Dynamic Duo
The two Robins of Sherwood meet for the first time in graphic novel The Hooded Men
AFTER TAKING ON THE ROLE OF ROBIN OF LOXLEY IN 1984’s inaugural series of Robin Of Sherwood, Michael Praed was replaced by Jason Connery, who played a completely different incarnation of the legendary outlaw, Robert of Huntingdon, in 1986’s third and final series. Now the pair are meeting for the first time in The Hooded Men, a new graphic novel from Chinbeard Books, set to be released on 28 April – the 40th anniversary of when Robin Of Sherwood first screened on ITV.
“It really started with a ‘What if the two Robins came together?’ and how and why would that happen, and what would the mechanism be that would make that happen?” says writer John Semper, who is teaming up with Brazilian artist Allan Jefferson. “It stemmed from my desire to work with both Robins and to personally write both of those characters.”
A Los Angeles-based screenwriter who first created the concept of the Spider-verse for Spider-man: The Animated Series, Semper compares The Hooded Men to a missing episode of Robin Of Sherwood itself. “This is something that could have been done for television if they’d been given another season,” he explains. “So it was about extending a world that already existed and was so well delineated by [series creator] Richard Carpenter.”
Having first seen the show on US channel Showtime in the ’80s, Semper was impressed by how Robin Of Sherwood combined historical drama with ancient mythology. “It was like an early precursor of something like Game Of Thrones, which did a wonderful job of mixing medieval fantasy with action adventure in a way that nobody had done before, and I think Robin Of Sherwood was the seedling from which that kind of thinking was hatched.
“I also felt there was a lot of Akira Kurosawa in Richard Carpenter’s interpretation of Robin of Sherwood,” he continues, “which was not just adventurous but also sort of spiritual as well. I don’t mean that in a religious sense, it’s more that it’s based on a kind of belief system. The Merry Men, Robin and Marian are all immersed in a pagan spiritualism that I thought was brilliant. My graphic novel definitely brings an element of fantasy into it, but it’s still very rooted in the world of Robin Hood that we know so well.”
Describing them as “radically different people”, Semper was determined that the two Robins would be firm friends from the outset. “I didn’t want to do that trope where two beloved characters meet and instantly hate each other,” he says. “The first Robin grew up very poor and the second grew up a bit upper-class and somewhat wealthy. But the fun is in seeing them getting together and enjoying each other’s company. I really can’t tell you how they cross paths but it’s very clever and not hokey,” he teases. “It’s very organic to the way that the show is and it’s even a little bit rooted in history.”