Alternate, twisted versions of DC characters and concepts are one of the root story elements of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Dark Nights: Metal and Dark Knights: Death Metal events. And while Death Metal ends in two months, DC is mining that concept to its fullest with November 3's prestige format Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush #1 one-shot.
The one-shot revives last year's Tales from the Dark Multiverse series of one-shots, which put What If?/Elseworlds-style twists with a 'dark' slant on classic DC stories. Though they bear the Death Metal branding and are tied into the concept of the Dark Multiverse, they're not directly related to the core narrative of the crossover.
Hush #1 is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Dexter Soy and a cover by David Marquez that flips the script on the Hush/Batman dynamic.
DC calls the original Hush storyline by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee "the story that kicked off the modern era for Batman."
"The landmark story introduced Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Tommy Elliot as he tried to destroy the Dark Knight...but what if Tommy had ruined Bruce's life when they were children?" asks the publisher in the official description of Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush #1.
"Tommy Elliot grew up to be the Dark Prince of Gotham City with the help of Talia al Ghul, Oswald Cobblepot, Harvey Dent, and Jason Todd! But vengeance is coming in the form of Batman the Silenced...who will tear Tommy's life apart!"
The following preview lays the groundwork for this alternative timeline, including some creative romantic couplings of some surprising characters.
Hush is one of Jim Lee’s greatest creations of all time. Check out where he ranks on our countdown.
