The story moves along from scene to scene at a very quick pace, taking Batman from paralysis to full recovery within 22 pages. And yet it is so enthralling, it's difficult to notice.
Writing
The writing is very clever and touching at times. I loved it when Huntress showed up with such style, only to be confused for Batgirl. And it's touching to find Batman reminiscing about those who are nearest and dearest to him during his time of greatest need. True to form, the thugs in crime alley are depicted as a "cowardly and superstitious lot". Alfred continues to be depicted as the loyal and resourceful servant (albeit, with a noticeable technological upgrade from previous Batman issues.) And, the banter between Thomas and Martha Wayne continues to make them endearing. There are a few moments that don't seem to add-up, however, such as the ending. Hush can be seen cutting out a picture of Bruce Wayne from a newspaper and reciting a quote by Aristotle - "We make war that we may live in peace". As menacing as that may be, it doesn't have much relevance (that I can see) to the rest of the story and would probably be more appropriate in Paul Dini's Heart of Hush than here.
Art
Jim Lee has definitely stepped up his game in this issue as he shows us his skill and versatility with several completely different scenes. Although I understand the controversy surrounding his treatment of Huntress' costume (the "belly window") I think that Huntress has never looked better and her action scenes are very well choreographed and pretty awesome. Lee's artistic style, although not completely consistent, does ground the reader into reality more so than the previous styles of past Batman artists, while still being fantastic enough to leave you dreaming of being in his environments. So, even though we only catch a glimpse of the interior of the Batcave, it's still leaves you dying to see more. But his greatest artistic achievement in this issue, by far, is the Spot-Light of this review.
Spot-Light
The famous Jim Lee watercolour sequence. According to an interview I heard with him, he simply decided on a whim to try his hand at watercolours for this issue - and it works magnificently. It lends those scenes a sort of tenderness that comes with memories of young age while also hearkening back to the classic artwork of strategy board games like Risk and Stratego (which is very appropriate given that Bruce and Thomas are playing a game that's something like a Chess/Stratego hybrid). It's a beautiful touch that really makes this issue stand-out. More than mere Child's Play
I really liked the idea of breaking the hero just from the beggining and allowing him to get back on his feet, no matter how hard the fall and how bad a cliche this is. It worked very well putting the Batman in harm´s way right in the first issue of this arc story, while a mysterious figure lurks in, revealing that he has connections and some allies in what seems a scheme to bring total silence into Batman´s life. But Batman has friends and allies too, people that didn´t give up on him, even if ...
The 2nd issue in the hush story arc begins with batman lying paralyzed in crime alley surrounded by regular gang members, the issue them quickly progresses and we see the arrival of another great character huntress, who saves batman from the thugs surrounding him, the story then moves along at a steady pace and we see batman recover and the arrival of an unnamed anonymous figure who poison ivy is working with and is clearly going to be one of the villains in the story. The art in the issue is th...
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