I really enjoyed Hush when it was coming out. As mentioned, the art was very good and the story, while a bit showy and not incredibly intellectual was still twisty fun and each month I had no idea what was going to happen in the next issue, which can only be a good thing.
Yes, Loeb's writing is a tad patronising and sparse, but if you're looking for a balls-to-the-wall, action packed couple of hours of fun, you could go far worse than this.
I also have a big soft spot for Chuck Dixon. I know absolutely fuck-all about his politics, but his first 60 issues of all his bat-titles were great. I consider his post-Knightfall run on Detective comics with Nolan and Hanna to be one of the definitive runs on Batman (right up until the end of Legacy, or #700), it has a sense of fun and family that was never again matched (until the last issue of Batman, maybe...). Great Batman and Robin stories, which is something that's all too rare these days.
Dison also did a few great "Year one" stories around the start of the decade too. If you read in the right order, you get a nice history of the first few years of the Bat-family. Start with a few non-Dixon books: Year One (obviously), Year Three or Legends of the Dark Knight #100 (Y3 is out of cntinuity now, but they're essentially the same story), then The Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet, which is a great story of Dick Grayson's first night out as Robin in Gotham by himself. Now, start with the Dixon. Robin: Year One follows on nicely from The Gauntlet and is a charming little story in its own right. Follow this up with Dixon and Beatty's Batgirl: Year One which features some lovely artwork by Marcos Martin and go right into Nightwing: Year One to finish it up.
Yes, this is incredibly geeky, but if you have the time and money, it's a great read and is a really consistant and colourful look at the past of the Bat-family. Highly recommended. |
