“Chapter Six – Draw”
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artists: Jim Lee
Color Artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Review by Max Byrne
After an absolutely interminable wait, the much maligned sequel to the classic Hush makes its return with the release of Batman #163, from Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee. In the mind of this reviewer and countless other fans, the outrageous delays in production have only served to eradicate the goodwill towards this book. This is a crying shame, because the original announcement of the all star creative team reuniting to provide a follow up to one of the all time great story arcs created a huge amount of buzz. But, having to wait for months in between issues has killed the momentum stone dead unfortunately. When you have to rack your brains to remember what happened in the previous issue, it certainly does dampen the spirit.
Issues
That said, it is important to separate oneself from such things and judge this issue on its own merits. Easier said than done, when the overall standard of the storytelling from Loeb hasn’t managed to get out from underneath the huge shadow cast by his original magnum opus. That was always going to be a fool’s errand to be fair, so what do we have in this issue?
Enemy or Family
What we do get is some real “enemy of my enemy is my friend” style storytelling. As Batman flips the script. At war with his Bat-Family of his nearest and dearest, he is forced to team up with all of his main rogues gallery to combat the threat of Hush. It is a well worn trope… But it is quite a sight here to see our titular hero working in lockstep with his most arch enemies. It does feel a little bit forced, and due to the breakneck pace of the book we don’t get to really see how Batman struggles internally with the concept of this.
This issue doesn’t bring H2USH to a close, instead it sets up a new status quo that will be investigated in part 2, or H2USH 2 to give it the correct title. No spoilers here, but the ending to the issue is probably the most enthralling bit of the issue. It doesn’t even involve Hush at all, but does involve Batman, Talia and a pit with rejuvenating properties. The final panels certainly depict a change in the thoughts and personality of The Dark Knight. In a way that does actaully lay the foundation for some interesting storytelling to come.
Conclusion
Batman #163 does feel a little bit rushed. Which is utterly bizarre for an issue that was delayed by several months! It races to the halftime whistle without substantially fleshing out its narrative, albeit with an intriguing ending. I am genuinely intrigued to see what comes next, I just have no faith in when it will actually happen…
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
