Not unlike The Batman Who Laughs, Hush is an enemy of Batman who’s visually iconic and extremely lethal, and who made a hard-to-miss entrance into the universe of the Caped Crusader.
Created by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, Hush made his first appearance during the storyline named after him that started in Batman #609 – during the Modern Age era aka the Post-Crisis era. In this 12-issue storyline, we learn his real name, his connection to Batman, and everything you need to understand his actions, but it wasn’t the end.
Hush became a regular in the gallery of enemies that Batman must stop. At least, before the start of the New 52 era. After DC’s continuity was rebooted, it took a little time before Hush was reintroduced into the world of Batman during the Batman Eternal storyline. With his return, his backstory was a little bit retconned. And then came DC Rebirth, another relaunched of the DC line. Hush briefly came back to fight the Batfamily.
If you like Hush, all you need to do is follow the reading order.
Batman: Hush Reading Order
Gotham City is infected by a crime epidemic and all of Batman’s enemies have emerged to throw his life into utter chaos. But little do they know, they’re all pawns of the villainous Hush in an elaborate game of revenge against Bruce Wayne. Pushed past his breaking point, Batman will need to use more than the world’s greatest detective skills to uncover the true identity of this mysterious mastermind before it’s too late.
In November 2023, DC Comics published an omnibus collecting most of the pre-New52 stories revolving around Hush. You’ll find below a list with more details for that era.
- Batman: The Hush Saga Omnibus
Collects Batman #608-619 and #685; Batman: Gotham Knights #50-55, #60-71, and #73-74; Detective Comics #846-850 and #852; a Hush interlude from Wizard #0; the Hush tales from Batman: Streets of Gotham #1-4, #14, and #16-21; and a brand-new short story from Batman: Hush: 20th Anniversary Edition.
- Batman: Hush (New 2019 Edition)
Collects Batman #608-619, a Hush interlude from Wizard #0, and a bonus section with over 40 pages of behind-the-scenes content.
There are other editions. In fact, there probably will be more, because it’s a book that DC republishes regularly.
Batman knew his deadliest new enemy Hush was going to come back, but he never expected him to return so quickly! And with his reappearance come more questions about his true identity, origins, and motivations. As the new battle of wits begins, the trail leads to Star City and an encounter with its protector, Green Arrow.
- Batman: Hush Returns (aka Pushback)
Collects Batman: Gotham Knights #50-55 and #66
If some may consider “Hush Returns” as optional because too bad, Hush quickly came back, first as a secondary player in the War Games crossover storyline, then in another and better Gotham Knights storyline. However, those issues are not collected yet.
- War Games – See the reading order.
- Gotham Knights #62-71, 73 & 74
Hush made another dramatic return to the life of Batman in Batman: The Heart of Hush from writer Paul Dini and artist Dustin Nguyen. But what will this mean for Bruce Wayne? Secrets shared years ago between Bruce Wayne and Tommy Elliott begin to have dangerous repercussions in the present. Why is this mystery driving Hush to destroy Batman’s life? What part does Catwoman play in Hush’s plans?
- Batman: The Heart of Hush
Collects Detective Comics #846-850.
Then, Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen continued to explore Hush in the Batman: Streets of Gotham series set after Batman Reborn.
- Batman: Streets of Gotham Vol. 1: Hush Money
Collects Detective Comics #852, Batman #685, and Batman: Streets of Gotham #1-4. - Batman: Streets of Gotham Vol. 3: The House of Hush
Collects Batman: Streets of Gotham #12-14 and #16-21.
Before becoming the main Batman writer during the New 52 era (see reading order), Scott Snyder wrote Gates of Gotham, a 5-issue miniseries not about Hush, but the villain is present in the story, among others.
- Batman: Gates of Gotham
Collects Batman: Gates of Gotham #1-5.
It’s not set in the regular continuity, but it’s noticeable that Hush was at the heart of the first storyline of the third Batman Beyond series. You can now more about Batman Beyond with our Reading Order.
- Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond
Collects Batman Beyond (vol. 3) #1-6.
Set in the DC New 52 rebooted continuity, Batman Eternal was introduced as part of the 75th-anniversary celebration of Batman as a year-long weekly limited series written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, Kyle Higgins, and Tim Seeley. Hush was absent before issue #21, but you need to read what came before because he had a hand in it.
- Batman Eternal, Vol. 1
Collects Batman Eternal #1-21. - Batman Eternal, Vol. 2
Collects Batman Eternal #22-34. - Batman Eternal, Vol. 3
Collects Batman Eternal #35-52
And then, we jump to the Rebirth era, first with a guest appearance in All-Star Batman. In fact, during that era, Hush mostly did small appearances:
- All-Star Batman #10 collected in All-Star Batman Vol. 3: The First Ally.
- Batman (vol. 3) #19 collected in Batman Vol. 3: I Am Bane.
- Batman: Prelude to the Wedding: Nightwing vs. Hush #1 collected in Batman: Preludes to the Wedding.
- Batman (vol. 3) #70 collected in Batman Vol. 11: The Fall and the Fallen.
Finally, Hush was part of the Road to Ruin storyline in Peter J. Tomasi and Bilquis Evely’s Detective Comics:
- Detective Comics Vol. 6: Road to Ruin
Collects Detective Comics #1028-1033.