In Red Hood: The Hill #5, The God Mode grand opening quickly becomes overshadowed by attacks on the Batmobile and Red Hood. Who will survive, and will Demitrius Korlee Jr be exposed?
Red Hood: The Hill #5 by Shawn Martinbrough, Tony Akins & Matt Herms. Cover by Sanford Greene. Image courtesy of DC Comics.
Title: Red Hood: The Hill #5
Writer: Shawn Martinbrough
Artist: Tony Akins
Color Artist: Matt Herms
Main Cover: Sanford Greene
Variant Covers: Dan Mora
Release Date: June 11, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers.
Grand Opening
The story opens exactly where the Red Hood: The Hill #4 left off. Denise is on Red Hood’s bike speeding away; she wants Red Hood to drop her off downtown as she has a stop before the downtown grand opening. At Annie B’s Diner, Dana confronts Korlee. He tries to convince Dana that he is the good guy here and offers to pay for the medical care of the injured Watch members. Korlee leaves; he has to see his father under the watchful eye of Batman.
Dana, still reliving her Olympic Trial Accident, talks with Jason Todd. They debrief each other, and Jason encourages her to go to the grand opening.
Across town, Omar is at Wayne Tech stealing more weapons. He is made aware of the presence of Red Hood and makes his move to eliminate the interloper. At the grand opening, Denise and other reporters approach Demitrius. Soon Dana makes a scene, calling Korlee a killer and hands him a gift. She walks off; Denise tries to stop her, but Dana just storms off. Lenora is told to keep an eye on her, and Bruce Wayne walks in. Korlee excuses himself, he has just gotten word that the Batmobile was spotted. He joins Omar and orders an attack.
Bruce continues his conversation with Lenora, trying to ascertain her role in this situation, while the attack on the Batmobile commences. It is soon discovered that Batman is not behind the wheel, and Oracle takes remote command of the car. Red Hood is presumably down, and Bruce asks Oracle to look for any connection to Korlee Jr.
A tense exchange. (Credit: DC Comics)
The art in this story continues to excel. The facial expressions on the characters are very expressive of their emotions. There is even a quick glance of Red Hood, fully masked, that is very telling of what that character is thinking as he talks to Denise. More than likely, they’re thoughts that he shares with Dana later before the grand opening.
Unfortunately that is where the positives end. The story now has quickly devolved into a Batman story complete with most action involving Batman if not indirectly. The attack of the Batmobile. Red Hood’s fate is not shown at all, only eluded to possibly being “done,” with no confirmation of that. What I was hoping to be a Red Hood story has now forced Jason to the far background once again. I am waiting for the rest of the Bat-family to enter this story, as we already have the mention of Oracle.
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advance copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
