“Hush 2” creative team Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee sit down and answered fan questions about the popular storyline.
In a live stream video on DC Comics’ Discord, Loeb and Lee unpacked some of the past chapters of the sequel, as well as their creative process.
The Bat-Family Focus in ‘Hush 2’
When asked what is the primary difference between “Hush 2” and its predecessor. Writer Jeph Loeb revealed that this story focuses more on Batman’s relationship with the Bat-family. This is different in the original Hush where it focused on his different approaches to the villains of Gotham.
The best way to describe it is: it’s Hush’s revenge. It will sorta set the stage of how Batman will deal not only with Hush, but the entire Bat-family. That’s really the thing that makes it different from the last time [during the original “Hush”]. Last time, I think we dealt a lot on how Batman deals with each individual criminal and this is how Batman deals with each individual member of his family.
Weaving Current Continuity
There was a concern of how where “Hush 2” falls within the current continuity. For example, the costume designs are different than when they appear in other titles. Loeb was quick to say that everything is intentional, even the costume changes. He even hinted that there might be some set up for the next creative team.
“Yes, it is in current continuity. You can see that in the fact that it refers to things that happen currently…. we wanted an opportunity for Jim [Lee] to redesign a few things. And also- nod nod, wink wink- it might be something for our friends [upcoming creative team] Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez might be doing for when they come on the book… If you see something added, it’s on purpose.”
Jim Lee also chimed in that the comic is trying to be as accessible as possible for new readers. At the same time, Lee and Loeb are honoring the current status quo. It can be done by keeping things purposefully vague as needed at times, such is the case with the Batcave.
“We wanted to thread the needle where anyone can pick it up and understand what is happening, but at the same time if you’ve been following continuity, it’ll align more or less with what was going on. And it’s tricky because we’ve been using certain characters in “Hush 1” that aren’t even available… they might’ve passed away. And then even like the Batcave. We spent a lot of time talking about the Batcave and how Vandal Savage has taken over the Bat Mansion [in Chip Zdarsky’s run], so they don’t have access to it in current continuity… But we know that Batman has other safehouses around Gotham City… In my mind, this is like a back-up cave that he has, like, underneath Gotham City.”
The Riddler
Spoilers alert for Batman #159
The team also addressed why was the Riddler has a complete redesign in Batman #159, despite him only having a more traditional look in issue #157. The ending of that issue showed a shockingly-jacked Riddler confronting Batgirl and Nightwing.
“He’s wearing a heavy padded jacket and pants… There’s a reason for it. I didn’t pull the costume out of thin air… I wanted to do something a little different this time around keeping with the visual update across the line across all characters. Time has past. There are some elements that I liked from the Matt Reeves [The] Batman movies. The sort of olive green fatigues… The staff was from continuity… It’s our attempt at fashioning him from an agent provocateur- guy sitting in the corner, asking questions- to somebody in the middle of the action himself.”
Check out the rest of the “Ask me Anything” session in the video below.
“Hush 2” part 3 is in Batman#160, which hits comic shops this Wednesday May 28th.
Source: YouTube.com
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