This November, Batman: Hush is getting revamped and reversed in an all-new one-shot from DC Comics. Titled, Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush #1 will come from writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Dexter Soy. Their new issue will revisit the concept of Bruce and his childhood friend Tommy Elliot, only this time, it won’t be Tommy who has resentment towards Bruce as they grow up. Instead, Bruce will be the one to blame Tommy for ruining his life, turning him into a warped Batman/Hush hybrid.
In the original story from writer Jeff Loeb with art by Jim Lee, Tommy Elliot is introduced into the Batman mythos as a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s. Tommy’s parents were also wealthy, and the two boys often played together. However, Tommy had a darkness within him. Hating his abusive father and mother who took his blows without fighting back, Tommy tried to kill them both by cutting the brake line to their car. While his father was killed, Tommy’s cruel plan to be an intentional orphan and inherit his parents’ money fails due to Bruce’s father Thomas saving his mother.
A few years later, after the murders of Bruce’s parents, Tommy resented Bruce even more and grew jealous, as that was exactly what he had wanted for himself darkly enough. This leads to Tommy smothering his mother with a pillow a few years after that, making it look like an accident, and inheriting his family’s fortune. He then goes on to become a gifted surgeon, though still secretly jealous and bitter of his old childhood friend. Soon, the obsession grows into a twisted plan involving several other Batman rogues, and he takes on his own identity as Hush, wrapping his head in bandages and wielding twin pistols. But what if it was Bruce who became resentful of Tommy in an alternate universe?
In the preview image, it looks as though in this alternate Hush story from another Earth in the Dark Multiverse, the Elliots joined the Waynes on their fateful trip to the movies. However, it looks as though the Wayne parents are still the only ones to get murdered. If that’s the case, it would no doubt be a strong reason for Bruce to grow a bitter resentment towards his friend. Why did his parents die and not Tommy’s? Apparently this resentment will grow as Tommy’s did, with Bruce becoming Batman the Silenced, a combination of the Batman and Hush personas. Even so, Tommy will apparently still have a dark streak, joining Gotham’s criminal element with great success and powerful allies.
Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush #1 comes to comic book stores on November 3rd.
