5. The Puzzle Solved Before It Begins
In a way, the answer as to who Hush is is already there in the first couple issues. The villain in a Batman story when they're not his usual rogues - is usually always the new character just introduced for that story, in this case Tommy Elliott, the heretofore unknown "childhood best friend" of Bruce Wayne. A completely new character who's really close to Bruce Wayne all of a sudden appears AND a mysterious new villain shows up gee, you don't think the two are connected in any way? The guy who's getting tons of flashback pages, loads of scenes with Bruce you mean, he's probably the big bad? Well, that's only been the formula of how these stories play out since forever! Oh, they are connected? And the red herring was Clayface? Wow, that's original! Clayface is never used as the red herring. Oh wait, that's pretty much all he's ever used for! So even if there are no real clues that informs the reader that Hush is Tommy Elliott, the fact that he's getting so much attention at all hints strongly that that's the case. In other words, you already know who Hush is long, long before the end.