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I actually forgot about Hush 2's releases. I think I manage to keep up with the Marvel schedule a bit better given I generally read more from that publisher compared to the DC stuff. The main DC comics I read just being the Absolute lineup and that's about it. So I was surprised to see that Batman issue 160 was already out, and that meant the third issue of Hush 2. This has been an interesting story so far given it started off a bit weak despite having such a large amount of interest and marketing behind it, something around twenty years in the making given the first Hush was released and made a massive impact on the comic book industry with Jim Lee's great and unique art style. This is quite a short run, much like the original Hush, and I think a lot of that initial interest was lost with quite a slower introduction to that familiar world again. But it is picking up. It is finding its footing. And I do think Jim Lee is showing he still has what it takes to tell a solid story.

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Hush and Hush 2 thrive on the fact that they're really chaotic. Riddled with different characters within the Batman universe. Showing a wide range of people getting caught up and engaged in the drama of Hush. And it's when these odd faces start to suddenly pop up again that Batman realises that Hush has returned, after all it's not usual that so many friends and foes suddenly spring to action all at once. Odd hints that something larger is afoot with various messages and items being left behind the scenes of crimes. Hush likes to play around and set a grand stage for Batman, which has Batman back to his detective roots trying to figure things out, without falling deeper into the plan and traps that Hush has set for him. And much of this stage is set utilising Batman's own apprentice that should've been dead: Jason. Revived from the Lazarus Pit and not quite himself after this, fueled by anger at how Batman betrayed him and let him die. Particularly displaying his hypocrisies now in the ways that he has saved the Joker and ensured he doesn't die.

Hush's plans so far are to show how Batman is a hypocrite. To display his backwards actions and reveal the ways in which people place their trust in him only to be let down. Even his childhood friends which Batman ends up getting killed, how he relied on them when he needed them most, only to not be present when the reverse is the case. Much of this issue is just that, utilising hints of their childhood and pulling Batman along. But what confuses Batman more is the arrival of even more foes. And this time they're showing interest in supporting Batman. Is that all part of the plan? Who can he trust at this point? Especially as he starts to piece together some methods in which Hush has been using people, controlling them essentially to do his bidding.

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This issue felt like the ball got rolling a bit more. Where Batman was finally faced with the scale of what is to come still. Realising that his past keeps coming back to haunt him. And also seeing the lengths Hush is willing to go to toy with him, to really display how bad Batman is to the world. It isn't just personal, but an intent to unmask the supposed hero and portray him as a villain to the population that believes he does good. To reveal the secrets of the Batman identity, with Hush knowing the family a little all too well.