History ComicBook / BatmanHush

** The Riddler provides Batman with a hint to his current location by asking the hero "What costs a hundred million dollars, has 18 wheels and flies?". The answer is "a garbage truck", but since the riddle is based on the meaning of the word "fly", it cannot be faithfully translated to other languages without being rendered nonsensical.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Tommy towards Batman. Because Bruce’s parents died and Tommy's lived.

* ShoutOut: Some tombstones in the Gotham graveyard bear the names of famous characters from Creator/MarvelComics. In the panel where Batman and the Scarecrow arrive in the cemetery, one of the graves has the inscription "R.I.P. [[ComicBook/JeanGrey Gene Grey]]"; and in the panel in which Catwoman attacks Jason Todd, a tombstone in the foreground has a partially obscured sentence: "In loving memory of Gw... St...", which Jeph Loeb has confirmed to be a reference to ComicBook/GwenStacy.

* ShoutOut: In the eleventh issue, the panel in which Catwoman attacks Jason Todd has a tombstone in the foreground where a partially obscured sentence can be read: "In loving memory of Gw... St...". Jeph Loeb has confirmed that this is a reference to Marvel's ComicBook/GwenStacy.

* AbusiveParents: Part of Hush’s backstory. Also his FreudianExcuse.
* AbsoluteCleavage: Catwoman’s suit, zipped up to just before the breaking point.
* ActionGirl: Catwoman, Huntress, Harley, Lady Shiva, and Poison Ivy.

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Huntress, perennially left out of the Bat-family, and smarting because of it.
* AnotherStoryForAnotherTime: Hush’s backstory and connection to Bruce get deeper explanations years later, during the Heart of Hush story and ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman''

** The evolution actually kind of makes sense: during the first half of the story when Batman is the bulkiest, the biggest fight is with Superman, evocative of DKR while Batman becomes his slimmest during his fight with Ra's al Ghul, evocative of the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams period

* BackForTheDead: Harold, Batman’s old mechanic from the 90s.
* BadassBoast: “Deep down, Clark is a good person, and deep down...I'm not.”
* BaitAndSwitch: About half-way through, there’s a good amount of set-up dedicated to making you think it’s Jason Todd come back to life and responsible for Bruce’s woes. It isn’t (not until later anyway): it’s Tommy. [[note]]Later issues revealed that Bruce actually ''had'' been facing Jason Todd during the graveyard scene; Jason switched places with Clayface after temporarily escaping. [[/note]]
* BaldOfEvil: Luthor. Averted with [[spoiler: Harvey Dent]].
* BatDeduction: Played with. Little tidbits like what tire of the Batmobile was attacked and where Batman fell when his rope was cut are intentionally put in place to lead Batman in a certain direction but it's ultimately all smoke and mirrors to troll Batman. Averted when Hush actually confronts Batman. Batman's internal monologue goes crazy, picking up on ''any'' indication no matter how tiny as to who he is ("He's quoting Aristotle, is he Maxie Zeus? He's dual wielding pistols, is he Deadshot?") but ultimately fails to see the really obvious answer right in his face.
* BeneathSuspicion: The Riddler, due to not changing his MO when all the other villains are mysteriously empowered. Proves to be foreshadowing.
* BerserkButton:
** After everything is done, Batman points out to Riddler that Jason's body is still missing. Riddler smugly quips, "Now, that IS a riddle, isn't it?" Cue the mother of all punches from an enraged Batman.
** Also, the Joker supposedly shooting Tommy Elliot. Batman internally lists off all the horrors the Joker has already done and decides enough and is just going to beat the Joker to death. It's only the intervention of Jim Gordon that stops him.
* BettyAndVeronica: Talia and Selina.
* BigBad or BigBadWannabe: Hush, depending on how you read his actions.
** [[spoiler: DragonInChief: The Riddler.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: Hush has Batman down for the count, ready to end Bruce once and for all. Oh wait, here comes Harvey Dent who shoots Hush (non-fatally) into the river and promptly surrenders to Jim Gordon, basically saving the day.

* BodyDouble: The masterminds use Clayface's shape-shifting skills for all they're worth.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Huntress, thanks to the Scarecrow. Superman, thanks to Poison Ivy. Batman thinks he is due to a tracker Hush implanted in his brain.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: Narrowly averted during Batman's fight with a Poison Ivy-controlled Superman. Even with the Kryptonite ring, there are only so many times he can punch Superman without breaking every bone in his hand, and the kevlar in his gloves only provides so much protection.
* ByTheBookCop: Gordon’s default setting.
* TheCameo: Lex Luthor. Amanda Waller. Talia. Ra's al Ghul and Superman may also qualify.
* ContinuityNod: Where to start? Being a Loeb story, it's a cavalcade of continuity references, a good deal of them to ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' and ''ComicBook/DarkVictory''. Here's a few:

* ChekhovsGun: Ash from the Lazarus Pit.
* TheChessmaster: Hush’s default setting.
* {{Cliffhanger}}: Loeb’s SignatureStyle, honed to mind-numbing perfection. Where to start?
** Poison Ivy is controlling Superman.
** The Joker shot and killed Tommy.
** Harvey Dent is back.
*** And reformed. And releasing the Joker from Arkham.
*** Because the Joker didn’t kill Tommy.
** Huntress is brainwashed and crazy.
*** Because the Scarecrow played tiddlywinks with her mind.
** Jason is back.
** But it’s really Clayface.
*** But Jason’s grave is empty.
** It was all the Riddler’s doing.
*** Because he got cancer, and [[MrExposition took a dip in a Lazarus Pit and the resultant insanity let him deduce Batman’s true identity,]] which led to:
*** Him meeting Hush, telling Hush the secret, and the two of them running roughshod over Batman’s life.
* ComplexityAddiction: The Riddler’s MO. Deconstructed like everything else, as it leaves him technically victorious [[spoiler: knowing Batman’s identity]] but unable to do anything about it [[spoiler: or else Ra’s would come for his head]].
** Even better is Batman's initial response to Riddler's revelation: "What time is it when an elephant sits on a fence?" Insulted, Riddler responds "Time to get a new fence", saying EVERYONE knows that one and it's worthless. Batman immediately notes that THAT is why he has nothing to fear; Riddler CAN'T spill the beans on his ID because otherwise it, too, would be a worthless riddle to which everyone knows the answer. (For proof, he points out that Riddler only shared the info with people when he ABSOLUTELY had to for the sake of the previous plot.) Riddler has no response.
* CrazyPrepared: Batman does his best against Superman, [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny thus giving all new fire to many an internet forum war to come.]]
* DatingCatwoman: A central conceit of the story. Deconstructed to hell and back.

* DemotedToExtra: The Joker, reduced to a patsy in the newcomer Hush’s scheme.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler: A lot of the plan was actually created by The Riddler.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Bruce and Selina don’t stay together; Jason’s tomb is empty (this gets way worse; Under the Red Hood); Riddler knows Bruce Wayne is Batman, and Hush is still out there.]]
* EvilIsPetty:
** Basically, Hush’s calling card.
** Riddler, too, as it turns out, who won't even tell Batman where Jason's body is.

** Likewise, a lot of coincidences in the attacks make it look like this might be Jason Todd resurrected and driven mad via a Lazarus Pit. Turns out no. Maybe.

** [[spoiler: Lampshaded with the Riddler.]]
* GambitPileup: At a rate approaching or even surpassing those in ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' and ''ComicBook/DarkVictory''. Hush himself works through nearly every entry on the GambitIndex.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Gordon’s usual caveat to Batman. Said as Batman throttles Mister J to within inches of life.
* HijackedByGanon[=/=]TheManBehindTheMan:[[spoiler: The Riddler.]]

* InnerMonologue: To great effect.

* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: Batman’s main bone of contention in having a meaningful relationship with Selina. Expanded upon later in the sister story ‘Heart of Hush’.
* MeaningfulName: Hush, as parcelled out from the nursery rhyme. From leading authority on the subject, Edward Nigma, “it’s about a child who can never be satisfied."
** Specifically, Riddler tells Batman in the planning stages of the attack, the villains kept telling each other to everything "hush hush." Soon after, the Scarecrow started to randomly sing "Hush Little Baby" and once Riddler pointed out the correlation, the name stuck.

* MyGreatestFailure: Batman goes through his greatest hits as he nearly beats the Joker to death.

* OddFriendship: Batman continually examines his relationship to [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Big Blue]] this way.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Thomas Elliot, old money and childhood friend of Bruce Wayne. Completely new to this story.
** Invoked by [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] and [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]] during Tommy’s funeral, but never brought up again.

* RoguesGalleryShowcase: The other central conceit of the story.
* SceneryPorn: Just look at the way Jim Lee draws Gotham City.
* [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfUnits Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Units]]: Near the beginning of the story Batman uses a sonic attack on Killer Croc which he describes as "ten thousand bumblebees at one thousand decibels". Given that even the pressure waves from the largest man-made nuclear explosions have not exceeded 300 decibels...

* SpannerInTheWorks: Hush did not count on Harvey Dent reasserting himself, and saving the day, after being surgically cured of Two-Face.
** Specifically, he tips Gordon off to be near the opera house alley when Joker supposedly kills Tommy Elliot. If he hadn't, Batman definitely would have murdered the Joker and morally Hush and the Riddler would have certainly won against Batman lock, stock, and barrel.
* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: But Batman doesn't stay out of Metropolis.
* TookALevelInBadass: The Riddler, of all the people. Lampshaded heavily in-story.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Young Tommy Elliot, just a little too cool and cruel in the way he speaks and acts, especially towards young Bruce.
* TrackingDevice: Hush has one in Bruce’s brain.
* TheVamp: Poison Ivy and Catwoman.
* VerbalTic: The Scarecrow. Nursery rhymes. Even as Batman beats his face in.
* VillainTeamUp: Loeb’s hallmark. Specifically, the Riddler and Hush being able to convince all the major players to go along with it: Scarecrow gets to do more research, Harley gets to work with the Joker, and the Joker signs on when he hears they’re going to piss on Jason Todd’s lawn.
* VorpalPillow: How Tommy kills his mother.
* WhamLine: Just two words, [[spoiler: "Right Bruce?"]]
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Bruce and Selina do, until they don’t.

* ShaggyDogStory[=/=]BatmanColdOpen: Of a kind. Croc’s kidnapping plot kicks the whole thing off, but gets wrapped up three issues in when Waller carts him off.
** In the long run, TheReveal that [[spoiler: The Riddler has learned Batman's secret identity]] turns into this, since not much was done with the character afterwards other than a very brief DorkAge revamp, and eventually writers resorted to LaserGuidedAmnesia was employed to [[StatusQuoIsGod take it back]].
* SmugSnake: Clayface as Jason. Shades of Arkham Knight!

* MyGreatestFailure: Batman goes through his greatest hits as he beats the Joker to death.

** Batman beats the everlasting shit out of the Joker.

''Batman: Hush'' is a 12-issue story, out of the monthly ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, published between December 2002-September 2003, written by Creator/JephLoeb and illustrated by Creator/JimLee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair.

** The opera which Bruce and Selina attend ([[spoiler:and which a disguised Harley Quinn mangles]]) is ''Theatre/{{Pagliacci}}'', which a disguised Joker mangled in an episode of the [[Series/{{Batman}} 1966 series]].

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: young Tommy Elliot, just a little too cool and cruel in the way he speaks and acts, especially towards young Bruce.

It was kind of a big deal.

Critically well-liked and artistically beloved, it marked Jim Lee’s first major return to monthly comics since Heroes Reborn for Marvel in the mid 90s, plus his first collaboration with Jeph Loeb (who to that point had made a name for himself on ''ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown'', plus the ''Legends of the Dark Knight'' Halloween specials, ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' and ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'').

It broke sales and reprint records left and right, worked alongside stories from the comics of the day (namely Lex Luthor being president of the United States, Jim Gordon’s retirement, plus Gotham still recovering from an earthquake and ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''), and had massive repercussions that to a large extent still impact the Bat-universe to this day.

An AnimatedAdaptation by the way of the WesternAnimation/DCUniverseAnimatedOriginalMovies has been rumored for a while, and was finally announced at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con as part of the 2019 lineup.

* TheManBehindTheMan:[[spoiler: The Riddler.]]

''Batman: Hush'' is a 12-issue story, out of the monthly ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, published between December 2002-September 2003, written by Creator/JephLoeb and illustrated by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair.

** [[DragonInChief: The Riddler.]]

* ArtShift: Lee uses painted art for flashbacks (lighter softer tones for when young Bruce and Tommy seeing the Alan Scott Green Lantern, and blood red for when Batman flashback-revisits the death of Jason and the crippling of Barbara).