WATCH: Why Batman: Hush is the best Batman story

Over two decades ago, Jim Lee was already a legend in the comic book industry from his run on the X-Men and co-founding Image Comics. In 1998, Lee sold his studio, Wildstorm, to DC Comics in order to focus on illustrating comics again. While he worked on a few projects in the intervening years, it wasn’t until 2002 that readers were able to enjoy his work on a monthly basis again. Lee joined with writer Jeph Loeb for a 12-issue run on the Batman ongoing series in a story called Batman: Hush. It turned out to be one of the best Batman stories of all time, even if Lee didn’t realize it at the time.

“I thought it would be just another Batman story,” said Lee. “Jeph realized that we may not do a lot of Batman stories together, so he said, 'Look, let’s do a story that has all the greatest Batman villains. I’ll figure something out that’s a great murder mystery because we want to lean into the fact that Batman’s not just a great crime fighter, but he’s also an amazing detective... the world’s greatest detective.'”

Hush added never-before-seen layers to Batman, including an enigmatic new foe, as well as the return of one of Bruce Wayne’s oldest friends. Additionally, this was the story that brought Batman and Catwoman back together as a couple for the first time in years. It also touched upon all of Batman’s major allies and served as a sharp reminder why Batman’s cast of characters is second to none.

In our new video, Lee admits that he made a gentleman's bet with a few of his fellow DC employees as to whether he could truly return to a monthly schedule. Lee not only won the bet, he had a classy way of celebrating his victory. But you’ll have to watch the entire video to hear those details!