Ace announced last October during New York Comic Con, superstar team of writer Jeff Loeb and Jim Lee are reuniting for a sequel to their seminal Hush storyline that ran from Batman #608-619 between 2002-2003. Today DC Comics revealed official release details for the much-anticipated sequel. Entitled Batman: H2SHthe storyline will once again run in the main Batman ongoing title starting with batman #158 on March 26,2025 and run monthly for six issues through August’s batman #163. While only running half as long as the original hush storyline, I’m sure fans are extremely excited to see Jim Lee drawing interior art considering his incredibly busy schedule as DC publisher.
Unsurprisingly, the other members of the original hush creative team will also be involved in this new storyline including inker Scott Williamscolorist Alex Sinclair and letterer Richard Starkings. The original hush storyline introduced the new titular mystery villain who sought to destroy the Caped Crusader through the ultimate master plan. Hush’s machinations took readers into a deep dive into the world of Batman and beyond, allowing Jim Lee to draw a who’s who of the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery in his quintessential style. By the end it was eventually revealed that Hush was in fact Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend Tommy Elliot. Since then, the character has regularly appeared over the years to torment the Dark Knight and even appear in outside media.
Although the creative team and DC are keeping the new Batman: H2SH story under tight wraps, readers can check out inked preview page from batman #158 below.
In addition, DC has unveiled covers batman #158 which will include a main cover by Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair, as well as variant covers by J. Scott Campbell, Gabriele Dell’otto, Dan Mora, Lee Bermejo, Simone Di Meo, Tony S. Daniel and Sean Gordon Murphyin addition to several new variant covers by Lee, Williams and Sinclair.
*art not final
batman #158, available at retail for $4.99 US (40 pages), will also feature a foil variant cover by Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair (not shown), a “Courtside” card stock variant cover by Tony S. Daniel (not shown), and a blank sketch variant cover (not shown). Card stock variants will retail for $5.99 US, foil variants will retail for $7.99 US, and the connecting card stock gatefold will retail for $7.99 US. DC will also offer a foil wraparound DC Showcase variant by Sean Gordon Murphyavailable from local comic book shops and online retailers, limited to 2500 copies for $24.99 US.
DC Showcase variant cover by Sean Gordon Murphy*
*art not final
DC also unveiled the cover to batman #159 featuring Jason Todd.
Finally, as excitement builds toward the Batman: H2SH storyline with batman #158, DC will publish a series of Hush-themed variant covers throughout the month of February by artists Mitch Gerads, Karen Andrews, Dustin Nguyen, Leirix, Jorge Fornes, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Tyler Kirkham.
