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.
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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 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 folks.
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 step-mother 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 hundreds if not thousands.
Sheila herself has been embezzling from the aid agency and as part of the cover-up she hands her own son (now in his Robin costume) over to the Joker. The Joker beats the boy up with an iron bar used to open crates. 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 Joker victim.
Blaming himself for Jason's death as a result of putting him on the path of Robin, 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. The address 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 hit 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 manages to get in and during the fight that follows the pilot loses control and crashes into the water.
Batman manages to get away but the Joker's body is not found.
[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. Notable incidents include him punching Superman, and treating villains a lot more violently than his moral code in other comics permitted.
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 story arc was panned by many as implausible, and some have accused Starlin's depiction of the Middle East as racist[citation needed] (including Iran making Joker their ambassador, and then Joker wearing a keffiyeh with an agal and saying they share insanity and a great love of fish). 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.
However, 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.
The Joker's appointment as UN ambassador was later retconned to the fictional nation of Qurac.
[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. In the course of the Knightfall Saga, Batman confronted the Joker and, reminded of the event, yelled out "Jason!" as he beat his sworn enemy up. He often visited the graveside and raised 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 was hinted that he was 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.
[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]
[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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| Creators | Bob Kane · Bill Finger · Other writers and artists |
| Supporting characters | Robin (Tim Drake) · Nightwing (Dick Grayson) · Batgirl · Batwoman · Alfred Pennyworth · Lucius Fox · Barbara Gordon · Commissioner Gordon · Harvey Bullock · Azrael · Huntress · Damian Wayne |
| Villains | Bane · Catwoman · Clayface · Harley Quinn · Joker · Killer Croc · Mad Hatter · Mr. Freeze · Penguin · Poison Ivy · Ra's al Ghul · Red Hood (Jason Todd) · Riddler · Scarecrow · Talia al Ghul · Two-Face |
| Locations | Arkham Asylum · Batcave · Gotham City · Wayne Enterprises · Wayne Manor |
| Miscellanea | Batarang · Batmobile · Batsuit · Utility Belt · Popular media · Publications · Storylines · Alternate versions of Batman |
