Batman: A Death in the Family
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A Death in the Family is a Batman comic book story arc first published in the late 1980s which gave fans the ability to influence the story through voting with a 900 number. A Death in the Family ran in Batman #426-429, published in 1988-1989. The story was credited to Jim Starlin (script), Jim Aparo (pencil), Mike DeCarlo (ink), Adrienne Roy (color), and John Costanza (lettering). Covers were illustrated by Mike Mignola. The story is also collected as a trade paperback under the title Batman: A Death in the Family, which has gone through multiple printings and is still available today.
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[edit] Storyline
The story follows Jason Todd, the second Robin. His relationship with Batman has turned sour of late and his battles with criminals are almost suicidal. Batman decides that he turned Jason into Robin even before the boy had come to terms with the death of his parents. He therefore relieves him from duty. Jason resents this and storms out refusing to discuss the issue of his parents.
While walking through his old neighborhood, he meets Mrs. Walker, a friend of his parents, who gives him his father's old papers and other documents, including photos and articles relating to his family. Among them, Jason finds his birth certificate and a gut-wrenching surprise: the name of the mother has been almost blotted out, but the initial is "S", not "C" as in Catherine Todd, the woman Jason knew as "Mom".
He concludes that she was in fact a stepmother and resolves to find his biological one. His father's address book gives the name of three women whose first name starts with "S" and he tracks their whereabouts using the Batcomputer; but all three are based in the Middle East and Africa. Jason therefore runs away from home to find them.
Meanwhile the Joker has escaped yet again from Arkham Asylum, leaving a trail of death behind him. Batman discovers that he somehow obtained a nuclear weapon and will sell it to terrorists. He tracks him to civil war-torn Lebanon where he and Jason meet up. They foil an attempt by Arab terrorists to destroy Tel Aviv using a nuclear missile sold to them by the Joker. Sharmin Rosen, a Mossad agent who was at the scene, and whom Jason was tracking, denies ever giving birth in Gotham City.
Another of the suspected "mothers" is none other than Batman's old acquaintance Lady Shiva, whom they track down to a terrorist training camp. It is only with Robin's help that Batman overcomes her in a fight that proves almost fatal for him. Using a truth drug they get her to admit that she is not the mother.
They then go to Ethiopia, which is in the middle of a famine, and meet the third "suspect": Sheila Haywood, an aid worker. She proves to be the right one and she and Jason have an emotional reunion. However, unknown to Batman and Robin, Sheila used to perform illegal abortions in Gotham and has been blackmailed by the Joker into giving him the medical supplies her agency has in a nearby warehouse.
Not only is he denying the medical supplies to the starving in order to sell them on the black market, but the Joker also replaces them with his laughing gas which, once set off, will kill thousands of people.
Sheila herself has been embezzling from the aid agency and, as part of the cover-up, hands her own son (now in his Robin costume) over to the Joker. The Joker brutally batters him with a crowbar. Robin is soon lying unconscious in a pool of blood, which the Joker complacently remarks is "a bit messy". He then leaves him and Sheila in the warehouse with a time bomb.
Sheila and Robin try desperately to get out of the warehouse but are still inside as the bomb goes off. Batman arrives too late to save them and they die from their injuries.
The bodies are taken back to Gotham for burial. Since none of their relatives can be found the only ones attending the service are Bruce Wayne and three friends, butler Alfred Pennyworth, Commissioner Gordon and his wheelchair-bound daughter Barbara, herself a victim of the Joker.
Blaming himself for Jason's death, a guilt-ridden Batman resolves to carry on alone. He even turns down Alfred's suggestion to involve Dick Grayson, his original partner.
The Joker himself, meanwhile, has met none other than the Ayatollah Khomeini, who offers him a position in the Iranian government. The Joker leaves a house filled with dead bodies and an address which Batman easily finds: it is that of the United Nations building in New York.
While waiting outside the building, Batman meets Superman, who has been sent by the State Department. Superman tries to convince him to leave, and his evasive attitude and refusal to answer questions leads Batman to punch him. At this point the Joker turns up: he is to be Iran's representative at the UN.
Ralph Bundy, a CIA contact, tells Batman to keep away from the Joker since it could start a diplomatic incident, which the government would rather avoid. The Joker has diplomatic immunity and any crime he has committed has been swept under the carpet.
He is due to give a speech to the General Assembly and Bruce Wayne uses his high-level contacts in order to get in as an unofficial observer. The Joker appears dressed in Arab clothes and he and Wayne exchange glances.
The Joker makes his speech claiming that he and the Iranians are treated with disrespect by the rest of the world. He announces that they will not take any more of such treatment and releases his deadly laughing gas over the Assembly.
However, a security guard breaks up the Joker's weapon and inhales all the gas, clearing the hall. It turns out to be Superman in disguise. He flies out of the building in order to get rid of the gas while Batman and the Joker fight it out.
The Joker gets out of the building and into a helicopter sent to him by his sponsors. Batman gets in and, during the fight that follows, one of the Joker's henchmen opens fire with a machine gun. The bullets fly everywhere, hitting everyone, including the Joker and the pilot, who loses control and crashes into the sea.
Superman saves Batman, who tells him to find the Joker's body; unsurprisingly, the archcriminal's corpse is nowhere to be found. Batman laments that everything between him and the Joker ends that way: unresolved.
[edit] Significance
DC Comics, aware of Jason Todd's unpopularity with fans and perhaps inspired by references to a dead Jason in Frank Miller's non-canonical futuristic comic series, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, set up a 1-900 number one-dollar hotline giving callers the ability to vote for or against Jason's death. The calls were made after the publication of the issue in which Jason and his mother are trapped in the warehouse.
Over 10,000 votes were cast, a narrow majority voted to kill Jason, and DC published A Death in the Family to massive media attention, though many people who didn't read the comics believed it to be Dick Grayson, the original Robin.
Batman was also considerably more violent and portrayed in a darker sense, with the entire story told in narrative through his point of view. Although the Joker has been responsible for dozens if not hundreds of deaths, it is only now that Batman, for personal reasons, resolves to go beyond his moral code and seriously considers killing his nemesis: "his insanity always got him a stay of execution. But no more. Jason's dead."
Other notable incidents include Batman punching Superman, and treating villains a lot more violently than usual.
The story does raise various issues, some contemporary and others that, although incredible at the time, are taken more seriously today. These include the Lebanese Civil War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Ethiopia famine, corruption, the smuggling of nuclear material and the handling of rogue states.
The Joker also attributes his financial state to "Reaganomics", seemingly blaming then-president Ronald Reagan (though in fact it is because the authorities have stripped him of his assets due to his criminal nature).
Blatant allusions to the Iran-Contra Affair are also made, inclusive of the Joker's sale of a cruise missile to Arab extremists with Israel as their target.
Also, Ayatollah Khomeini makes a brief but important appearance, appointing the Joker as an UN ambassador for Iran. However, the Joker's appointment as UN ambassador was later retconned to the fictional nation of Qurac.
Overall, the depiction of Batman in a rare emotional state, the murder of a very famous superhero, and the phone-voting element have allowed A Death in the Family to remain a significant milestone in American comics.
[edit] Jason Todd's Legacy and Return
The issue of Jason Todd's death was often raised over the years in the mainstream Batman stories, becoming almost as important a factor in his life as the death of his parents. It intensified Batman's feud with the Joker, making it even more personal: in the course of the Batman: Knightfall story arc, Batman confronts the Joker and, reminded of the event, yells out "Jason!" as he beats his sworn enemy up. He often visits the graveside and raises it as a factor in his reluctance to take on new sidekicks such as Tim Drake (aka Robin III), Spoiler and Batgirl.
As the years went by, Jason Todd's importance became less and less apparent until the Hush storyline, where it is hinted that he is really alive. While shown to be false in the subsequent issue, Todd truly returned during the Batman: Under the Hood arc, where he was brought back to life as the murderous vigilante, the Red Hood. The details of his return revealed on Batman Annual #25
[edit] DC Reaction
- An uncolored alternate version of Batman #428 was created in the event that the readers voted to let Jason live. One famous panel is a variation on the iconic scene depicting Batman holding Jason's body in which a jubilant Batman exclaims "He's alive! Thank God!" (A variation of that panel would be used in The Batman Annual #25 story The Return of Jason Todd).
- Denny O'Neil, editor of the Bat-comics at the time of Todd's death, stated on the back cover of A Death in the Family trade paperback: "It would be a really sleazy stunt to bring him back." However, O'Neil would later regret his decision.[1]
- It is important to note that the death of Jason Todd was not the first or last time DC would ever kill Robin, although this was the first time Robin truly died. The image of Batman carrying a dead Robin has been used in previous issues, one particular story being 'Robin Dies at Dawn'. Even one story prior to A Death in the Family depicted the death of Jason Todd. Since Jason Todd, DC would kill Stephanie Brown (Robin IV).
- A running joke about Comic book death is The only three characters to stay dead are Jason Todd, Bucky, and Uncle Ben. Ironically, all three characters have been brought back to life in some form.
[edit] References
- ^ "If I had to do it again, I would certainly have kept my mouth shut." -- Dennis O'Neil, Who Killed Robin? An Interactive Whodunit, from DC Comics: A Celebration of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes by Les Daniels
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