When I took on this book as an assignment, one of the first things I looked up was the issues people had with it. One of the most common ones I saw was that Red Hood felt like a guest star in a book where he is supposed to be the main attraction (a practice not uncommon to the Big Two). The other noteworthy complaint was that despite being a third of the way to completion it felt like the plot hadn’t moved too much. Are these issues addressed? Or is this more of the same?
Villains Act, Heroes React
A common accusation made about superheroes is the fact that they are reactionary characters, only acting when the villains do something. While we can debate that theory till everyone’s blue in the face, that does seem to be the case when it comes to the Hill. Karlee Jr. has had enough of Dana and her team’s antics and the presence of Red Hood is the straw that broke the camel’s back. So he goes to Killer Croc who suggests a permanent solution to the problem.
What did catch my attention and immediately dialed up my interest in the book was that Karlee immediately executes Croc’s plan, leaving the fates of most of the Watch unknown. Everything here is extremely well handled - we see the Watch having a moment in their civilian identities reminding us that these are people with lives behind the masks who are only stepping in because they see something rotten happening and can do something about it. The camaraderie between the Watch remains one of the highlights of the book (though I can see people finding the dialogue a bit on the nose at times). Its the sort of team dynamic that I feel is often lacking in a lot of established team books (looking at you, Titans…) that seem to just coast by on previously established history.
Which makes me all the more worried for their fates as their lack of popularity and history makes them extremely susceptible to dying randomly.
Oh Yeah, Jason’s Here Too…
Now I may be a bit glib here, as Jason does take part in this story and is even involved to a great extent, given that he is also one of Karlee’s targets. But considering he is a high profile member of the Batfamily, Jason could survive flying a plane into a meteor with a hand wave.
But this does not change the fact that Jason’s presence feels very forced. As a matter of fact, if he were to be removed from this story entirely, it could potentially make the plotting feel tighter. I am yet to be convinced of Jason’s relevance to this story as he comes off as disinterested to the going-ins and -outs of the Hill.
Recommended If
- You wanted to read some great character interactions that make you feel that they are genuine friends
- You admire Tony Akins’ art
- You need to know what’s happening with Jason Todd
Overall
It’s difficult to shake off the feeling that I’m reading two stories awkwardly stapled together. While the story of the Hill is genuinely interesting, with some decent dialogue and art, Red Hood has yet to acclimate to his new surroundings and ends up sticking out like a sore thumb. Considering that a certain character - who is arguably more popular than Jason - makes an appearance on the last page, I don’t think he’s even doing enough to sell this series at this point.
Score: 6/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
