‘Batman Eternal #34′ Post-Game: Is This Batman’s Final Battle With Hush?

Each week, MTV News is breaking down the big moments in DC Comics’ “Batman Eternal,” the weekly series that is redefining Gotham City as we know it.
This week, we talked to writer Kyle Higgins about the final(?) battle between Batman and Hush:

MTV News: The issue starts off with a pretty brutal fight between Hush and Julia – what was it like scripting this?

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Kyle Higgins: Julia scenes in general are a lot of fun to do. Putting her toe-to-toe against Hush made sense for where she’s at in her story and serves as a pretty fun cold-open. So, on the whole it was definitely a scene I enjoyed writing.
MTV: Hush asks if Julia has a cool name… Will she be getting one down the road, or is she forever Penny-Two?
Higgins: Oh come on, you really except me to give that one away?
MTV: Okay, okay. Can we talk about putting masks on top of masks for a second? Don’t you think Tommy is uncomfortable wearing that mask over his bandages?
Higgins: From a practical standpoint? I have no idea. I assume the Bat-helmet is padded out.
MTV: Hush questions whether Batman was making a kill-shot with his batarang… Was he?
Higgins: No. But Hush is using that statement to make begin articulating a larger point about what Tommy knows about Bruce.
MTV: The fight between them, too, is pretty brutal, but Batman is triumphant. Did Hush stand a chance? Was he trying to prevail at all, or just distract Bruce?

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Higgins: He was trying to prevail, definitely. As you’ll see coming up, just because Tommy got an invitation to come play in Gotham doesn’t mean he was operating in service of someone else.
MTV: What does the seizure of Wayne Enterprises mean for Bruce going forward?
Higgins: A lot less Bat armor? Again, the influx of new gear, gadgets, and weapons has always been something of a crux for Batman stories. With WE possibly gone, I think Bruce’s status quo and way of operating may start to shift.
MTV: And that final stinger with the note, clearly Hush has just been another pawn all along. Are we any closer to finding out the mastermind behind all of this?
Higgins: We’re getting there! This issue marks the end of the second act.