And that's where the problems started arising. Rather than appearing to be part of any coordinated activity, "Hush" devolved into a series of seemingly random attacks. Even the ultimate explanation - that an "unknown" adversary was utilizing Batman's normal rogues' gallery against him - didn't justify the twists and turns of this tale. The biggest complaint leveled against the series was that it seemed like an attempt to bring all the birds home to roost, as if to allow Jim Lee to draw every one of Batman's baddies in this one storyline. The problem was, by doing so I think they really stretched the storyline and left holes so big you could drive a Hummer through them (or a fleet of Hummers, side by side).

For example, the whole crux of this twelve issue arc was the notion that a "new villain" was in town orchestrating these attacks against Batman, and that everything that happened was part of his "plan." However, the notion that events were "planned" suggests (i) that there was a grand purpose behind what happened and (ii) the strategist was acting moving in ways that would reach specific goals.

Early in the storyline (in the first issue, actually) Batman is chasing Catwoman and his "batline" is somehow cut. He plunges to the street, ending up badly injured (and with apparent head injuries). That suggests - to me, at least - that the villain simply wanted Batman dead (since a very likely outcome of his fall could have been death). Since we now know who the villain was (i.e., Tommy Elliot, Batman's childhood buddy), there was really little reason - at least demonstrated in the story - for Tommy not just to let Bruce die on the operating table. Okay, Tommy had actually wanted his parents to die in the horrific accident that took his father's life (and in fact, he apparently planned it). He was mad at Bruce for somehow interferring and "preventing" his mother's death (note here that Loeb seems to forget that this accident would have occurred before Bruce's parents died, which seemingly undermines Tommy's resentment of Bruce being able to be alone). In any event, the crucial thing is that from a story perspective, the revenge Tommy seeks to exact also has to make sense. And it didn't.

If the motive is somehow twisted revenge, then the question becomes, how does the character achieve it? Here, Tommy appears to have no particular goal at all, other than to somehow contact all of Bruce's old foes and send them on various missions, all of which lead essentially nowhere. Contrast this for a moment with say the storylines that Collins mentioned, in which the "new" villain Bane breaks Batman's back. Or the storyline in which Bruce Wayne is labelled a "murderer" and hounded by those who think he's a criminal. For Tommy to either truly exert pyschological pressure on Bruce, or to drive him "batty" (poor pun, I know), or to take from him something or someone Bruce loves - those would have been goals that might have made sense. But Bruce didn't descend into any particular madness (contrast that for a moment with say, Kevin Smith's take on Daredevil where the horned one seems to be going nuts or even Batman: The Cult where Batman's perceptions appear to be altered due to drugs or some other outside source).