Batman #163 By Jeph Loeb And Jim Lee Will Actually Be Out End Of May

Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Batman #163, H2SH, jeph loeb, jim lee, late

Batman #163 By Jeph Loeb And Jim Lee Will Actually Be Out End Of May

Batman #163 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, the end of the first half of H2SH will actually be out at the end of May, honest

Published Fri, 24 Apr 2026 06:58:11 -0500
by Rich Johnston
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Article Summary

• Batman #163 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee has hit FOC, making a late May 2026 release finally look locked in.
• The H2SH Part One finale arrives roughly nine months late after multiple delays and over a year past early plans.
• Batman #163 lands after nine issues of Batman Vol. 4 by Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez have already shipped.
• The issue promises the shocking end of H2SH Part One, while questions remain over Part Two and a possible H3SH.

It's coming, it's coming, it's coming. Batman #163. The final part of the first half of H2SH, the sequel to Hush from twenty years ago, has reached Final Order Cut-Off for comic book retailers this weekend. Which means, barring natural disaster, the Second Coming or all comic book stores spontaneously combusting, that Batman #163 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee will actually be published at the end of May. A year-and-a-half after its original planned schedule, and only nine months late after it was first solicited.

Batman Volume 3 #163, by Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb, was originally delayed by five months after it was rescheduled for release at the end of January 2026. Then it was delayed another two months until the 25th of March, seven months in total and over a year's delay on the original publication plan as well. Then another two months' delay, making nine months late. When it is published, we will have had nine issues of the new Batman volume 4 by Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez published, with the tenth already being shipped to stores. Well, Jorge isn't Publisher, President and CCO of DC Comics, I suppose, and didn't have a Superman movie to promote… but that was last summer. It looked as if Jim Lee had finished the pencils with one of the final pages posted to social media back in January. And even if we get the final issue of  H2SH Part One, will we ever get Part Two, meant to be its own mini-series, let alone H3SH? It will join the 1963 Annual and Pearl Of The Deep with Alan Moore, WildCATS with Grant Morrison and All-Star Batman And Robin The Boy Wonder with Frank Miller in Jim Lee's bottom drawer of unfinished projects… Well, we do get some more covers now…

• BATMAN #163
  (W) Jeph Loeb (A/CA) Jim Lee, Scott Williams
  The 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? Retail: $4.99 5/27/2026

Batman: H2SH was a 2025 DC Comics Batman storyline serving as the direct sequel to the 2002–2003 Batman: Hush arc. It reunites the original creative team: writer Jeph Loeb, penciller Jim Lee, inker Scott Williams, colourist Alex Sinclair, and letterer Richard Starkings. The original Batman: Hush, published in Batman #608–619 featured a mysterious villain named Hush, seemingly Tommy Elliot, Bruce Wayne's childhood friend turned enemy, who orchestrates a complex conspiracy involving nearly every major Batman rogue and ally, while exploring themes of trust, identity, and Batman's relationships, including a prominent Batman/Catwoman romance. In 2024, Bleeding Cool announced H2SH as the long-awaited follow-up, with Hush returning to disrupt Batman's world again, and was launched, after considerable rescheduling in March, 2025. The final sixth issue will now be published in May 2026. Honest. And yeah, we still reckon it's Two-Face.

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