Al Barrionuevo

This continues the excellent "Hush" duo of books by Jeph Loeb. Unfortunately, this is a different writing and art team, with a definite dropoff in quality. Hush has apparently returned from the dead (how, we're never quite told). He is still waging a personal vendetta against Batman/Bruce Wayne, his childhood friend. His pursuit of this revenge pits him against the Joker and Talia, amongst others. I'm not too crazy about how the Joker is portrayed here, as a nearly sane villain with a former normal married life which he remembers clearly. He even inexplicably spares Hush after promising to kill him, a move that later comes back to bite him. We do get an extended look at the Joker's origin, which only mildly intrigues (I would have liked something more compelling than what is shown here). All in all, a major disappointment after the excellence of the earlier books, with the same drawbacks of overly convoluted plotting. The Green Arrow appearance is interesting, though, although he should not have been able to lay a glove on Batman.… (mere)