In Red Hood: The Hill #4, Batman arrives and rescues most of the members of the Watch. Dana, feeling overwhelmed over recent events, finds an unexpected visitor.
Title: Red Hood: The Hill #4: Escalation
Writer: Shawn Martinbrough
Artist: Sanford Greene
Colorist: Matt Herms
Main Cover: Steve Beach
Variant Cover: Dave Wielgrosz & Ben Mears
Release Date: May 14, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers.
Dana Harlowe, in thought, recounts her previous attempt to make the US Olympic Team. She remembers failing because she had the “twisties,” the unshakable feeling that something is wrong. Something is definitely wrong today.
Batman, Dana, and Jason Todd discuss the Kreckk attack and discover that the creature and its blood have disappeared from the apartment. Batman tells the two that he rescued the other members of the Watch and that the creature tracked them by using photos. He tells them about his rescue, and Dana says there is one more at Vinyl Moment. Batman and Jason head out, and Jason tells Dana to stay put.
Batman arrives to stop the creature. It runs off with Batman in pursuit. Jason tracks the two on his bike. The creature is headed to Leonard Kreckk’s apartment where it disappears. Red Hood wants to go in, but he is stopped by Batman who explains that he relocated Leonard to the Hill. Dana, in costume as Strike, also arrives.
The scene shifts to Junior and his father. They are playing chess and discussing the God Mode stores. The father urges Jr to stay under Batman’s radar, and he and Lenora leave. Before Lenora leaves, she is told to watch over his son like her father watched over him.
At Priest Memorial Hospital, Dana visits the members of the Watch. They are all beat up, and Dana is beginning to feel guilt for allowing this situation to go on. Elsewhere, Batman and Red Hood compare notes. Jason tells Bruce about Demetrius Korlee Jr. Batman is skeptical, he runs a legitimate business that is backed by the Wayne Foundation. Red Hood insists that there are factions in the Hill that is wiping out organized crime. Batman tells him that Oracle is tracking the situation. Red Hood connects Korlee to Killer Croc; he is the middle man to Leonard. Batman decides to attend the God Mode opening in Gotham and tells Red Hood to focus on Dana.
On Kitz Row at a tattoo shop, Denise walks in. She is following up on a lead. She is directed to room nine where Omar is. She talks to Omar about the night his daughter died during the Joker War. He admits to killing the killers and then gives Denise a message. Denise runs out, and Omar’s men chase her. They are stopped by Red Hood, who grabs Denise and races off. Omar will strike balance.
Dana has that feeling again, and she enters her apartment to find Demetrius Korlee Jr. waiting for her.
Red Hood: The Hill #4 by Shawn Martinbrough, Sanford Greene, Matt Herms & Steve Beach. (Images courtesy of DC Comics)
Batman arrives to move the story further. A cheap way to move things along, Batman swoops in to save the day and provide the information that connects the dots. I do not appreciate this story element. It is true that Jason is not the detective Bruce is, but he is not alone. This moves the Watch characters, including Dana Harlowe, to the background.
Batman comes in and takes over the investigation. He is skeptical of Korlee’s involvement, so he decides to investigate himself, relegating Jason to a babysitter role. “Focus on your friend, she needs it.” Ironically while this is going on Korlee himself may give Dana the information that is needed to wrap this up. This issue seems to set up Korlee as being a sympathetic character and Omar being the instigator of all the violence in the Hill in his goal to rid the neighborhood of chaos.
At least Red Hood had his moment to shine in his own book. He swoops in at the last minute to rescue Denise, and the two of them are presumably headed to Dana’s apartment.
There is no change in the art. It has been used to further the theme of the story, and it continues to do that in this issue. The tone is dark and mysterious, and there are a couple times that an all-black panel is used with only text. Both times it centers on Dana’s gymnastic memory of getting injured during her trials. This adds to the darkness that is definitely in Dana’s soul over this trauma and the rest of her life.
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.
