Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb's Batman #162, the penultimate issue of H2SH, is now four months late and will probably finish in 2026 now.Batman #162 by Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb is now four months late, with a new release date set for November 2025.The H2SH storyline has faced multiple rescheduling issues, pushing the penultimate issue past Batman Vol 4 launch.Retailers are frustrated as the irregular schedule disrupts sales momentum and ordering for Batman H2SH issues.The delays stem from Jim Lee’s DC executive duties, making Batman #163 likely to slip into 2026.At the end of May, Bleeding Cool scooped the news that, if you'd just read Batman #160 and were looking forward to the next chapter of H2SH in Batman #161 in June, you were going to have to wait an extra month until July. Batman #161 by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair had been delayed from the 25th of June until the 23rd of July. And then Batman #162, the penultimate issue of H2SH, was scheduled for the 17th of September, two months late, and Batman #163 for the 29th of October. Then Batman #162 has slipped another month, to the 15th of October. And would be published after Batman Vol 4 #1 and #2. Well, now it is later still.Becvause Batman #162, it has slipped one more month. Right now, as it stands, Batman #162 has a new on-sale date of November 12, 2025. Batman #163 is still listed for October 19, which was never going to happen, even before this delay. But it does mean that both #162 and #163 will come out after Batman #3. And maybe Batman #163, the H2SH and volume 3 finale, will slip into 2026 at this stage. And right now, there has been almost a four month gap between #161 and #162.
The H2SH series was initially planned for late last year, which saw the final issues of Chip Zdarsky's Batman run, which preceded it, made bi-weekly. Back then, it was also planned to run for a year, twelve issues long. Then it got late and was rescheduled. Chip's issues were all made monthly again, and we only got the first six issues of H2SH scheduled for 2025; the final six issues were moved to a later, unspecified date. And we have a new Batman #1 by Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez, to follow H2SH for early September.This could have been foreseen, of course. Jim Lee was never the fastest artist anyway, and is also Publisher, President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, so there are plenty of pressures on the man. But this is tough on retailers, who have been upping their Batman numbers, as a poor schedule can often harm sales. Here is the current schedule for the book.BATMAN #162(W) Jeph Loeb (A/CA) Jim LeeH2SH WITH JEPH LOEB AND JIM LEE PART 5! Batman versus the Bat-Family! Whose side are you on? $4.99 11/12/2025BATMAN #163(W) Jeph Loeb (A/CA) Jim Lee, Scott WilliamsThe shocking conclusion to H2SH Part One with Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee! Will Batman survive Hush's revenge when his only allies are his greatest enemies? $4.99 10/29/2025
Jim Lee not finishing a book? Shocking!
It's late because there's no motivation to be on schedule anymore due to the incredibly poor reception. Originally it was in the mainline Batman title series, but after backlash they quietly migrated it to its own standalone title saying "w-well actually it may not exactly be current canon" as damage control. From what I hear Loeb wrote it like he hadn't kept up with 20 years of characterization
Who cares at this point?
>unneeded sequel to a 20-year old bad story is a failureOh no. How could this have happened?
>>150215011>"w-well actually it may not exactly be current canon" as damage control. From what I hear Loeb wrote it like he hadn't kept up with 20 years of characterizationThat's exactly what happened. He wrote it as if it was a sequel that ignored the other sequels that had come along in the years since.
>>150214880Why the fuck isn't Hush 2 a miniseries instead of taking up the main Batman book?
>>150216181Lee refused to do it unless it was the main bat book
>>150216601If true, that's the most hilarious fanboy-bitch move I ever heard. Even Johns hasn't done something like that, right?
I'd rather have Gargoyle Of Gotham #4 even if the story was even more retarded than H2sh, any news about that one?
>>150214880FIRE JIM LEE
>old men fail to produceOmg no way
>>150215011>From what I hear Loeb wrote it like he hadn't kept up with 20 years of characterizationAs much as I hate Jeph Loeb, I really can't blame him on that one. I wouldn't want to read or acknowledge the last 20 years of slop either.
>>150217368Hush kicked off those twenty years of slop in the first place.
>>150214880Who cares? Hush sucked.
>>150214900Wouldn’t it make more sense to call it HU2H?
>>150214990Still mad. The book that made me drop him as an artist after he briefly became my favorite. What happened to: "I would do nothing but draw comics from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed so I knew I could cut it as a professional."????
>>150215011> Loeb wrote it like he hadn't kept up with 20 years of characterizationThis is such a based move that I will forgive all the crazy stuff he did in the early 00's
>>150216601What a good look for the Editor in Chief, especially since he's derailed their biggest book for a third of the year and counting
>>150217486Then it sounds like its his job to fix it
>>150214880>Amazing Spider-Man sucks because Marvel keeps to retarded editorial mandates by a group of 50+ year old divorced guys can't get over their self-insert being happier than they are>Batman sucks because... the people at DC are just retarded, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it or official mandates, they just keep greenlighting shitty ideas and stories
>>150214880Looks like shit tbdesu
Wasn't there supposed to be a whole second part to this? or was this the part that was delayed?
>>150214880Jim Lee is such a waste of space. I hate how he's been allowed to become like some God Emperor of Comics with a license to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. No other single individual has ever done more harm to the medium than he has.
>>150218249>What happened to: "I would do nothing but draw comics from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed so I knew I could cut it as a professional."????It was a lie. The Image founders were never anything more than opportunists who thought they could make some money out of the then-booming industry. Everything they ever did, including their carefully cultivated image as "poor oppressed creatives standing up to the man" was purely about making as much money as possible even if it meant crashing the industry in the process.
>>150218864I haven't heard about how and when DC became shitty. I hear about that one Graduation story I think it's called with the Titans and a bunch dying or something. There's less of a clear cutting off point I can think of in comparison to Disassembled with Marvel. Is it Identity Crisis? Is it more of like a step-wise decline where Infinite Crisis is kinda shitty, but then after that, we get ok stories by Geoff Johns and semi-revivals in the quality of books?
dude never learned to draw
>>150214990Say what you will about ASB&RTBW but Jim Lee’s art in it is great, whereas Huhtoosh has his most phoned-in work yet.I think the more angular bat symbol helps. H2SH’s giant ugly circle constantly floats around Batman’s torso because Lee couldn’t be bothered to learn how to draw it right
>>150221272You can't call Disassembled the cutoff point for shitty comics with Marvel at all. You had quality books in the X-Men world, Daredevil was consistently good. Brubaker's Cap run. Ennis had Punisher. Pak was on Hulk/Herc, JMS was doing Supreme Power....
>>150216667I feel like he was trying with Three Jokers but didn't have the pull Lee does to get away with it
>>150214880>The H2SH storyline has faced multiple rescheduling issuesNo it hasn’t. It was literally never even solicited for September. It’s absolutely retarded but this hiatus was fully planned.
>>150215011>no motivation to be on schedule anymore due to the incredibly poor receptionYou have no clue how comics are made. You’ve said this in multiple threads and every time been told almost all ongoings are done half a year in advance.
>>150217486You don’t read comics if you think this, broken city was great just after it. Dini and Morrison’s runs were some of the best of all time. It was the new 52 that kicked off the slop.
>>150222703>Dini and Morrison’s runs were some of the best of all timeI cant think of Morrison's run doing anything groundbreaking other than pushing Damian to the expense of everyone else.
>>150214880So what's it about? Is the Riddler best character again?
>>150217368Fuck off retard
>>150221638>. H2SH’s giant ugly circle constantly floats around Batman’s torso because Lee couldn’t be bothered to learn how to draw it rightI'm glad I'm not the only one bugged by this. The 70's-90's had decades of perfectly drawn ovals and Lee just seems to fuck it up every time
>>150222672This is the first time I've posted such a remark, asshole. Also how am I wrong? They literally pushed it to a separate book mid story
>>150222703There was a lot of trash between Hush and the Dini and Morrison runs though. Broken City was fine, but it was just like 4 issues.
>>150221951Sorry I wrote that and then reconsidered how I should have phrased it. I think it is the stopping point for the Marvel universe as a whole being interconncected and immersive. A result of editorial being competent.It wasn't the complete end of some quality books escaping the clutches of shit taste but it was a stopping point for many of the reasons why people liked Marvel.
>>150221951Ennis's punisher was ok. But not as great as people say. Daredevil I haven't read, Pak's Hulk was just a lot of spectacle and neat concepts that don't leave much room for growth character wise. Perhaps worldbuilding wise or idea wise it is mostly good. Haven't read Supreme Power. Never heard of it. I read some of Brubaker (the beginning volume) but eh it seemed competent enough but not truly appealing to an outsider of Cap. X-Men after Morrison is lame ass shit. Maybe Remender's stuff is good I dunno but everything that goes on doesn't seem like the X-Men to me. Just increasing amounts of retardation and shock value.
>>150223157It was 6 issues you casual faggot. Stop acting like you actually read anything from before the new 52
>>150221951>Daredevil was consistently goodLol stop with this meme.
>>150214880Jim lee is such a faggot. he has been an executive at DC for like 30 years and what has he done in that time? Most people want to see him draw and as soon as he got his cushy position nigga has drawn at a rate of like 10 pages per decade. He comes out of what is essentially retirement after a millenia and cant even keep up to draw less than 10 issues?
>>150222941I can't think of a run like Morrison's. Regardless, I don't think something needs to be groundbreaking to be great.
>>150214880Jim Lee's art is shit.
>>150223516>I can't think of a run like Morrison's.Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle's Detective Comics run did more in shorter time. The early 90s was the peak because of them and Denny O'Neil as editor.
>>150217368GOOD. He shouldn't acknowledge post-New 52 continuity to begin with.
>>150222703>>150223516Morrison's run is not good.
Jeff loeb is fucking dying and Jism Lee is jealous prick and a faggot who kicked Johns out of DC out of spite
>>150225134Should note that at the time, everyone fucking HATED Breyfogyle and Grant's run on Detective and in the case of Grant, it was Shadow of the Batman that everyone liked and Breyfogyle was considered a hack Jim Appro rip off.It wasn't until DC started reprinting their run that new fans started going gaga over their stuff partly because Grant's rep as one of the chief architects of 2000AD was now more widely known and the fact that Breyfogyle now has a retro chic element to his artwork that came from younger fans who grew up on reading reprints of Appro's late 80s and 90s work liked
>>150225388On one hand, I want yo believe you because Batman readers are notorious for their shit taste, but at the same time Denny O'Neil spoke highly of this time.
>>150225388>at the time, everyone fucking HATED Breyfogyle and Grant's run on DetectiveThis is not really true. It sold decently enough. And when they moved over to vanilla Batman the sales went UP. Somewhat significantly at that. So it objectively was a popular team.
>>150214880Jim Lee is a pathetic lazy fuck
>>150225134>Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle's Detective Comics run did more in shorter time.It's also nothing like Morrison's run, so I'm not sure what your point is. I can think of a number of Batman runs and stories I like more than Morrison's, but it's certainly unique.
>>150225388What? Breyfogle is way better than Aparo.
>>150225611But it's not on the level of say Geoff Johns Green Lantern which it is foundational part of the Batman mythos. It could have been Bruce and Tim and things would have been just as fine.
>>150225751Geoff Johns's Green Lantern run consists of a bunch of crayons crashing into each other.
>>150225809You're an idiot who hates Johns for reasons unrelated to actual quality.
>>150225867Go to bed, Geoff.
>>150225883He and Dumas should consummate their throbbing hate in the bed.
>>150225809In comparison to Morrison who has his head up his own ass.
>>150225883You have shit taste.
>>150226814Okay Geoff.
