A year has come and gone and Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's 12-issue Hush has finally come to an end. Did it live up to expectations and blow our minds? Unfortunately, as far as I am concerned anyway, the answer is a resounding "no". And judging from opinions online, it appears that I am not alone.

Hush opens with Batman investigating the kidnapping of Edward Lamomt IV. With a ransom of US$10 million, both the child's family and the authorities were more than willing to pay the ransom. However, Batman is in for a surprise when he encounters a mutated Killer Croc while Catwoman absconds with the ransom. Hot on pursuit of Catwoman, Batman faces an accident and finds himself plunging down to Crime Alley, seriously injuring himself. And this is just the first chapter, the story getting off to a very exciting start.

Over the next eleven chapters, practically everyone that has something to do with either Batman or Bruce Wayne shows up in the story as the Batman encounters one villain after another as he goes through Killer Croc, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Joker, Harley Quinn, and a few other surprises. And then, there is of course the two landmark moments of Hush... the epic fight between Superman and Batman in the sewers of Metropolis, and the beginning of a romance between Batman and Catwoman. And then there's the introduction of Doctor Thomas Elliott, a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's who was brought back to Gotham City to save Bruce's life.

The main question behind Hush has been "Who is Hush?" And the identity of Hush was not revealed once, or twice, but thrice! Sure, the first two surprise revelations were meant to be red herrings, but while they were genuinely shocking, it didn't resonate with me the way Jeph Loeb masterfully used the same method for the unmasking of the Holiday Killer in The Long Halloween. And Hush will invariably be compared to that, as the overall structure of both stories are very similar. And where The Long Halloween succeeded, it is a very big surprise that Hush fares so miserably.

And why did Hush fail? The opening and closing chapters were some of the more exciting issues of Batman to be published in a very long time, and this is from Jeph Loeb, the same writer who gave us The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, two of the most highly regarded Batman stories in recent memory. First of all, the pacing was very uneven as practically nothing of real significance happens in the first half of the story, killing the exciting mood set forth in the first two chapters, while the concluding chapters happen at a breakneck pace as one revelation makes way for another with barely any room to breathe.

And then there is the number of characters involved. While it gives new readers a very good exposure to the many members of Batman's extended family and rogue's gallery, it mostly felt forced and was mainly written in for Jim Lee to show off his penciling prowess. This hampered the story, in my opinion, and artificially padding the story.

And of course the main disappointment was the revelation of Hush's true identity, which I expect many people saw coming a mile away. It was the most obvious "surprise" answer, and I am very disappointed that Jeph Loeb was unable to pull off another masterstroke of genius that he did with The Long Halloween. And of course, by the end of the story finale, everything goes back to normal and the status quo has been restored, to no one's surprise.

Then again, the main draw of Hush was never Jeph Loeb's so-called mystery. The real reason why Hush kept Batman at the top of the Diamond Comics sales chart for the whole of 2003 was Jim Lee's return to a monthly comic. And this is where Hush succeeded with flying colours. After the past few years of tepid and unspectacular art on the various Batman titles, Jim Lee brings a new level of visual excitement to the series. His re-designs of the Bat-Cave, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy were very much appreciated, although the new revealing costume design for Huntress left me scratching my head as to why Helena Bertinelli would don such an outfit, which is incongruous to the character's profile. Jim Lee's version of Batman reminded me of Frank Miller's version as seen in The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman is a visual behemoth, large, hulking, and intimidating.

What I particularly loved were the flashback sequences, where Jim Lee and colourist Alex Sinclair create a pseudo watercolour effect, giving these sequences a dreamy feel. While it wouldn't have made sense for this particular style to be employed for the entirety of Hush, these are some of the most beautiful pages throughout the story's 264-page length, and I would love to see it employed by Jim Lee on a more regular basis.

Unfortunately, Hush will probably be remembered years from now as the return of Jim Lee to monthly comics and a welcome sales boost for DC Comics rather than being a memorable Batman story. And it is such a shame as I truly believe that it had the potential of being as groundbreaking and significant as The Long Halloween or even The Dark Knight Returns.