Batman: Wayne Family Adventures' CRC Payne and Red Hood: Outlaw's Patrick Young on writing DC through slice of life

The writers of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures and Red Hood: Outlaws chat the power of slice of life

Image credit: Webtoon

Feature by Tiffany Babb Deputy Editor

Published on Aug. 8, 2023

WEBTOON’s first DC series, Batman Wayne Family Adventures, surprised readers with its sweet, slice of life approach to the BatFamily when it debuted in September 2021. Since then, it’s been joined by new comics Red Hood: Outlaws and Vixen NYC, which have maintained the same kind of low-key, small character moment-focused storytelling.

At a San Diego Comic Con panel this year, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures writer CRC Payne spoke to the audience about how focusing on the family element allows her to address events that have happened in canon while “forging a new take.” According to Payne, there's something special about “the little moments that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else.”

Red Hood: Outlaws writer Patrick Young chimed in, adding that those smaller moments make the big moments matter. Young pointed out that people remember Bat-Cow just as much as they remember the death of Damian Wayne. And yet, as Young says, those little moments are “what makes the death matter.”

There is pressure though, Payne says, as a longtime Batman fan who loves the characters, “It’s very daunting in a way to come to these characters and realize they have such long and storied histories.” And yet, it’s still fun. In response to a question from panel moderator Rosie Knight about whether or not he ever stops and thinks “Wow, I’m writing these characters,” Young responded “Every time... there’s pictures of me dressed as Robin as a kid. These characters are in my blood. This is a dream come true”