One of the finest runs in the history of DETECTIVE COMICS rolls on with the particularly excellent issue #847, courtesy of our cracker-jack creative team of writer Paul Dini, penciller Dustin Nguyen, inker Derek Fridolfs and colorist John Kalisz.

"The Last Good Day" is part two of the new five-part "Heart of Hush" storyline, in which Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Tommy Elliot, now crazier and more maniacal than ever in the guise of "Hush," has decided to try to beat the mysterious puppeteers of "Batman R.I.P." by killing Batman first. After all, murdering the son of Thomas Wayne, whose surgical skills kept Tommy's mother from joining his father in the afterlife after little Tommy sabotaged their car so he could get his hands on their cash the fast way, should be Tommy's sole right, right?

And in the opening pages of the comic, it looks like he's succeeded ... until it's revealed that the "Batman" he's just shot in the back of the head is yet another homeless man whom Tommy has dressed up in a Bat-suit for practice. What's particularly troubling about these "practice" sessions is that the drugged homeless men can't put up anything even remotely resembling a fight. It's basically all boiled down to Tommy relishing the thrill of putting a bullet in something (living) that looks like Batman. He's gotten far crazier, and even more dangerous, than the Machavellian tactician originally created by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Jim Lee in issues 608-619 of BATMAN (and now available in a gorgeous hardcover ABSOLUTE edition).

Dini continues to add new details and depth to Tommy's backstory, beginning with a flashback to a summer camp moment between young Bruce and Tommy that occurs just shortly after Tommy's botched murder attempt and shortly before Bruce's loss of his own parents. Nguyen's art is particularly gorgeous here, and Kalisz's colors give these pages a warm, earthy glow.

Young Bruce can't believe his ears when Tommy tells him about his late father's anger issues and how his mother filled the boy's head with books of logic and strategy to survive. It's interesting on two levels. First of all, it gives us an insight into how Tommy became such a master strategist. But it also helps us understand why he became a murderer; you can almost imagine young Tommy growing to hate his father, resent what he undoubtedly considered to be a weak mother, and wonder what he could do with their fortune at his disposal. Creepy stuff.

Creepier still is the arrival of Tommy's mother at the summer camp. With Tommy being all she has left in the world, she demands that he come home immediately. The depiction of Mrs. Elliot is troubling to say the least; after all of her surgeries she looks almost like a member of Batman's rogues gallery. The taunts of some of Tommy's fellow summer-campers lead to an act of violence that shocks Bruce and gets Tommy sent to a mental hospital.

Unluckily for Tommy (but extremely lucky for his eventual Hush alter-ego), Tommy's case manager is a young intern named ... Jonathan Crane. Normally I don't like this kind of coincidence because such retroactive dot-connecting comes off as contrived, and it usually takes something away from the villains' individual motivations and origins. But Dini makes this work, with young Tommy picking up on (and manipulating) Crane's perverse fascination with fear and Crane himself impressed by the potential for further depravity that he sees in the boy's eyes.

And if that's not disturbing enough for you, look at the smug smirk on Tommy's face when his mother picks him up from the hospital and greets him with the news that Bruce has lost his parents to a mugger.

The words Dini writes for Tommy are chilling indeed: "And yet, for all his sorrow, Bruce had been blessed with a freedom I could only imagine. While he spent the next decade traveling the world gaining knowledge and charting his heroic destiny, I wiped spittle from a jabbering madwoman's lips. When I later pierced the secret of Batman's identity, I hated Bruce even more. And though I have yet to see the, true Batman dead by my hand, every night I hone my skills. Soon, Bruce. Soon."

Nightwing and Robin, meanwhile, are tussling with the Mad Hatter's former gang that we met in the action-packed issue #841. And even though the boys have got the situation under control, Batman arrives on the scene with an entrance that, thanks to the art team's stunning work and three simple words from Dini, is on the level with the "SWEAR TO ME!" moment from BATMAN BEGINS. As Bruce warns Dick and Tim that Hush is back and that they've all got targets painted on their heads, Dini does another little thing that I've always liked about his writing: He makes Bruce's world seem even bigger by thinking outside the story at hand. He does this by contrasting Tommy's insanity with the "skewed sense of honor" that, as Bruce explains to Dick and Tim, keeps Ra's Al Ghul from exploiting the Bat Family's secrets. Hush isn't so honorable. It's a simple little thing, but it's a nice, appreciated touch.

What's not to like about this issue so far? Creepy Hush stuff, two creepy Hush flashbacks (with the second being even creepier than the first), and a great scene between Batman, Nightwing, and Robin.

Well, it's about to get even better. Because nobody writes the ladies in Bruce Wayne's life like Paul Dini.

One of my favorite elements of Dini's run has been his frequent use of Zatanna and his treatment of the almost-romantic relationship between Bruce and the lovely magician that began when they were children. In this issue, Selina Kyle pays a visit to Zatanna to see just what exactly is or isn't going on between Z and Bruce. And rather than playing it boring and having the confrontation happen in Z's natural element, Dini writes it in a back-alley where Z is honing her skills with a less-than-legal game of three-card monte.

Selina asks what Wonder Woman and the rest of The Justice League would think of this kind of behavior. Z's perfect response? "They sharpen their skills with Tae Kwon Do. I sharpen mine with cards. Lay your money down, rube."

The conversation that plays out over the following pages (to the tune of some very lovely artwork) is filled with moments of fun, insightful dialogue that deeply honor each woman and how much they truly care about Bruce. You simply can't ask for better character writing than this. Dini, as always, delivers in spades.

But then things get super creepy again, with Hush eavesdropping on the girls' conversation with his own disgusting commentary on how "filthy" and "trashy" he considers the women in Bruce's life to be.

And then things get creepier still, when a young boy kidnapped by Hush is brought face-to-face with Hush's latest -- and original -- accomplice. It's an awesome final page that brings the issue full circle, raises new questions, and promises even greater things to come from this awesome story arc.

Big thanks yet again to this creative team; it feels good to be able to read a comic and want to read it again immediately. I can't wait for the next one, and I don't think you'll be able to wait, either.

On a side note, I've been buried under lots of deadlines lately and my review of THE DARK KNIGHT for BOF is still in the oven. Be sure to read the awesome reviews already posted by Jett and some of the site’s other contributors, and I'll have mine up as soon as I can.

Thanks again to Jett for the opportunity. I'll see you next week with a review of the next BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL and back here in another month to talk shop about the next installment of "Heart of Hush." - John Bierly