TITLE: Batman: Streets of Gotham – House of Hush
AUTHOR: Paul Dini
PENCILLER: Dustin Nguyen
COLLECTS: Batman: Streets of Gotham #12-14, 16-21
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $22.99
RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2011

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

As big a Paul Dini fan as I am, this book was…confusing. Ever meet someone who starts telling a story, then ends up going on a couple of tangents midway through, but is nevertheless determined to finish the story they originally started? That’s kind of what this book is like. That’s a disappointment, considering how well Dini’s Heart of Hush story in Detective Comics turned out.

After a two-issue spotlight on The Carpenter, the young woman who constructs hideouts for various supervillains in Gotham, we go to our main story. Judson Pierce, a gangster who has been in prison for over 35 years, is released, and he’s got a serious bone to pick with Bruce Wayne. Little does he know that Bruce Wayne isn’t around. The man masquerading as Wayne is actually Tommy Elliot, a.k.a. Hush. Thus, when Pierce goes after “Bruce Wayne,” things get interesting, and even moreso when the REAL Bruce Wayne steps into the picture.

The central story involving Hush, Judson Pierce and the Wayne legacy is decent enough. It’s not the most worthy successor to Heart of Hush, but it’s okay. Dini dives into Thomas and Martha Wayne’s pre-married lives, as well as their connection to Leslie Thompkins’ clinic, all of which ties them to Judson Pierce. But a decent amount of this book feels like fluff, which is simply there to stretch the story out to fit a certain number of issues. For instance, almost an entire issue is dedicated to one of Pierce’s henchman recalling a traumatic incident from his childhood involving The Joker. The problem? The Joker doesn’t appear, or play any role whatsoever in this book otherwise. It’s a good issue and all, but it takes us completely out of the story that’s already on the table. It happens again later in the book, as Dini dives a bit too far into the origin of the villainous Dr. Death, though in that instance the character DOES play a role in the Hush/Judson Pierce story. Nevertheless, these moments cause the story to drag. I’m all for great character work, but when it’s out of left field like that it strikes the wrong chords, at least in my book.

One thing that impressed me about this story, and Heart of Hush as well, was the way Dini maintains some of the themes that were played up in Jeph Loeb’s original Hush story. He touches on Tommy Elliot’s bitterness toward the Wayne family, Bruce’s would-be relationship with Selina Kyle/Catwoman. It’s very cool if you enjoyed Hush as much as I did.

Dini also has a way with characters. Simply put, he brings them to life in a very fun way, more than a bit reminiscent of Batman: The Animated Series. Between that show, his work on the comics, and the Arkham video games, I imagine he feels right at home amongst the chaos.

This book will likely be the final volume of Streets of Gotham released by DC. There is some back up content featuring Two-Face and Ragman that hasn’t been released yet, but I don’t imagine consumers will be racing to comic shops for it. Between this book, Hush Money and Leviathan, the title didn’t exactly make history. But it allowed Dini and his cohorts an opportunity to be creative without the scale being so large or the stakes being incredibly high. We met some new characters, and got to know a few better. Unfortunately, when Dini tried to tell a longer story in Streets, it ended up getting bogged down by some of that character work, which for my money is a rarity.

RATING: 6/10

Front page image from comicsalliance.com. Page from Batman: Streets of Gotham #14 from xmanscomicblog.blogspot.com.