However, that's not why I gave this collection 3 stars. It's for the hardcover itself.

Marvel's raised the bar for hardcover editions lately, so maybe I'm just spoiled. However, DC just isn't measuring up with their line. You can take that as you will.

I ordered the Hush hardcover alongside the Spider-man: Blue hardcover, and the differences between them are obvious:

1. Just to get it out of the way, I'll admit that I'm annoyed that the entire 12-part storyline wasn't collected in one large hardback. I'd bet most would be happy to wait a little longer and pay more to have one collected edition, rather than several volumes. Take a look at Ultimate Spider-man Vol 1, and the fact it sold out, and tell me nobody would want Hush presented that way.

2. The pages themselves feel thin and fragile. After leafing through Blue and it's thicker pages, I felt like I would rip Hush's if I wasn't careful.

3. I know I'm nitpicking with this, but the book sleeve was poorly designed. Art-wise, it's beautiful (hey, it IS Jim Lee, you know!). However, it's normal paper based, with exceptions made for artistic reasoning. Look at all of Marvel's hardcover line, and they have glossy, tough sleeves. I've only had the book for about a week, and the vast majority of that time it's been in my bookcase with my other hardcovers. And yet the edges where torn and wrinkled when I first got it. The top edge has a curl to it, and it has a visible fingerprints/smudging from being used. Blue, on the other hand, has been handled more, and looks brand new.

There's really no comparison quality wise between Marvel's new line, and Hush's first volume. DC really dropped the ball on this one. Don't get me wrong, it's not the worst hardcover out there...but it should have been one of the best. The closest comparison I can draw to Hush, is with my oldest hardcover: The 1989 first printing of Karven's Last Hunt. It's been read over and over again over the years, and as such definately has a slightly worn look to it. However, a friend of mine was perusing my bookcase the other day, and honestly thought Kraven's Last Hunt was the NEWER book. The only thing that gives it away was the text used for the titling, which is definately an older style. So, apparantly Marvel published a better long-lasting hardcover in 1989 then DC could in 2003. Sad.

Very disappointing, but it's still better than the paperback edition. If you don't have the individual comics, buy it, but be prepared to handle it carefully.


I hate this book.   August 14, 2003
 9 out of 19 found this review helpful

All of it is so dull and dry. I read it and get deja vu - 'didn't that already happen?', 'haven't I seen this plotline before?'. Dick Grayson attempts to connect w/ Batman! Catwoman seduces him like only she can! Villain has to be brought down! Batman wants to kill but then feels bad that he ever contemplated it! It all seems unnecessary, like it's going in a circular pattern. The art is good (great in many spots) but stylistically rather plain. Though in '95 I would've been thrilled.


Part One -- Pretty good!   October 18, 2005
 9 out of 12 found this review helpful

I'm a Batman fan, hands down. It's all ways been about the Dark Knight, more so than the Boy In Blue and all of DC's other characters. Batman has always been top of the line for me. I may not collect the monthlies but many of my favorite comics are Batman comics: Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, The Killing Joke, Gotham by Gaslight, to name a few.

When I heard that Lee was going to be joining the Batman team, I was pretty excited. I checked out the issues as they came in. Never buying, but looking them over. One of my favorite images of Batman was this drawing that Lee did for Batman Black and White many years ago. I was excited to think of what he might do with a whole comic let alone a few issues.

Now that I've seen the final product, I guess I feel a little let down. Maybe I'm preferential to other artists like Miller, Breyfogle, Wagner, and others who portray him as a creature of the shadows and not a hulking brute who just beats the crap out of everything he comes across. Right from the get go, we're getting a Batman who looks more like Spartan from Wildcats with a cape. I did like his work on Killer Croc and Catwoman. All complaints aside, Jim Lee can draw women better than anyone out there save John Cassaday.

I guess, what I was hoping for was Jim to mess with his usual style and maybe try some of the stuff he used to do with Deathblow and come up with more darkness than was used. Although, he seems to do that a little more in the second Volume of Hush, I just wasn't feeling that his art style was the best for Batman.

As for Loeb's writing, it's really good. The story kind of goes from plot point to plot point and it's kind of like a who's who in the Batman Rogues Gallery. The Catwoman/Batman twist makes for good reading but sometimes his narrative seemed forced and not needed. We see his Batline get cut but do we need to be told "Someone cut my Batline!" I don't think so.

Good start. Volume Two is much better.


Candy For The Comic Fan   January 2, 2004
 7 out of 10 found this review helpful

The average comic fan struggles between trying to "look" mature and giving in to their childhood fantasies. Having said all that, the average comic fan is actually far more intelligent than most people think. I mean, the world is only now discovering things like the "Matrix" films and these are things that comic readers have taken for granted for years.

I, and many like me, have been "seduced" by the intellectually satisfying and literary rich writings of post-modern comic scribes like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis. These masters of deconstructionist, post-modern writing always seem to come up with new ways of reinventing the entire comic genre. However, all that said, there is still that part of me that is a lot less cerebral and a lot more visceral... or more romantic. It's that part of me that gasp with bated breath when Green Lantern takes his oath or when the Batman swoops down unto the roof of the GCPD in answer to Commissioner Gordon's call. And for that, I turn to Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's "Batman : Hush".

Jeph Loeb doesn't pretend to be what he's not. He's not from the fraternity of "2000 A.D." British writers who deconstructs superheroes to show them for the fascists they really are. Jeph Loeb is a romantic - of the "Casablanca" sort. He loves superheroes and it shows in his works (check out "Superman For All Seasons" and his Marvel "color" books for further evidence). And here in "Hush", we have Loeb writing a story that I believe he himself wanted to read. All the best writers write for themselves... for their own pleasure rather than for the approval of a board of critics. In short, Loeb writes as a fellow fan to fellow fans who want to see a great Batman-Superman bout, a Batman-Catwoman romance, a Batman-Joker fight-to-the-death, etc. - you get the point! More than that, he writes for the artist. In this case, Jim Lee. Jeph Loeb is as much a fan of Lee as many of us. So he writes the scenes that he himself (and most of us) wants to see Jim bring to glorious life with his pencils. For example, who doesn't want to see Poison Ivy drawn by Jim Lee?

That brings us to the artist. Need I tell you that Jim Lee is the creator of the highest-selling comicbook of all time (X-Men #1)? Need I tell you that Jim Lee is the founder of Wildstorm? But more important than that, we respect the man for his art - which can be summed up as merely a strong sense of the human figure and tight, super-detailed backgrounds. Having grown up with his work on X-Men and Punisher, I must say that he has improved greatly here on Batman, giving us (dare I say it) the most definitive Batman since Neal Adams in the 1970s. All that is brought to glorious life by the tight inking work of frequent collaborator Scott Williams and colorist Alex Sinclair.

This first of two volumes collects the first five parts of the Hush storyline along with an introductory "origin" of Batman told from Alfred's perspective. Jeph Loeb provides the foreword himself and the book includes biographies of the creators. I gave it four stars instead of five because the paper is awfully thin. Seeing that this is a hardcover collection of the highest-selling comic of 2003, D.C. should have used a heavier paper-stock - like they did on the wonderful Green Arrow hardcovers.

All in all, I recommend this book for those who grew up with Batman and those who would like a taste of the "real" Batman apart from the awful movies.


Please   August 17, 2005
 7 out of 25 found this review helpful

"A defining moment in the long history of mankind." ??
Come on. Hyperbole like that is going to put me off checking out the comic.