Batman (1940-2011) #429

Batman (1940-2011)

by Jim Starlin

"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.

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes

22 pages, Board book

First published December 1, 1988

About the author

James P. "Jim" Starlin is an American comic book writer and artist. With a career dating back to the early 1970s, he is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera; for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Death and suicide are recurring themes in Starlin's work: Personifications of Death appeared in his Captain Marvel series and in a fill-in story for Ghost Rider; Warlock commits suicide by killing his future self; and suicide is a theme in a story he plotted and drew for The Rampaging Hulk magazine.

In the mid-1970s, Starlin contributed a cache of stories to the independently published science-fiction anthology Star Reach. Here he developed his ideas of God, death, and infinity, free of the restrictions of mainstream comics publishers' self-censorship arm, the Comics Code Authority. Starlin also drew "The Secret of Skull River", inked by frequent collaborator Al Milgrom, for Savage Tales #5 (July 1974).

When Marvel Comics wished to use the name of Captain Marvel for a new, different character,[citation needed] Starlin was given the rare opportunity to produce a one-shot story in which to kill off a main character. The Death of Captain Marvel became the first graphic novel published by the company itself. (

In the late 1980s, Starlin began working more for DC Comics, writing a number of Batman stories, including the four-issue miniseries Batman: The Cult (Aug.-Nov. 1988), and the storyline "Batman: A Death in the Family", in Batman #426-429 (Dec. 1988 – Jan. 1989), in which Jason Todd, the second of Batman's Robin sidekicks, was killed. The death was decided by fans, as DC Comics set up a hotline for readers to vote on as to whether or not Jason Todd should survive a potentially fatal situation. For DC he created Hardcore Station.

Reviews

[Regina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting Batman to beat the living crap out of the Joker, so I'm very disappointed and surprised I wasn't granted the satisfaction. At least the movies I've seen (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Batman: Hush) we either hear he put the clown on a body cast or we see him beat the mad-man to an inch of his life. I can definitely understand Jason's reaction later on, when he come's back to find the piece of shit alive.

Jason was Bruce's first son. Yes, you may argue it's Dick but he was his ward. Dick already had parents and happy memories with them, Bruce became his caregiver, never fully taking the place as father (just as Alfred did with him). But, Jason? Jason had no one, after his parents' deaths he had a crappy life until Bruce came along and gave him a family. After raising Dick, he had learned a lot about parenthood and we see him try to not make the same mistakes he did the first time around.

We see Bruce love this kid as his own, and this wonderful loyal boy love him back as a father.

So it's upsetting that the ending to this whole arc is very underhanded and in discordance to the narrative, since Joker does say that Batman is "all about vengeance" and to not follow through with that is disrespectful to the story and the audience.

[augustine]

this was going so well, batman’s monologue was so promising to how he’ll get the joker’s ass but then meh what was that lazy ending

[Halim · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the darkest Batman issues ever... I read this book nearly thirty years ago and I still remember that scene with the crowbar very VIVIDLY... if you read this issue you know exactly which scene I m talking about. Dark and haunting; everything a Batman story should be!

[Cybernex007 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well isn’t that just the way all stories with joker end…unsatisfying as hell and a constant to come back another day. What bothers me above all is how Bruce is handling the death of Robin and Jason in the eyes of the public. Joker may be insane but he is not an idiot, it doesn’t take a genius to piece together that Bruce Wayne reported his ward’s death only for Joker to know for certain he killed Robin. And then when Joker sees Bruce Wayne sitting in the UN assembly right as he is about to give his first speech…all he can do is laugh. But that is the nature of their relationship, it’s very likely the joker knows who he is…but doesn’t care and wouldn’t do much to leverage it at this time as it takes the fun out of it. But shifting the focus back to batman, the problems I mentioned with the information he controls to the public can be easily explained by things I mentioned last issue: batman is broken. He is able to bury Jason Todd but he can never truly bury Robin, and now everything is in question and the one place he wants to direct his anger to finally end things…is completely out of reach by his own government and one of his closest friends, Superman. No matter what batman can say they can’t risk an international incident with the position joker has found himself in. So batman doesn’t, he sits back and watches but he doesn’t intervene. Of course when the time eventually comes that joker steps up on stage and attempts to use gas to kill the entire UN general assembly, batman can’t help but step in. Luckily the people around him aren’t as foolish as he would believe and are proof that he can’t do it alone as it is ultimately Superman in disguise that saves most of the day as he sucks up the gas himself and flies off to get rid of it. Unfortunately this does leave joker in a room with a lot of people between batman and him, and Superman didn’t find all the bombs planted before hand. Batman is eventually able to catch up to joker, give chase to his getaway copter on the roof, where an altercation with his goons leaves the pilot dead, the joker shot, and the helicopter crashing into the water. But as normal joker’s body is never found and batman is held back by the forces of this world from crossing the line he was practically begging to break with Jason at the forefront of his mind as justification. Last issue, during Jason’s recap stage, brought up a very important event. When Jason found out two-face was the cause of his father’s death he wanted him bad, and it eventually reached a point where two-face was at Jason’s mercy…but Jason stepped away and let the law take care of the situation. This is the most emotionally invested he could ever be in a fight, the life of his father, much like the life of Jason, acting as justification for Justice. But he still stepped away, and if you don’t think emotional investment drove that decision then you may be a robot. Sufficient to say batman has not found himself in a very tough place, and while the fight may be delayed for now it will take a lot to crawl his way out of that hole and make the same emotionally intelligent decision Jason did before. This is a complicated subject as we have also seen Jason potentially cross the line in the name of Justice, it’s entirely possible he didn’t, but a big topic of discussion that batman even brings up in this issue is how often joker has been able to escape the death penalty because of his insanity. In this issue we clearly see batman ready to let external factors take the wheel to lead to his death, but I do still think it it’s important that he never takes that decision himself.

[Pietro Rossi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Death in the Family

(Covering all four single issues) This caused a sensation when it originally came out, complete with DC asking their readers to telephone and vote whether Jason Todd's Robin should live or die.

Decades later, re-reading this story, does it still stand up? Yes is the answer. Over four issues we see the build up and the resolution with a final battle (?!) between Batman and the Joker.

The emotional strand of the story carries it through, whether the impetuous of Robin or the grimness of Batman; indeed the madness of the Joker too. 8/10

Scoring: 0 bad; 1-3 poor; 4-6 average; 7-9 good; 10 excellent.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, I love seeing Batman process how he feels about the Joker's murder of Jason. But the ending felt very lackluster. I might be in the minority, but this arc felt a bit drawn out after Jason's funeral, seeing as how there's no conclusion with some monologue of closure. Perhaps this bleeds into subsequent issues, but it's weird reading this arc on its own.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Death In The Family part 4- At last time for the Joker to pay for the death of Jason Todd.

[Hammaad · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

[Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.5/10

This needed something as definitive as the final Batman vs. Joker fight from The Dark Knight Returns.

[Steven DeVito · Rating 5 out of 5]

favorite pages: 7, 15-17, and 20

(80%)

[Denim Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of four issues covering the storyline "A Death in the Family".

The four issues (#426 - #429) was reprinted collectively as A Death in the Family

[Patrick Razo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Joker as the Iranian ambassador to the UN? This ain't gonna end well.