HUSH came out and it was this seminal piece of work and then editorial absolutely obliterated any potential. Under the Red Hood fixed it but there's a great story that is now obsolete because of forced continuity-altering events that are unnecessary.
There, I said it.
Hush has always been better as an intro to Batman than anything else. It's intended for someone coming in with only a moderate amount of knowledge. It came out when I was in kindergarten and first grade (and yes, I'm old enough to post here) and understood it just fine. It's okay at best and worst.
And continuity is never related to the quality of a story...
Continuity matters. Not as much as some people like to think, but definitely more than the other half of people think.
If it didn't, sequential storytelling wouldn't even work.
Everybody says Hush is overrated, and now can no longer be counted as overrated.
It doesn't matter in the vein that you're talking about though. Whether or not a story "counts" in the grand arc of a shared universe means jackshit. TDKR was its own thing for years, it didn't fit into DC continuity at all until Infinite Crisis. Doesn't make it less of a work.
It has only mattered in the sense that it hinders quality. The best stories have often been out of continuity.
Counterpoint: Much of 2010's was about ignoring continuity and it led to too many subpar books
That's because they had shitty writers, not because of adhering to continuity in one way or another. Note that I said continuity isn't related to the quality of the story in - that means good or bad.
Hush isn't bad because of continuity, though. It's bad because Hush is clearly meant to be Jason Todd, but editorial decided that was better saved for a Crisis, sabotaging the entire project and forcing the creation of an unseen character to be Hush, which for a Mystery is a big ol' fucking NO-NO.
Under the Red Hood is essentially a second-pass at the concept, and then the film finally cuts any connection to Crisis, making it the quintessential origin of Red Hood.
But THIS could've been that quintessential origin, and have a real place in the history of the grander batman myth, but now it is doomed to be a small curio.
It was cool as a "Jim Lee puts his sheen on Batman," at the time, but even then the story seemed...obvious? Like "There's this mystery man wonder who he is hmmm?" "And also let's tell you about Bruce's childhood friend, what happened to him we wonder?? ;)"
Tommy Elliot is introduced right at the start, made to be a big deal to Bruce, killed, and then gotchas at the end. He was clearly always meant to be Hush, Loeb is a hack.
I guess my point is that DC should really learn not to use continuity as a set-piece
Continuity is the ONLY set-piece at DC
Tommy Elliot's original purpose is to be a red herring. He was only forced into being Hush because bringing back Jason Todd was seen as sacrilede to some at the time.
This. Hush is fun (lots of setpieces, incorporates tons of characters, has gorgeous Jim Lee art), but it's no masterpiece.
I don't know why people are misreading what I said.
I'm not saying Hush is a masterpiece, I'm saying it could have been it editorial didn't get their hands in it and transform it into something it wasn't supposed to be. As it is now, it's just a better-than-most made-for-TB story that is a "we have it home" version of Under the Red Hood.
No way. Under the Red Hood is at best on equal footing with Hush. The Jason Todd reveal in UtRH is as exciting as Hush's Tommy reveal is predictable, but Hush smokes UtRH in pretty much every other way
You are objectively incorrect. It's not even worth arguing.
I feel the same about you. Agree to disagree.
I guess so. The way I see it both stories could've been one, Hush should've been Jason.
On this we agree 100%
It was still in continuity snartass. Just a new one. Explain why pre 2010 books sucked too then?
There were a ton of quality comics in the 2010's, wtf?
I wasn't aware someone liked hush
Has anyone who worked on it actually talked about this? Has it ever been confirmed if Hush was originally meant to be Jason Todd, and they were forced to change it, or if the unmasking as Jason was always a bait and switch that disappointed people so badly that we got Under the Red Hood afterwards?
>It was cool as a "Jim Lee puts his sheen on Batman,"
It's hard to describe how much of a big deal this was at the time. IIRC it was the first book he'd worked on after a several year hiatus, and his first work on DC characters.
There are people who liked Hush? He is generally considered garbage by anyone.
Because the 00's was people saying that continuity doesn't matter
Hush is trash and the book enabled Jim Lee to get power he didn't deserve
As fan of Cass Cain Batgirl, she was the only Batfamily character that didn’t appear in Hush. The DC editorial was already sabotaging her way before 2006 Infinity Crisis.
Year One followed by TLH and Dark Victory is the only intro anyone needs assclown. This shit is a HORRIBLE intro.