Newsarama has a a interview with outgoing Red Robin writer Chris Yost:

Newsarama: Chris, can you believe it's been a year?

Chris Yost: I really can't. I love Red Robin, and this has been such a special comic for me. It was actually my first solo ongoing. Unfortunately, I had an opportunity outside comics come up that I couldn't say no to. So I sadly have to step away from Red Robin. But with Fabian on board, I'm not worried about the book at all.

Nrama: It must feel good, though, that you got to tell the ending of the story that you started with Issue #1.

Yost: Yeah, definitely. There was one thing that I wanted to do, and mission accomplished. As of Red Robin #1, Tim Drake was in a dark, dark place, and the entire mission was to bring him back to a better place, to become a little happier Tim. This is a kid who's had a rough, rough ride the last few years. Everybody who he loved has essentially died: His mother, his father, Conner, Bart, and now Bruce. He was in horrible place. Robin's supposed to be the light, and Batman's supposed to be the grim. So what happens when Robin is the grim?

The entire first year was about getting Tim back to that place where he could smile.

Nrama: It seems like it's also brought Tim back into the DCU. All these friends show up in this week's issue, where he was very separated from everyone at the beginning of this series. Was that also one of the goals?

Yost: Yes. That's it, really. He was isolated. Nobody believed him. Even Wonder Girl didn't believe him, and nobody was there for him. The thing about the DC Universe is that everybody dies and everybody comes back. But Batman is not some space jock, he's not an alien, he's not an Amazon, and he isn't made of clay. He's a dude, he got killed, and he's probably not coming back.

I think people are probably shocked that Batman is still alive, or I mean, that he lived as long as he did. The best line I've ever read about Batman was, I think, in one of the Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? issues, where Commissioner Gordon was reacting to the death of Batman, and I can't remember the exact line, but it was about how everybody's surprised it hadn't happened sooner. He really is just a guy going up against gods. And he paid the price.

So I think it was easy for people to believe he was dead.

Check out the rest of the interview here.

(Source - Newsarama)