Welcome back to Waiting on the Trade, a monthly comics book club for people who don’t have time for monthly comics!

In this episode, guest host Mike Drew helps us figure out whether it’s more important for a comic to be cool or good, as we talk about Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams’s Batman: Hush.

This episode’s explanations, observations, and links of note include:

• Let’s start things off right: Here’s the Wikipedia entry for Harold (the Mechanic) Allnut. Who was actually a joint Denny O’Neil/Alan Grant creation!
• Apparently, the recently released Batman: Hush animated movie changes the story’s ending for the better (< don’t click that link if you don’t want spoilers, obviously). For our purposes, that and the new comic edition help this podcast episode somehow be timely (despite our best efforts).
• Whenever Mike mentions Styx, I’m legally obligated to link a Styx song in the show notes.
• Hush really isn’t as gratuitous as All-Star Batman and Robin. But then again, not many DC Comics are.
• Yeah, Clark Kent has won a Pulitzer. Even in his day job, Superman’s better than you.
• Whenever Pat mentions the episode of Batman Beyond in which Ra’s al Ghul kisses Batman, I’m legally obligated to link “Superstitious Cowardly Lot” in the show notes.
• Still couldn’t find anything official about Hush actually being Jason Todd originally … but it makes so much sense, right? Right?
• Here’s a link just in case you want that definitive rundown of who is Holiday (and when) in Batman: The Long Halloween.

Follow-Up Recommendations

If you liked Batman: Hush, we think you might also like:

• To never, ever, under any circumstances read Hush Returns. (< Note that there is no outbound link here.)
• Heart of Hush.
• Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory.
• Batman/Superman: Public Enemies.
• Batman: Under the Red Hood (which is the real return of Jason Todd).
• Batman: Zero Year (which is much better than Hush and a great Riddler story).

If you enjoyed Mike’s time on the podcast, be sure to listen to the entirety of the Battlestar Bros. back catalog (it’s fun, I promise) and read his one fantastic blog post from two years ago (then, pester him for more). And be sure to join us here next month, when we ACTUALLY discuss Batman/Superman: Supergirl with first-to-repeat guest host Mike Drew.

---

New to the show? Waiting on the Trade is a monthly comics podcast, run by two gents who don’t have time for monthly comics. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can email us at WaitingOnTheTrade@gmail.com.

You can also find us on:

• Apple Podcasts.
• Spotify.
• Google Podcasts.

As always, thanks for listening!