Comic Thoughts – White Elorda’s Nerdy Lifestyle Blog

Good Morning Nerdy Birdies!

How are you today? How is your week going so far? I hope that your week goes exactly as you need it to.

I am doing pretty well. I had a relaxing weekend, and I got to visit one of my favourite stores on Saturday, which is always a delight.

Today’s post is going to be my thoughts on the recent comic book run, Red Hood: The Hill. This was a 6 issue mini-series with #0 issue to set things up.

Before I really get into it, I am going to say a couple of things. I am coming at this as a fan of Jason Todd/Red Hood. He is my favourite DC Comics character, so I just want you to understand my bias. This is also probably going to be a little bit on the rambly side, as I just want to share my thoughts now that this story is complete.

So let’s get into it, shall we?

Red Hood: The Hill – My Thoughts

Dan Mora Variant Cover – the best thing to come out of this run.

When I read that Red Hood was getting another self-titled story, I was really excited. Even if it was only going to be a 6 issue run. The last comic run that focused on Jason was Task Force Z, which I actually really enjoyed. There was that moment in Gotham War, but we don’t talk about that.

The first issue that was released was a collected re-release of Red Hood and the Outlaws #51 and #52, which were initially released at the end of 2020. These made up the last issues of RHATO from the Rebirth run.

This is my first issue with Red Hood: The Hill (which I will refer to as The Hill from this point onward) – this run is continuing a story that was initially released at the end of 2020. As of the start of The Hill, this was over 3 years ago. A lot of things have happened in the Batman universe, as well as the DC multiverse in general, since then, so going back to an event that references The Joker War feels a little bit weird.

Having said that, I may as well get to the main issue I have with The Hill. It doesn’t feel like it has a purpose. It also isn’t a Red Hood story, yes he is there, but it isn’t really about him, and that is my problem.

To explain why this is an issue for me, I am of the opinion that if you are going to name a story after a character, that character needs to be important to the story itself. For example, Nightwing could not exist without Nightwing. Batman could not exist without Batman. Red Hood: The Hill does not need Red Hood. This story could have unfolded in pretty much the same way if Jason hadn’t been there. He just did not feel vital to the story at all.

It really felt like this story was using Red Hood’s name to sell a story that was not at all focused on Red Hood, or even just Jason Todd. It was focused on the Watch, who are a vigilante group operating in the Hill, that Jason happens to become involved with. Jason didn’t not form this group, he isn’t training them, he just happens to be there. He just happens to want to help.

My other problem is that I don’t care about the rest of the characters featured in this comic book run. I don’t care about them as people, and I don’t care about the relationships they have with Jason, which only a couple of them really do. I just don’t know enough about these characters to really care. I feel as though this should have been it’s own story that focused on these characters alone, so that I might have been more invested in them; maybe have Jason come in a little bit later once we’ve established the characters of the Watch. I think the focus character should have been Dana, the vigilante known as Strike; and while she was the focus, I am reading a Red Hood comic, I want Red Hood to be the main character, not a character that I have spent no real time with, and have no investment in.

Next up is Jason’s character itself, and that is he just feels very bland. He is essentially pushed to the side in favour of Dana. I didn’t really get a feel for his motivation at all. I don’t even get the ‘I’m just here to annoy Bruce’ vibe. He just feels added in for the sake of having his name in the title. This ties back into the fact that this story was started 3 years ago, Jason has experienced several events since the end of RHATO that have had an effect on who he is as a person.

I would have understood it more if this had been pitched as more of a Lost Days type of thing, an “untold story of Jason Todd” so to speak. It wasn’t, so I have to take it as it is.

All in all, I’m just disappointed by Red Hood: The Hill. It feels like a cash grab because Jason is a popular character, and that just ended up doing him and the story a disservice.

I feel as though the writer had a story to tell, but they had to shoe-horn Jason into it, and it just didn’t work. Maybe with a longer run, I could have felt differently, but I have to go off of what we got. The story had potential, I just didn’t care, and I wasn’t given a reason to care beyond being a Jason Todd fan.

As far as I am concerned, nothing is more disappointing than wasted potential.

And that is it for this today’s post! I hope that you enjoyed it, and I hope that you can understand my points! As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments as well as any recommendations for stuff you think I should read!

If you’d like to support my blog – you can buy me a cup of tea here(ko-fi)!

If you enjoy my blog, you should consider giving me a follow so you can stay up to date with every time I post something new!

If you’re interested in seeing more of my nerdy content, you can check out my social media below!

Instagram ~ TikTok

This is W. Elorda, signing off, and until next time, stay nerdy my friends.

Bye!

Hello Nerdy Birdies!

How are you doing today? I hope that the week is treating you well so far.

Today I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on the latest event to occur in DC Comics, which is the Gotham War saga between Batman and Catwoman.

This will hopefully give me the push I need to talk about comics more often, sharing my opinions on storylines and what not.

This post won’t be a review so to speak, and will follow more of a stream of consciousness style as I go through my thoughts and feelings regarding this event. So I am sorry if this comes off disjointed or choppy. I will do my best to keep it coherent.

Please note that I am writing this after the release of Batman #139, which is the issue following the events of Gotham War, setting up the ‘Mind Bomb’ storyline. Any suggestions I make are also based on my opinion and interpretation of Gotham War.

I suppose I will start with my expectations going in. I’ll admit that I was mostly intrigued with this event because of Jason Todd/Red Hood’s involvement, more so than any strife between Batman (who I will be calling Bruce from this point on) and Catwoman (who I will be referring to as Selina). As Jason is my favourite character in DC media, and his inclusion was important enough for him to have his own single issue comics; that was enough to get me invested in the story from the beginning. That was my ‘hook’ to read the storyline, so to speak.

Having said that though, I was definitely interested by the idea of Bruce and Selina facing off, at least from an ideological standpoint. What would happen if they were unable to compromise, or reconcile, the difference in how they think? I went into Gotham War thinking that this is what it was going to be. Bruce and Selina fighting over Gotham, and the nature of crime in the city.

As I read Gotham War, I wish that this was the premise that they had stuck with – two people who care for each other deeply, but have very different world-views, coming to blows and then having to compromise when the conflict threatens everything. It’s a simple premise, but between Selina and Bruce specifically, I think it could have been something really special, with both of them emerging as people changed.

I even like the inclusion of Jason in this premise, he’s definitely the wild-card of the Bat-Family, able to instigate things between the pair, and maybe being the one to help them find the compromise that ends the conflict.

Sadly, that isn’t what we got.

Getting into the actual events of Gotham War, I’ll start with the inclusion of Vandal Savage. I don’t hate Vandal as a character, I just don’t think he was needed as an antagonist here. I understand that he still has role to play in future storylines (as per the ending of Gotham War and the beginning of ‘Mind Bomb’ in Batman #139), but I feel as though that could have been developed separately from Gotham War.

For example, he could have taken control of Selina’s collection of Cat Burglars after the events of Gotham War had concluded. Everything with finding the meteor shards could have happened afterward, including Selina falling into the Lazarus Pit crater with Vandal. I just think that moment would have been more bittersweet if she and Bruce had found common ground in the aftermath of the War, if they were on the same page again.

I think everything I say is going to come back to one major point, there was a lot of potential in a conflict between Batman and Catwoman, but I feel as though the writers of this event lost focus on that conflict to include other things that didn’t need to be there. As far as I am concerned, the Gotham War should have only been about the ideological differences between Bruce and Selina, and how their feelings for each other complicates the matter even further.

I suppose next I will talk about the schism of the Bat-Family.

Again, I feel as though this aspect of the Gotham War had a lot of potential; unlike the core conflict however, I do think that this lived up to its potential a little bit more.

I like that most of the Bat-Family decides to stay neutral, at least in the beginning, as this genuinely strikes me as the action that most of them would take. The exceptions of course being Damian, who is Bruce’s son through and through, and Jason, who can use the situation to antagonise Bruce. The rest of them though, I think they would be able to see things from both sides and would only interject if something serious happened that would tip the scales.

As far as Jason goes, I do think he agrees with Selina for the most part, but I also think that he sides more with her to get Bruce’s goat. I have a whole separate post I want to make in regards to Bruce and Jason’s relationship, and my thoughts on it.

I suppose that brings us to the elephant in the room, and that is the actions that Bruce takes against Jason specifically. Not only does he kidnap Jason, and hold him against his will, he chemically changes his body, so that any time Jason experiences heightened adrenaline, his body will respond with a fear response. Bruce’s reasoning is that this will stop Jason from being Red Hood and will essentially force him to live a ‘normal’ life.

This entire decision on Bruce’s part is honestly just stupid, on top of being wrong. If you can’t understand just why it is so wrong, then I don’t know what to tell you.

And this is not a justification on Red Hood’s illegal actions; if you want him to be held accountable, then hold him accountable – this isn’t that. This isn’t punishing him for crimes he has committed. This is fundamentally changing someone against their will. In doing so, Bruce robs himself of any moral standing him, and his arguments, may have had. It also destroys and modicum of trust he and Jason may have had, as well as jeopardizes the trust that the rest of the Family have in him.

You can see this in what occurs between Bruce and Dick.

If I try and see it from the writer’s point of view, I can kind of understand that this is a drastic action for Bruce to take, and with Zur lurking in the background, is this a hint that he is more compromised than he thinks? To me though, it just reads as Bruce making irresponsible decisions and expecting everyone to go along with it, without him having to explain himself in any way.

As this post has gone on for quite a while, I also don’t really care for the involvement of the Joker at the end, though I do find it interesting that this goes on to tie in with The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing. I just think the Joker is an overplayed element now – but that’s just my personal opinion, coming from someone who has enjoyed The Man Who Stopped Laughing.

TL;DR – I went into this storyline/event with hope for the potential that the conflict at it’s core had – though as I read more and more, the disappointment was just compounded for a multitude of different reasons. I’m tired of Bruce being abusive towards the people that he claims to live – this way of writing his character has just gotten old. I do prefer him in the gray area, in a lot of ways, but not when it comes to that. And yes, I do think what he did to Jason was abusive, his intentions and reasoning does not matter.

I’m sad that this story didn’t stay focused on the characters in it’s title, and for me it was just a flop.

I did however, have a couple of good moments with the art and story, such as Bruce and Jason bantering with each other; and the Bat-Siblings trying to be there for each other.

Despite all that I had to complain about, I am looking forward to ‘Mind Bomb’ and seeing how it ties together the Gotham War and The Man Who Stopped Laughing. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for something interesting happening between Zur and the Joker, and that Bruce can somehow reconcile with his family.

And that’s it for this lengthy post. Honestly I just had a lot of thoughts about Gotham War and I needed to get them out. What were your thoughts on Gotham War – did you enjoy it? Did you hate it? Did you skip over it? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you like my blog, and you’re interesting in catching other things that I post, I’d appreciate it if you’d consider giving me a follow, then you can stay up-to-date each time I post something new!

If you’re interested in seeing more of my nerdy content, you can check out my social media below!

Instagram ~ TikTok

This is W. Elorda, signing off, and until next time, stay nerdy my friends.

Bye!