A review by mark_johnson
Бетмен: Цить, by Jeph Loeb
4.0
This story once was one of my introductions to the Batman comics. For a long time, I think that it was one of the best Batman stories of all times. Now I`m not so sure anymore.
At the first reading, I was amazed by the amount of Batman mythology included in Hush. Almost every important character, ally or foe, presented or at least mentioned. Even as an inexperienced reader with little to no knowledge of many of these characters I don`t feel lost or confused thanks to the screenwriter Jeph Loeb who did his best to smooth things over. Because of this, it was my belief that this comic is actually a good starting point for the new readers and I still think so. The art is one of the highlights of the comic and it`s difficult to separate one of the creators as solely responsible for this. This book is really beautiful which was the main reason I wanted to buy a copy.
So now, after rereading, how did my opinions changes? First of all, the story itself is not that ground-breaking and rely very heavily on the extended cast of characters and the homages to the previous stories. The antagonist is underdeveloped (which was fixed by Paul Dini in Heart of Hush) and the final is anticlimactic. The good parts of the story - the one that included Batman and Catwoman`s relationship - are still pretty good even if I didn`t like Selina`s characterization that much.
I was very surprised when I realized that I`m not that fond of Jim Lee`s pencils anymore. The art style that I once considered quintessential to the superhero comics now seems to me so... nineties. It lacks emotional expressions and falls into cheesecake too much for my enjoyment (to be honest, the latest Jim Lee`s works actually became better when it comes to drawing of the female characters - see his work on the Suicide Squad).
I`m still cannot say that I don`t enjoy myself when rereading Hush. This is still gothic and noirish hard-boiled narrated Batman detective story and not a bad one either, far from it. Even if I maybe overgrow my love for art, I still think that it`s beautiful and iconic. I still like Hush, but not as much as I did a few years ago.
P.S. Ukrainian translation of the comic is mostly good with some minor flaws.
At the first reading, I was amazed by the amount of Batman mythology included in Hush. Almost every important character, ally or foe, presented or at least mentioned. Even as an inexperienced reader with little to no knowledge of many of these characters I don`t feel lost or confused thanks to the screenwriter Jeph Loeb who did his best to smooth things over. Because of this, it was my belief that this comic is actually a good starting point for the new readers and I still think so. The art is one of the highlights of the comic and it`s difficult to separate one of the creators as solely responsible for this. This book is really beautiful which was the main reason I wanted to buy a copy.
So now, after rereading, how did my opinions changes? First of all, the story itself is not that ground-breaking and rely very heavily on the extended cast of characters and the homages to the previous stories. The antagonist is underdeveloped (which was fixed by Paul Dini in Heart of Hush) and the final is anticlimactic. The good parts of the story - the one that included Batman and Catwoman`s relationship - are still pretty good even if I didn`t like Selina`s characterization that much.
I was very surprised when I realized that I`m not that fond of Jim Lee`s pencils anymore. The art style that I once considered quintessential to the superhero comics now seems to me so... nineties. It lacks emotional expressions and falls into cheesecake too much for my enjoyment (to be honest, the latest Jim Lee`s works actually became better when it comes to drawing of the female characters - see his work on the Suicide Squad).
I`m still cannot say that I don`t enjoy myself when rereading Hush. This is still gothic and noirish hard-boiled narrated Batman detective story and not a bad one either, far from it. Even if I maybe overgrow my love for art, I still think that it`s beautiful and iconic. I still like Hush, but not as much as I did a few years ago.
P.S. Ukrainian translation of the comic is mostly good with some minor flaws.