[ad_1]
Now that Red Hood (seemingly) cannot handle the Hill situation by himself, Bat-Daddy is here to helicopter parent his prodigal son. But is Jason going to put up with his deadbeat dad showing up to tell him who the man of the house is? Or is Bruce going to send him back to his room without dessert?
Fathers and Sons
If the last issue of Red Hood: The Hill was about found family coming together for a cause, this month’s issue delves into the relationship between fathers and sons. Namely how complicated they can be at times. On the one hand, we have Jason and Bruce, who have never had the warmest of relationships after the former’s resurrection. On the other, we see Karlee Jr meeting up with his dad and see the passive-aggressive dynamics of their relationship on full display.
Jason and Bruce’s relationship has reached a form of functional dysfunctionality, where the two can keep working with each other despite not quite trusting or even liking one another. While the cover teases “a new Dynamic Duo” – a bold-faced piece of coverbait if I have ever seen one – the two thankfully do not come to blows over their current situation.
This is paralleled by Karlee Jr. and Sr. having a conversation while playing a game of chess. Karlee Sr. used to run the Hill in the past – legitimately and otherwise – and expected his son not to follow in his footsteps, painting the picture of a man doing what he had to do to create a better life for his children. Unfortunately, his son seems intent on proving himself to be just as capable as his dear dad, with the implication being Jr. keeps Sr. around just so that he can rub it in his face.
I will give Shawn Martinbrough credit for the fact he never explicitly depicts any of the characters – father or son – as being in the right. Each of them has their own viewpoint, which gets challenged by the other, but ultimately, it is left to the reader to draw their own conclusions. But it would be remiss of me not to mention that Batman makes not one but two obvious mistakes, which could lead to one thinking that the Dark Knight is being written as a bit more oblivious than usual for the sake of the plot, though it could be Martinbrough wanting to depict Batman as being arrogant.
Hang On. Wasn’t the Watch About to Die Last Issue?
Oh yeah… Batman saves them mostly off-panel. If that felt anti-climactic, now you know exactly how I felt after reading that part.
Yeah, the Watch is essentially taken out to create angst for Dana by having Karlee Jr. target the people in her life. Speaking of people in Dana’s life, her sister lets her journalistic instincts override her sense of self-preservation as she merrily walks into a potentially dangerous situation without any sort of plan. But like every other character in this story, she gets saved at the last minute by someone wearing the Bat symbol, so she’s probably aware of her plot armor at this point.
Recommended If
You wanted to read some great character interactions between father and son. Twice.
You like Batman being wrong.
You want to read a crime drama set in Gotham.
Overall
I feel like my opinions have completely flip-flopped from the last issue, where I was more invested in the Watch than whatever was going on with Jason, Karlee Jr., and the rest. But thanks to some good writing, I’m now more interested in a new set of characters and how they interact. Unfortunately, this appears to have occurred at the expense of the other characters, who now look to be permanently sidelined. At least some appropriate art choices by Sanford Greene and Matt Herms give this book a nice indie feel, which feels tone accurate to the story.
Score: 5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
COMMENTS
[ad_2]
Source link
