There’s no extra conventional ending to a Batman story than a combat with The Joker. Maybe that’s the reason, contrarily, Hush 2 opens with such a combat? Nevertheless, that is solely the start of the shattered expectations. This opening scene replicates the primary battle between the Darkish Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime. But it additionally delivers a shock to lengthy-time comedian readers.
Reuniting author Jeph Loeb and artist Jim Lee, Hush 2 opens in media res. Batman is dashing to the Gotham Metropolis reservoir, to cease Joker from poisoning it. Pretty normal stuff, but the Darkish Knight wonders why Joker is repeating himself. The Clown Prince of Crime prides himself on being unpredictable. So why recreate the primary crime that pitted them towards each other?
The primary cowl and first 5 pages of Hush 2: Half 1 could also be seen under.
How Hush 2 retcons the basic “Joker Fish” story
Joker’s use of fish contaminated along with his well-known Joker Toxin could ring a bell with informal comedian followers. The Joker Fish caper was most famously reenacted within the Batman: The Animated Sequence episode ‘The Laughing Fish.’ Nevertheless, the cartoon was initially impressed by a narrative with the identical title, printed in 1978’s Detective Comics #475.
In each circumstances, The Joker was not attempting to poison the folks of Gotham Metropolis. Fairly, he contaminated the fish as a part of a convoluted plan to earn a living off the rights to his likeness, claiming a share of each fish product on the market. Nevertheless, in neither case was the caper a part of The Joker’s first battle with Batman, as Hush 2 suggests.
This represents a serious retcon to the historical past of Batman and The Joker. Extra worrying, nevertheless, are The Joker’s causes for repeating himself in Hush 2. Doubtlessly they’re mad, and greater than possible, a little bit fishy.
Batman #158 arrives in comic shops everywhere on March 26, 2025.
