Detective Comics #846

Issue Details

Synopsis

BATMAN R.I.P.: HEART OF HUSH PART 1 - FIRST FAMILIES OF GOTHAM A criminal named Doctor Aesop sends a wolf after a low-rent thug named Lefty Knox while recounting the tale of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf". Catwoman appears on the scene and scoops Lefty out of the alley before the wolf can reach him. Lefty is actually Batman in disguise and the two compare notes, then swing off in search of Doctor Aesop.  Meanwhile, the masked criminal Thomas Elliot, aka Hush, returns to the shambling corridors of the Sacred Heart Convalescent Home, after taking a look at Batman and Catwoman. Though the exterior of the hospital has been boarded up for years, Hush has been renovating the inside. His staff consists of a strange menagerie of zombie-life drifters wandering aimlessly through the halls. Some of these people are used for menial labor. Others are used as organ donors.   Hush calls to mind his youth, when he orchestrated a car accident designed to kill his parents. Though his father died in the incident, his mother survived, much to Tommy Elliot's chagrin. He recalls visiting his mother's room and seeing her wrapped in bandages. Marla Elliot offered her son words of encouragement and love even though he was secretly plotting on finishing her off. He also remembers a private detective named Sam Bradley who had been poking around the hospital asking questions.   Elsewhere, Batman and Catwoman track down Doctor Aesop to the Gotham Storage Center. They interrupt him as he is preparing to execute one of his own for skimming from his profits. Doctor Aesop begins to run, but the sound of a bullet rings out and the criminal falls over dead. Standing above him with a smoking gun is Hush. Hush then fires two shots at Batman, but misses. Batman hurls a batarang, which lacerates Hush's face. Hush turns, leaps out the window and escapes.