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How do you get Jim Lee motivated? A challenge.

During DC Comics' Jim Lee & Friends panel from Comic-Con International: San Diego 2026, Lee and his 'Hush' co-creators Jeph Loeb, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair reminisced about their 2002 - 2003 run on the Batman series and brought up an interesting, honest, and human way Lee was able to motivate himself to draw monthly comics again after years away.

"The one thing you do not do with Jim Lee is challenge him," Loeb says, talking about what he heard about a betting pool inside DC Editorial offices that the artist - who just joined the company two years prior - would not be able to make monthly deadlines for the Batman series. 

Loeb says that in order to make it work, they all worked well in advance on the series to the point they didn't announce it until they felt they were far enough ahead to avoid delays.

"We couldn't tell anybody what we were working on," says Loeb.

Related: Jim Lee says he no longer follows his old rules for drawing Batman

While the amount of the bet has been speculated to be in the thousands and involved multiple people inside DC, Lee said all that was hyperbole, and it "was for $100, and I really wanted that $100."

Over the years I've talked with Lee about this on several occasions, and what I understand it to be was a bet between Lee and DC's then-executive editor Mike Carlin. The two met at Marvel just as Lee broke into the comics industry, then Carlin jumped to DC, and they remained in touch. When Lee joined DC in 1998, their friendship was rekindled. 

According to Lee, the friendly bet became a thing talked about inside DC's then-NYC offices while he worked in WildStorm Studios back in south California, but as far as he know never became a betting pool with others.

All 12 issues of the original 'Hush' storyline in Batman did ship on time, monthly, and Carlin did mail over a $100 check. That check was never cashed, but became a memento hung on Lee's drawing area for years afterwards. 

Jim Lee shares his private health struggles (he's okay now!) that led to Batman: Hush 2 delays, and a rethinking of his work-life balance.