I’m not gonna use spoiler space, since I don’t think speculation counts as spoilage. If you disagree, don’t read further!!
In the current Batman storyarc, there’s a mystery villian called “Hush”. He knows tons about how Bats operates, he’s helping Batman’s baddies be more effective, he murdered a really boring retconned character (Dr. Tommy Elliott who usedta be Bruce’s best friend) created for this story arc and framed the Joker.
Here’s the thing. DC seems to want us to think it’s Jason Todd. Someone used the Lazarus Pit. Hush seems to really hate the Joker. There’s a couple of other vaguely Jason-esque clues. Plus there’s a couple of Jason Todd stories going on in other books.
I don’t buy it. (I want to buy it mind you. I’d be thrilled to be proven wrong. But…)
I hope I’m wrong, but I think Tommy Elliott is Hush.
There’s all those panels of of Tommy and Bruce playing chess. Tommy repeatedly telling Bruce “You’ve gotta think like your opponent”? The fact that Tommy kept winning the games?
Either those panels were there for a reason (however lame) OR they were a waste of panels (possible).
Hush’s gimmick is that he can outthink the Batman: he’s always one step ahead. Just like Tommy was when playing chess with Bruce.
The inconvienient fact that Tommy’s dead? No biggie. Tommy plays chess. It’s no big deal in chess to sacrifice an important piece when you know you can get it back…He tells his flunkies to dig him up and dump him in the Lazarus Pit after the funeral.
Motive is the only problematic area: WHY would Tommy do this? My only guess (and it’s such a lame idea that I really hope I’m wrong) is that he still resents L’il Bruce saying “Everything’ll be alright.” right before Dr. Wayne tells them that Tommy’s dad is dead.) It’s a stooooopid motive, but…why spend a page or two on it otherwise?
The only other person this plot sorta fits is Hugo Strange (this sort of chess-like mindgame exactly the sort of thing he’d do). But there haven’t been any of the telltale Hugo Strange clues (no-one’s tried to kill Boss Thorne, for example) and other than Method of Operation, there’s nothing that even remotely points to Hugo (I don’t think Hugo Strange ever even met Joker).
The only flaw in the Jason Todd theory (other than the fact that it’s too obvious and they’re over telegraphing it) is a motive. The only thing that Jason would have is the cliche “You let me die! I kill you now!”. Which is possible, but lame…though not as lame as “You said something comforting, but incorrect, 25 years ago so now I’ll KILL you!”)
I want this to be Jason. But I think it’s Tommy Elliott.
Well, I did find a post in alt.comics.batman which claims to give the identity of Hush. I’m not 100% sure if this is a true revelation (and frankly, neither is the author of the post), but he does point to a giant clue at the end of Batman #614–either that or it’s a red herring.
I don’t read comic books, so I can’t say for sure; however, the whole “Who is Hush” question sounded like a challenge, so I did me some Googling. Let me know if you want me to post a link to that post from Google Groups. Or send someone an e-mail if it is a spoiler (which it may not be since the post’s author claims that he doesn’t know for sure, either).
By the way, I see that on DC’s web site, there’s a contest for the appropriate guess of Hush’s identity. Grand prize winner gets an unused pencil sketch of Batman.
Actually, why not post it here with the {spoiler}spoiler tag{/spoiler}?
I’d be interested to read it. And AFIK, Usenet posts are public domain. I’ve posted entire Usenet posts (with attribution) before here and there’ve been no objections.
If you don’t want to, a link would be appreciated!
Oh sure, here’s the link. Seeing as I always sour at the sighting of any Buffy/Angel links (woe is me; I shall never again be soured by Buffy spoilers), I just didn’t want to ruffle anyone’s rubber nipple-equipped crimefighting suit.
That said, I did notice–after reading even further–that a lot of other readers are convinced the “big hint” I pointed out in my last post was indeed a red herring. And at least one other poster in the group complained that this story arc has been written before, most notably in the 80s comic line of Batman.
I think I’ll go back to reading my twelve issue-run of Marvel’s short-lived (New Universe, 1986) Nightmask.
Is the Lee/Loeb run worth picking up? I got the much hyped Bats vs. Supes issue, and was so so on it, so I never bothered even flipping through the rest of them.
I sorta flux between really liking Batman (I bought all of the "No Man’s Land trades), and not touching it at all (except for the aforementioned isse, not a Bat-book in my collection since the NML stuff).
Also, I hope they leave the Jason Todd story line alone. It would be extra lame to bring him back to life. I hate those stories that bring the dead back.
SkipMagic: Regarding your spoiler, it is (probably!) not he. That character shows up later under circumstances that make it (probably!) clear that he isn’t the top dog in the show.
Of course I use those (probably!)s because in Jeph Loeb’s previous Batman work (Long Halloween/ Dark Victory), he made an explicit point of placing the central villains beyond suspicion as part of the narrative. Therefore, it could, in fact be he. However, I happen to think Fenris is right: the most likely candidate is Tommy Elliot, who seems to have been introduced specifically as a potential foil for Batman. The fact that he’s now assumed dead seems to fit Loeb’s narrative style.
JFTR, I think that both the Jason Todd and Hugo Strange theories are wishful thinking. We have a specific in-continuity reference (from the Green Arrow relaunch) that Jason Todd was explicitly very dead very recently. Likewise, the last time we saw Hugo Strange, he wasn’t “presumed dead”, he was impaled and rotting on a rusty spike in the Scarecrow’s basement. It’s unlikely that the Lazarus Pit could fix either at this point.
You’re mistaken, DrF. I love it. Given the alternatives, I can’t think of a better choice.
Now, though, since it’s been spoiled, I fully expect DC to pull the same sort of bullsht they’ve done in the past and make Hush turn out to be Captain Atom.
Fenris
*Armageddon 2001. Big mystery: what super-hero went bad, changed his name to Monarch and used his military knowledge and vast atomic powers to set up a rigid, controlled, ordered state in the far future year of 2001? Well, every fan in the world figured out that it was Captain Atom. So, at the last minute, DC pulled the book, and re-wrote it to make rigid, order-driven Monarch…Hawk. The avatar of Chaos. :rolleyes: Despite the fact that he’d been completely cleared by the character who’s super power is the ability to know who Monarch is. And despite the fact that it makes no sense for Hawk.
I don’t think Jason Todd is Hush. I think the whole thing at the end of the current Batman issue is a red herring. But I think I have a pretty good idea of who Hush is and I’m willing to bet I’m right on this one.
Hush is Mr. Whisper from Batman: Gothic by Grant Morrison. It might seem a little far fetched but here’s the evidence backing up my claim.
First off when Jeph Loeb first announced details about his “Hush” storyline he said Hush would be revealed to be from a story many people thought wasn’t in continuity. I don’t have a source for this statement by Jeph Loeb but I remember reading it in an interview.
Second if you guys have read Gothic you all know that Mr. Whisper loves fine poetry and the opera and so does Hush. Because we see Hush qouting from classic poetry and he kills Thomas Elliot in an opera house which is very similar when Whisper killed that mafia boss in an opera house.
You guys might say that Mr. Whisper went to hell at the end of Gothic and that’s a good point but remember in Sandman: Seasons of Mist when Lucifer freed all the inmates from Hell when he retired. And yes I know that they all were returned back to hell but it’s not unreasonable to think that some of them got away like Mr. Whisper. Plus Mr. Whisper is near immortal and who knows if he acquired other abilities while in hell like raising people from the dead and that would explain Jason Todd reappearing.
Being in hell would also explain why Mr. Whisper’s face is horribly burned or scarred and that’s why he wears those bandages. Also remember in Gothic that Mr. Whisper is a master manipulator and is very good at controlling people. In Gothic Mr. Whisper found out that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same so that would explain Mr. Whisper knowing everything about him.
Obviously it’s been a couple years since Gothic so that would give Mr. Whisper some time to find out all of Batman’s secrets.
If you’re still not convinced look at Hush’s brown jacket and how his body is built, his body looks exactly like Mr. Whisper’s body and he looks like he has exactly the same jacket.
Er, does the file that DrFidelius contain a spoiler as the filename would suggest? Because I am 100% commited to not being spoiled for this story, and that’s tricky what with the internet and all.
That said, I really hope it’s not Jason Todd. Even leaving aside for a second the fact that I really don’t like Jason Todd, I think his story was pretty much told when he died.
I have to go with Tommy Elliott. To introduce a character that was supposedly that important to Bruce during his childhood and have him die a few issues later is very strange, yet at the same time takes him out of the picture for a while so they can drop more Jason Todd hints.
I can’t really think of a better motive from the information we’ve been given, but wow, I both hope it’s not that and have a bad feeling that you’re right and that’s exactly what it’s going to be.
Have we not forgotten the tragic fate of Douglock?
What I’m saying, is…maybe Hush is Tom Elliot and Jason Todd!
Oh right…like none of us has seen worse than that.
Now, I haven’t been following this particular storyline too closely myself…but “Hush” was the guy in the bandages, right?
If that’s him, in an issue I saw, he visited the Joker in his cell, the Joker insisted on unwrapping the bandages, and revealed him to be…
…wait for it…
Patrick McGoohan.
No, I’m kidding it was…
…Harvey Dent, indeed. The bandages were from a plastic surgery job; he’d had his face fixed, and no longer considered himself “Two-Face.”
Of course, it might just be someone pretending to be Harvey Dent. Or the next issue might have said so, but I haven’t read it myself. So I could be completely wrong.
Yes. BIG spoiler… Unless they do something stupid like digging up Spellbinder (DC’s answer to Ringmaster from the Circus of Crime) or it’s a rubber mask or something equally stupid, it gives away the ID of Hush. Don’t look if you don’t want to know.
See, for me, it isn’t a problem: The real Jason Todd (the circus acrobat kid who was about 10 years old when King Crok murdered his parents) is just fine. He survived the Crisis and we saw him running around with the Teen Titans and Blue Devil (he was pals with Kid Devil) for about 11-12 issues after the Crisis. It was the fake Jason Todd who was voted on in the 1-900-snuf-rob fake poll.*
What I never understood is why Batman didn’t notice. “World’s Greatest Detective” indeed. "My newest Robin has aged 7 years, dropped 40 IQ points (he tried to steal the Batmobile’s hubcaps) and has anger management issues. Eh. Must’ve misremembered. Details, details. But who’s that kid running around with the Teen Titans? Oh well… :: shrugs :: "
Fenris
*D.C. staffers were allegedly told to start dialing the Snuf-Rob number because Robin was going to live- O’Neil didn’t count on the mainstream public not understanding that Todd wasn’t Dick Grayson and getting upset—and allegedly again, the “Robin lives” pages weren’t completed. There were thumbnails, page layouts, and that stupid full-page picture of Batman with the lobotomized grin saying “He’s alive!!!” but that was it. And O’Neil’s whole idea for the 2nd Jason Todd was to make him so obnoxious that the fans would vote to kill. O’Neil’s vision at the time was to have a loner Batman and Robin was in the way of that.
