Interview with Scott Lobdell by Batman News

This interview gives a lot of good insight to what Lobdell has tried, wanted, or will do with the title. It also gives a good insight on how editorial can really change a story.

Scott seems to be someone who has a very quirky, but genuine way of going about writing some of our most beloved characters. Great read.

Great interview, here's to hoping he will get the chance to write a "darker and grittier" Red Hood story!

Is it possible that you went into the first series with expectations for what RHATO should be and became angry/frustrated because it wasn’t the series you wanted it to be? Instead of judging it for the series it is?

There's two sides to this. Even though he's right about needing to judge a series for what it sets out to do rather than what you wanted it to do, that kind of criticism often comes out of feeling like the characters and concepts aren't being used appropriately or to their full potential. For example, I read the first trade of New 52 RHATO and I was like "Overall this is all right, and it has plenty of great moments in it, but I just do not understand why these characters in particular are spending most of their time battling mystical shit."

I will say that, traditionally, in the past, readers of RHATO and Red Hood/Arsenal can notice where stories were set-up and set-up and set-up, only to have the conclusion of the story go careening off the tracks. I can say that there have been many times where I’ve started a story and someone from upstairs decreed that a particular plot thread had to be dropped, or a whole other plot thread needed to be added, or an entire story arc had to be gutted in the middle of the story. Those times have been very frustrating for me—but as a professional writer of some thirty years, I’ve always felt that part of the profession means that I need to turn in the story the editor/publisher wants and not always the story I want to write, or begin, or end.

Flashbacks to his fill-in of Teen Titans #12 two years ago...

I’ve read reviews where people harangue me for recapping something that happened last issue—or a character’s secret identity or their powers or etc. To me, I think it is important that if someone is reading just this comic (and not a trade, or not every issue before this), that they should have the information they need to enjoy the story. Now, can it be annoying to people who have read every issue (or even last issue)? Sure. But without a “Previously on…” highlight reel, this is the experience of reading a standalone comic. It is either/or. And often I’ll chose “or” over “either.”

I am absolutely on his side on this issue. Not including that kind of recap is part of why comics have a reputation for being impossible to get into.