Loeb and Lee: The Art of a Coffee-Table Book

Title: Hush
Pen: Jeph Loeb
Pencil: Jim Lee

Oh, hush!

Rare is the day when I can let the silly side out. Can float over the floorboards instead of aiming for the rafters. Can do with the LCM instead of the HCF. Can attempt to be a wordsmith instead of a Wordsworth. Rare is a title named thus and my mood is thus. Later I will blush over this mush and try to flush it away.

But, for now, hush!

Operation Baldie is still on. But the learned geeks insist that I have to read Heart of Hush in between. And, so, I brush up on my Hush first.

Flush. With baddies. The Caped Crusader has a new antagonist. One that is playing the long, convoluted game from the shadows. It all began when Killer Croc orchestrated a kidnapping. Yup, the irony of that is not lost on Batman either. The next one was Catwoman, and Poison Ivy and the Riddler and the Joker. You get the picture. Someone somewhere is pulling big strings. The Rogues gallery of Bat-villains have come out to play and then some more. Even Superman gets a push. But who is this Hush?

Bush. Not beaten around. Before Jeph Loeb became the name in the credits of Marvel TV programs, next to the unforgettable Stan Lee, he was a name in comics. And, strangely enough his most famous works was in DC. Hush may not have the fame of a Last Halloween or a Superman for All Seasons, but it is still a book that can ambush you with its audacity. Loeb gets to play in the Bat gallery again and does he run amok. The frenetic action stops only for some steamy moments with the Cat and the Bat.

Plush. Interiors. Loeb does not have his regular contributor, Tim Sale, this time around. But Jim Lee does not want to be second best. He creates a book that is so gorgeous that one would buy it even without a story to go along with it. Of course, it is all muscles and curves, but what muscles and curves! And also…

Tush. This is not here for wordplay. But Lee does have an ass-fixation. Everyone, including Batman, has moments with their backsides facing the reader. Good thing the story is more in the swashbuckling vein, or else it would have been extremely distracting.

Mush. It does not end up being. Rarely, if ever, has the romance between Batman and Catwoman been explored this interestingly. In fact, despite the procession of bad guys, one waits for the next encounter between these two. Yet, Loeb pushes it forward with the seriousness of a marriage, rather than a one-night stand. He may be content to let Lee’s artwork take centre stage, but for 12 issues, he has enough twists for us to keep up with. Right till the last few pages.

Hush. Is. Lush. That is the one word to describe this book.