DC Just Killed Batman, But It Will Never Matter

Batman is one of the faces and pillars of DC. He’s the most published superhero of all time and is arguably the best-known comic book character ever. He’s the person that DC always relies on to sell books and headline whatever they need to give books a little extra push. They chose Batman to break the crossover drought with Marvel for a reason, after all. A huge part of his popularity is that Batman has some of DC’s greatest stories under his belt. From “Year One” to The Killing Joke and new classics like “Gotham Nocturne,” Batman is constantly outputting must-read comics that draw endless attention and praise.

All of this makes the fact that DC just killed Batman all the more surprising, and the fact that it doesn’t matter at all even worse. Death is notoriously loose in DC, and Batman would never stay dead for long, but the Dark Knight has only died in his own comics once before, and even that was a fakeout. This was a true death, and he was resurrected by the Lazarus Pit, which is something that has never happened to Batman before. Yet, we’ll never see the impact the destructive resurrection had on Batman because it happened at the tail end of Batman (2016) #163, in the conclusion to the first half of the “H2SH” storyline, and the second half almost definitely is never coming out. 

The Death and Return of Batman

The first part of “H2SH” was all about isolating Batman. Hush’s convoluted but effective plan turned the entire Bat-Family against Bruce and hospitalized Gordon. Batman was on his own, and when Hush came to end the game, the Dark Knight was forced to team up with his greatest enemies, all of whom want their own piece of Hush. The final battle between Batman and his villains and Hush’s gang is brutal and bloody, with Batman spending most of it trying to convince Red Hood to become a hero again. In the end, Hush stabbed Batman through the heart and claimed to have done the same to Catwoman. Thus, Batman died.

Talia al Ghul arrived, but not even she could save Batman’s life. Instead, she decided to restore it. She carried his corpse back to her base, where she had Batman dunked into a Lazarus Pit. Where did the Lazarus Pit come from, given that they’ve all been destroyed for years? No clue. Either way, Batman returned from the dead, but he was different. Talia called out that something had changed in Batman, and he wore a dark, menacing look. He pulled Talia into a kiss, and the comic ended, promising to answer every question we had in the second part. However, I doubt that “H2SH 2” will actually be released.

A Littany of Delays and Poor Reception

If “H2SH” will be remembered for anything, it’ll be insane delays and a generationally terrible plot. This sixth issue was supposed to be released all the way back in September of 2025, and the new Batman volume that was supposed to start after it is already nine issues deep. This isn’t anyone’s fault, as artist and Chief Creative Officer of DC, Jim Lee, announced that he dealt with health issues that caused said delays. However, Lee famously couldn’t keep to a consistent schedule back when he was only an artist, and now, between being Chief Creative Officer and getting older, the odds of him having the time to work on a major project like this look less and less likely. 

The bigger issue is that there’s practically no demand for this story to continue. “H2SH” was really, really bad. The plot hit literally every major criticism of modern Batman comics like it was speedrunning a checklist. I’ve been very vocal that this comic is one of Batman’s worst of all time, and the last issue didn’t change my opinion. This situation is a lot like Batman: The Widening Gyre, another series that promised to conclude in a follow-up comic, but due to the creative team’s schedules and general disdain for the series, it never happened.  I imagine “H2SH 2” will be much the same. I can’t imagine it ever finishing, because who is going to ask for it when the beloved run that immediately follows it is currently ongoing?

“H2SH” did set up the interesting plot point of Batman being resurrected wrongly by the Lazarus Pit, and I would love for the legends Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee to complete their vision, but I doubt it will ever happen. We already know that everything in this comic has no bearing on any comic before or after it, making it even easier to ignore. There’s so much stacked against this comic that it’s unreal, and I can’t say that I’m too disappointed. It’s a shame that things likely end this way, but as it stands, I would eat my shoe if this comic were actually released.

Batman #163 is on sale now!

What do you think of “H2SH” and its potential sequel? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!

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