Over twenty years after they first shook up the comic book world with their iconic “Hush” storyline in Batman #608-619, Jim Lee, Jeph Loeb, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair are reuniting for “Hush 2,” which will run in the pages of DC’s main Batman series starting in March 2025’s Batman #158. DC was silent as to what will happen to the current creative team on the series, Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jiménez.

The announcement was made at New York Comic Con’s Jim Lee and Friends panel, and included some sample art from the project, as well as a reveal that there will be a special prelude to the upcoming series in the first issue of Justice League Unlimited, which is due out at the end of next month.

The original “Hush” saw Batman running a gauntlet of his iconic Rogues Gallery, with it becoming clear that everyone (the villains and Batman, himself) was being manipulated by a mysterious new villain known only as Hush, a villain with bandages covering their face to obscure their identity.

In the end, Hush was revealed as Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend, Thomas Elliot, who had always resented the Wayne family after Bruce’s father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, had saved the life of Thomas’ mother when Thomas had attempted to secretly murder her as a child. In effect, Elliot was the opposite of Bruce Wayne. He was someone who used his fortune and his brilliance to power his obsession with evil, and his defining moment was his parents NOT being killed when he was a child. Like Bruce, he was adept at wearing a “mask” among other people, as he seemed like a decent humanitarian, while actually being a villain. When he learned from the Riddler that Bruce Wayne (who he also hated for getting to live the orphaned life Elliot always wanted) was Batman, he decided to destroy Batman’s life through an elaborate plot.

From the sample artwork that Lee revealed during his panel, it appears that Hush’s return will involve his continued manipulation of Batman and the “Bat-family” of heroes, as one of the pages shows Hush using chess figures of the various Bat-characters.

One of the key ways that DC is promoting “Hush 2” is by selling limited edition “H2SH” T-shirts featuring Jim Lee’s new “Hush 2” artwork. These shirts will only be available for 52 hours from the DC shop.

In addition, DC will be releasing facsimile editions of the original “Hush” storyline, beginning with January 2025’s reprintings of Batman #608 and #609.

BATMAN #608 FACSIMILE EDITION

Written by Jeph Loeb

Art by Jim Lee

Cover by Jim Lee

Foil variant cover by

Jim Lee Blank sketch cover available

$3.99 22 pages Variant S4.99 (card stock) ON SALE 1/1/25

Batman attempts to bring an end to the vile kidnapping of an innocent child. But suddenly, all hell breaks loose… The first chapter of “Hush’— the landmark storyline where the superstar talents of Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb ushered in is a bold new adventure in the life of the Dark Knight, that set a new standard for Batman stories for years to come.

Source: ComicBook.com