The two issues offer a strong thematic resonance to the main White Knight story while giving Jason – a character that always feels out of place in DC’s line-ups – a fun premise. Jason becomes obsessed with creating the perfect Robin and realizes he’s more like Bruce than he’s willing to admit. The core of the book’s plot is revealing the story behind the Robin Jason trained after the Joker’s brutal attack and betrayal of Batman.Īlone in the world, Jason meets Gan, a young woman who’s taken up the Robin mantle in East Blockport, and begins to train her as the Robin fights to protect her neighborhood against Shriek. The two-issue interlude takes place in between the pages of Batman: Beyond the White Knight (specifically issues two and five), dealing with Jason Todd’s past and present in the Murpyverse. A book like Batman: White Knight Presents – Red Hood falls into the first category, which tries to expand the aptly titled Murphyverse, but the result is a messy and incongruent entry.īatman: White Knight Presents – Red Hood comes from a story by Sean Murphy with scripting by Clay McCormack, art by Simone Di Meo and George Kambadais, colors from Di Meo and Dave Stewart, and lettering by AndWorld Design. Not doing so leads to a story that feels either redundant compared to the original work, or so separate that the two works have no reason to be related. Having to capture the lightning in a bottle essence of a work and repacking it into something new is a struggle that works as high risk and offers a high reward.
Spinoffs are difficult no matter the medium.