their fortune and end his father's abusive reign and his mother's passive accessory. He'd been sitting there tending to his ill mother for several years while Bruce was "galavanting" around spending his money however he saw fit, with a certain freedom Tommy never had. However, in the New 52 Tommy was just a young boy who killed his parents so he'd be closer to Bruce. His obsession with Bruce led him to pretending to be the Wayne boy in school, and upon being confronted by this by Bruce and thus resulting in the end of their friendship, Tommy began to... smash his face into a window whilst wrapping it up in gauze? I mean, yeah sure both are quite alright origin stories but the New 52 is just so lackluster in comparison and derived of any tension. I may be alone in thinking so but I'm really quite disappointed! They haven't even explained why he's quoting Aristotle all over the place, which the did in Jim Lee's.

*it's because his mother, whilst letting his father abuse him, read him Aristotle so that he'd have a strategic mind and would learn how to avoid being beaten by his father* <- side note to anyone who might've forgotten.

I know that this is mostly a rant and yes, I'm bound to have gotten something wrong (only human and haven't read Hush in a long while) but isn't that what the blog's for? Please, feel free to share your thoughts! I can't be the only Hush fan out there, or hell even if you hate his character with the deepest passion, let me know why.

For now, I shall go back to devouring comics! Currently catching up with all the Green Lantern titles and I'm about to start the Godhead arc. Have a good one peeps.

I agree Hush had the potential to be evolve into a huge threat to Bruce Wayne and the rest of the bat family but instead he's been made into a background villain I hate it.

@diabla: precisely and he's definitely a character that should be, and is worthy of being, an A-list villain! Making his first introduction like this, as a pawn, was not a very bright move in my opinion but I hope his eventual return does him more justice than Eternal managed to do!

@haloprogram: Yeah hopefully he can be a villain to both batman and catwoman to bring back a team up I love.

Hush is an awful character from an even worse story. He hates Bruce Wayne because... Thomas Wayne saved his mother's life? Not even the great Paul Dini could save Hush as a character.

Anyway, Loeb is the man responsible for Batman: Hush. Jim Lee's the mastermind that made Hush look like a resurrected mummy spending his time as a private detective, and turned Killer Croc into Todd McFarlane's Lizard.

Hush's design was merely Two-Face's costume from TDKR,Loeb himself didn't know who Hush was gonna be early on and kept flipping until he settled on Elliot who was ironically the most predictable one. Either way Dent wore the costume himself and knowing his role in Loeb's stories I wouldn't at all be surprised if he was the actual Hush.

@playswithsquirrels: mastermind is a good word, the art in Hush is out of this world. I think I drooled the very first time I read it.

Hush is an alright villian. It would be cool to see him used more but in a more intresting way.

Hush was a lame and boring villain. I dont really see how he would ever be that great of a villain as he's probably the worst one Batman has and thats considering villains like Kite Man, Signalman, and Condiment King. The New 52 Hush is even worse.

Wow, what a divisive community! It's interesting to see so much hate for him, but I think regardless of pre-prime Hush opinions, we can all agree that this version is way worse and handled extremely poorly considering they had the chance here to make him someone people actually respect among the rogues, no?

What I saw in Hush was psychology damaged person who blamed Bruce for something outrageous and even envied Bruce in that his parents were murdered! So yeah his origin is crazy but what intrigued me was he has a deep hatred for Bruce Wayne not Batman and knows he's personal life and can hit him where it truly hurts.

@diabla: Yeah, that's what makes him different and gives him a chance to be a great rival, it's just very sad that aside from his first appearance, he hasn't been handled quite as well as he should've been (although I love Heart of Hush)! But I absolutely love the concept and idea behind him, I'll say that much. It's not original or even creative which is why I'm so stunned it hadn't really been done before.

@haloprogram: I'm not talking about the artwork itself, I'm talking about the character designs. Something Jim Lee has never been good at.

Hush, and the story that bears his name, is best left forgotten. The original introduction was trash and the New 52 one is even worse.

@playswithsquirrels: you saw Croc in Batman: Europa? Same problem basically.

Its so easy to change him for Bruce Wayne !!! Would be fun to Hush die from the some Bruce enemy ? He is not only one who hate Bruce Wayne !!!

@nathaniel_christopher: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I feel like you're trolling or the meaning of the story goes over your head.

Not trolling and the meaning of the story shouldn't go over anyone's head since the plot is paper thin. It's simply not a good story.

@diabla: What a childish thought process. Someone doesn't share your opinion, so you assume he's trolling? How can you be condescending about a poorly written comic book?

@haloprogram: I haven't finished reading Batman Eternal, but I would like to know why you think Jeff Loeb's Hush is the best Batman tpb you've read. Because for me it's in my bottom list. Villains are out of place and too easily manipulated, the plot is predictable and the second half is bowring. The only good part is the art by Jim Lee.

I agree with you they should have redon their first encounter because too many (and i'm not making this up) find the pre-52 encounter in Hush not well done.

But I see that Hush has potential. Paul Dini used him very well for example in Heart of Hush (which is an excellent story) and House of Hush.

@jb681131: Yes, the art is incredible by Jim Lee. I think the reason it is still to this day my favorite is because it's the first comic I ever read aside from like silver age Spidey stuff. Also because as my first Bats comic it introduced me to so much and from there on I just wanted to read everything. As soon as I'd finished that I bought Knightfall, Under the Hood, Prodigy, Killing Joke, Long Halloween.. you get my drift!

It is sadly true. They made his reasoning for doing what he did worse than in his pre-52 incarnation and if you haven't I urge you to read Eternal if not only to see how they screwed him up! Like I mentioned above, it doesn't even make sense in this version why he'd walk around quoting Aristotle!

Heart of Hush was excellent. I completely agree. A lot of people overlook that Hush has been a good villain in other stories because they might hate "Hush". It's like a good friend of mine said, you either hate or you love "Hush" and I didn't believe him until I read these comments.