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

Jim Lee And Jeph Loeb's Batman #162 Is Now Four Months Late

Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb's Batman #162, the penultimate issue of H2SH, is now four months late and will probably finish in 2026 now.

At the end of May, Bleeding Cool scooped the news that, if you'd just read Batman #160 and were looking forward to the next chapter of H2SH in Batman #161 in June, you were going to have to wait an extra month until July. Batman #161 by Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair had been delayed from the 25th of June until the 23rd of July. And then Batman #162, the penultimate issue of H2SH, was scheduled for the 17th of September, two months late, and Batman #163 for the 29th of October. Then Batman #162 has slipped another month, to the 15th of October. And would be published after Batman Vol 4 #1 and #2. Well, now it is later still.

Becvause Batman #162, it has slipped one more month. Right now, as it stands, Batman #162 has a new on-sale date of November 12, 2025. Batman #163 is still listed for October 19, which was never going to happen, even before this delay. But it does mean that both #162 and #163 will come out after Batman #3. And maybe Batman #163, the H2SH and volume 3 finale, will slip into 2026 at this stage. And right now, there has been almost a four month gap between #161 and #162.

The H2SH series was initially planned for late last year, which saw the final issues of Chip Zdarsky's Batman run, which preceded it, made bi-weekly. Back then, it was also planned to run for a year, twelve issues long. Then it got late and was rescheduled. Chip's issues were all made monthly again, and we only got the first six issues of H2SH scheduled for 2025; the final six issues were moved to a later, unspecified date. And we have a new Batman #1 by Matt Fraction and Jorge Jimenez, to follow H2SH for early September.

This could have been foreseen, of course. Jim Lee was never the fastest artist anyway, and is also Publisher, President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, so there are plenty of pressures on the man. But this is tough on retailers, who have been upping their Batman numbers, as a poor schedule can often harm sales. Here is the current schedule for the book.

• BATMAN #162
  (W) Jeph Loeb (A/CA) Jim Lee
  H2SH WITH JEPH LOEB AND JIM LEE PART 5! Batman versus the Bat-Family! Whose side are you on? $4.99 11/12/2025

• 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? $4.99 10/29/2025

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