Warning: Spoilers for Batman White Knight Presents: Red Hood #1 ahead!
The mold of the superhero has changed a lot since its inception, and DC’s newest Robin is proof that the publisher is now pushing a more grounded and communal approach to heroism. Superheroes are often held apart by their nature, flying above and staying distant from the people they protect. Even in her introductory issue, Gan – a new Robin being trained by Jason Todd – shows that she’s connected to her neighborhood in ways the old heroes never were.
In DC’s Batman: White Knight universe, Jason Todd served as the first Robin and never died at the hands of the Joker. Instead, the Joker broke Jason Todd and tortured Batman’s secret identity out of him, before letting him go knowing that the betrayal would sabotage Jason’s relationship with Bruce. Unable to bear the shame, Jason ran away from Batman and the mantle of Robin.
In Batman White Knight Presents: Red Hood #1 by Sean Murphy, Clay McCormack, Simone Di Meo, and Dave Stewart, Jason Todd is shown drifting aimlessly through Gotham, beating up the Stoplight Gang when they try to rob a liquor store. To his surprise, his assault is stopped by a mysterious girl (Gan) dressed in a Robin outfit who does not seem to be affiliated with Batman. After tailing her and learning of her motives, he agrees to take her under his wing and Jason Todd trains her properly as a new Robin.
Gan’s earnest devotion to her community immediately sets the character apart from other superheroes. When Jason questions her about her motives, she notes that “Batman…doesn’t make it out here to [her neighborhood of] East Backport very often…he just needs more help, is all.” Her focus isn’t on cleaning up Gotham City or pursuing some nebulous ideal of justice; it’s on protecting East Backport and her community, from Mr. Shah’s liquor store to the Stoplight Gang themselves (telling Jason “you didn’t have to hurt them – the Stoplight Gang usually drink themselves unconscious in twenty minutes.”) Gan’s first encounter with Jason is all the more telling, as she declares she “cleans bullies like you off the street!” Everything she does is about protecting the neighborhood she loves when Gotham’s corrupt cops refuse to help and the heroes fail to notice.
Gan is a part of her neighborhood, but for a long time, DC’s superheroes have lived removed from their communities. While Bruce Wayne may donate lavishly to Gotham’s various foundations and charitable causes, he has historically lived in a mansion isolated from the city limits. Taken to a further extreme, Superman has a home literally named “The Fortress of Solitude,” set in the remotest corner of the Earth. These old models of heroes live outside of the systems of society, dispensing their visions of justice without necessarily living in the social infrastructure and ecosystem their presence irrevocably alters. Gan is different: she is as much a part of her community as the people she protects and even the criminals she stops. It’s these street-level heroes who can save the DC universe by bringing the heroes back in touch with the people, and DC’s new Robin does so by changing the definition of “heroism” from a nebulous outside force to a person who stands up for what is right within their community.
Batman White Knight Presents: Red Hood #1 is now available from DC Comics.