A two-part episode on how Red Hood feels as though he's failing Gotham, especially Crime Alley, due to focusing too much on the bigger picture.
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Emphasis on the sweet. Black Mask is still at large, but the Bat-family managed to capture several of his lieutenants, which will still cause his evil plans a good deal of trouble. Jason also kept his promise and saved the boy, and he feels that he made the right decision. Barbara tells him he's a good man.
- Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: The two thugs who attack the boy in the latter half of the story tauntingly use this phrase after cornering him in an alley. They're clobbered by Jason in the next few minutes.
- Continuity Nod: Hood mentions to a kid that he spent part of his childhood in Crime Alley.
- Friend to All Children: Like previous comics, Hood is shown to be much nicer to children than he is to adults. Also part Big Brother Instinct, as he meets the kid when he saves him from two gang members.
- I Gave My Word: Red Hood promises to come if the boy activates the tracking signal to call for help. When the boy is surprised that he turned up, Hood answers that he keeps his promises.
- I Have This Friend: Used by Red Hood in a threat to interrogate one of Black Mask's mooks.Red Hood: You don't need both kneecaps, right? Asking for a friend.
- Just Whistle: When the kid he rescues chews out the Bat-family for only rescuing unfortunates when it's "convenient", Red Hood gives him a signal in case he's in a fight too big for him to handle. The boy uses it later in the two-parter, despite questioning whether Red Hood would even show up.
- Shout-Out: The panel of Red Hood walking to his bike at the end of part II is drawn almost exactly like the poster for AKIRA(see page for example).
- Sinister Shiv: The boy, not sure whether Red Hood would actually come, is clutching a broken bottle as the thugs close in on him, presumably intending to defend himself by stabbing if necessary.
- Small Steps Hero: Red Hood questions whether maybe he's focusing too much on catching the big villains and not enough on improving life for the people everyone tends to ignore. When faced with the choice either to capture Black Mask or to save a boy with a cynical perspective on superheroes, he goes after the boy and tells Oracle to try to get someone else there to handle Black Mask.
- Symbolism: The boy Hood helps is wearing clothes that are similar in color to Red Hoods uniform, showing how Hood possibly sees the boy as similar to how he thought/acted when he was that age (before he became Robin).
- Team Mom: Oracle offers Red Hood a little advice when he admits to feeling like his work as a vigilante makes no difference.
