During the creation of the series, fellow comics writer/artist John Byrne told Miller, "Robin must be a girl", and Miller agreed. Miller said that the comic series' plot was inspired by Dirty Harry, specifically the 1983 film "Sudden Impact", in which Dirty Harry returns to crime-fighting after a lengthy convalescence. The series employed a 16-panel grid for its pages. Each page was composed of either a combination of 16 panels, or anywhere between sixteen and one panel per page. Giordano left the project halfway through because of disagreements over production deadlines. Comics historian Les Daniels wrote that Miller's idea of ignoring deadlines was "the culmination of the quest towards artistic independence".