Fabian Nicieza reveals changes to the end of Red Robin

Here Fabian talks about how the final two Red Robin arcs had to be chopped down. He also confirms (though not directly) that the Azreal crossover (Angels of Death) was a late addition. I thought it felt 'tacked-on'.

As many have noted, of course I was a bit cramped for space, but the amount of information imparted in the issue was MY choice, not imposed by anyone else.

Originally the "7 Days of Death" was going to run #22-25 and Boomerang was going to run #26-27.

Then I lost #22 to the Azrael crossover in the bat books, so I was just going to bump it by one month and run it #23-26.

Then the reboot plans were finalized after being in the works for a while and I was notified about what was going on, which meant I had a choice, run "7 Days" for 4 issues and end the series with that or... cut the storyline down to 3 issues and then cut my Boomerang story to 1 issue in #26.

Rachel really wanted me to try and do the Boomerang story in 1 issue because she really wanted to see it in print. The more I thot about it, the more I did too, and found a pretty clean way to do it in 1 issue.

But that meant "7 Days" had to suffer a bit, especially more extended screen time for the Daughters of Acheron and Cass.

The Cricket page was really just me being petulant about losing the planned Annual, which would have depicted the entire story. I wanted to get Cricket on paper and I wanted to see Marcus design him so I threw it out there almost like one of Tolkein's Distant Mountains -- a story that happened that you may or may not ever know the full details of.

If fans are upset about that, I'm okay with that, since I'm upset about it, too.

The Tam breakup was always going to happen as a result of the Lucius Fox fake death, but the longer term plan was for Tim to realize just how much he needed Tam in his life to ground and humanize him and he would work to "win her back."

As for the identity of Mystery Voice, well, I wouldn't even tell Rachel and Rickey who he/she was, but I did provide enough clues for people to try guessing. Will we ever see his expectations for Tim bear out? Who knows... never say never, right?

I just did the final proofing edits on #26, so until it comes out next month and we chat about it a bit here, my work on RR is sadly done. I am enjoying writing LEGION LOST a lot (and I sure hope you all check it out), but that doesn't mean I don't already miss this book, this character, my excellent editors, my incredible artist and the fans on this forum.

If you all want a Tim book again, no matter who the creative team might be, the best way to make that happen is by supporting the character in the new publishing program! Success begets spinoffs, so make Teen Titans a success!

-- fabian

Source: DC Comics Message Boards