Batman (1940-2011) #426

Batman (1940-2011)

by Jim Starlin, Adrienne Roy (Colorist), Mike DeCarlo (Inker)

"A Death in the Family" part 1--one of the biggest and most game-changing storylines in Batman's long history begins here! The Joker has broken out of Arkham Asylum and looks to get in on the nuclear arms race. Meanwhile, Boy Wonder Jason Todd begins a quest to find his real mother!

Genres: Comics, Batman, Dc Comics, Comic Book

45 pages, Kindle Edition

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

[scribble · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are few things I dread more than North American comics talking about the Middle East.

[literaryelise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very, very racist.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice setup for what'll happen with Robin, but I don't understand why this has to be an international story.

[Cybernex007 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whelp here we are the beginning of the end of Jason Todd the first time around. It does suck that such a monumental storyline that shaped Jason’s character as we know it for so long is drenched in racism towards Lebanon and other middle eastern communities due to this being published in the height of troubles between the US and Lebanon during the time. Comics have always been inherently political and the team behind it set out to give a message during this time even if it doesn’t hold up so well anymore. At the least we can always look towards our favorite characters punching Nazis, that will never be drenched in cultural appropriation and will always be great. But getting into the story itself, this doesn’t just start the beginning of a death in the family but marks a family divided, as more than ever Robin is finding himself thinking about his parents and it’s leading to higher emotions out in the field that are causing batman to call him out on his near slips. While Jason doesn’t see any problems, Bruce makes the decision to pull Jason from the field without even discussing it with him out of the fear he rushed his track to becoming Robin without coming to terms with his parents deaths first. Causing Jason to pretty reasonably storm out, only to find himself walking back to his old home thinking about his parents. His mom who died of a disease and his father while working for two-face. But as he is walking the streets of crime alley a woman calls down to him, she recognized him and actually called him up because she saved some things from his apartment when the landlord sold it to another tenant. A box full of pictures and important documents related to his family, unfortunately some of it is water damaged but this is more than he has ever had on his family in a long time.

All the while this issue makes it very clear it takes place after the killing joke, and the joker has once again broken out of Arkham after creating his laughing gas out of supplies in the janitor’s closet. But Joker is not sticking around in Gotham with how hot he is, and because of all his other assets being seized he is planning one huge sale to break the bank and get away. He just so happened to have his very own cruise missile stored away, and with how hot international politics are he is planning to break it down and ship it over to broker it to a group of terrorists. Batman meanwhile is spending his time trying to hunt down joker’s known henchmen, only to find most of them gone. The one he was able to find he wasn’t able to get a lot of info from, but he did find a travel visa over to the Middle East.

As we check back in on Jason we find him going through all the photo albums and documents related to his parents, only to find his own birth certificate. But something is wrong, his father’s name is there but his mother’s name, while smudged out and illegible, is wrong! It starts with an S, but his mother’s name was Catherine. Which means that the mother he knew…was his step mom. His real mom may still be out there! Jason’s only clue is his father’s address book where he located three female names all starting with S. Using the bat computer he tracks all of them down, and wouldn’t you know it…they are all out of the country. Seems Jason’s father kept quite an address book as it lead him to an Israeli secret service agent, a mercenary acting out of Lebanon, and a doctor working in famine relief in Ethiopia. Jason isn’t waiting around to ask for Bruce’s help, and decides to take his load of credit cards and catch a flight to start hunting them down in the hopes of finding his own mother.

Speaking of flights, Joker has stolen a navy aircraft and is currently transporting his cruise missile. Batman is unfortunately a few steps behind but is quickly catching up as he found the location where joker kept the missile originally. All of his fears are realized as all he finds are specialized tracks and a Geiger counter. The leftover radiation confirms what batman now knows, that mad man has a nuclear device. Batman gets home and is ready to chase after him, only to find Alfred waiting with the note Jason left behind. Batman is now torn between two worlds, hunt down Jason or joker and his nuclear weapon…the choice is unfortunately clear as the next page immediately finds batman working with a CIA unit to track down the plane joker stole and get it back home. Joker is gone by the time they get to the plane but batman has a few moments to search it and confirm that the nuclear device joker stole is leaking radiation.

Batman and robin’s hints actually converge in Beirut as Robin tracks down the Israeli secret agent to that location while undercover. He for this information by breaking into a secret base himself. Batman spent his time running around the city looking for the shadiest guys he could find and instilling the fear of the bat into them, before finally finding one who knew someone that was selling the cruise missile. And that’s when batman happens to find Jason as it turns out the woman he suspects to be his mother is undercover alongside the broker Bruce is looking for! As they meet up Jason explains his situation and Bruce explains his, and as they realize their two paths cross they decide to team up. Funny enough batman happened to bring along two bat gliders to use for tracking the broker and his “girlfriend” out into the dessert, that old precognition is creeping up on him again, lol. And as they get out into the dessert they find exactly what they are looking for with Joker, a cruise missile he deconstructed and put back together himself, and a whole load of terrorists. As the man who batman and robin followed pays the joker off, he officially passes it over to their hands as they are very ready to use it. And that’s when batman and Robin jump in to start taking guys down, joker is immediately thrown back in disbelief that they followed him there and the terrorists decide to hold joker back to make sure the device works before they send him off. But with batman and Robin causing trouble the time tables immediately moved up and they tried to set off the bomb immediately…only for it to blow up in their faces. Just in the Nick of time two as Jason’s possible mother shit someone to protect Robin and was caught by the man she was supposed to be with. Right as the explosion went off, it threw them off and she was able to take him down. Joker lost his money in the explosion and walked off into the dessert unsure of what to do next. Batman and Robin have a moment to ask the woman of she ever had a child in Gotham, and she confirms she didn’t have one in Gotham. 1 down 2 to go, at the least they were able to give her a ride back I. The hang gliders. Hilariously the second woman on the list is Shiva Woosan, aka Lady Shiva. I have a strong suspicion that is not his mother but the adventure and hunt continues as we also see Joker in full flesh makeup taking a trip over to Ethiopia. Seems that he is beating batman and Robin to the third potential real mom without even knowing it.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate when miscommunication or, in this case, lack thereof creates drama, because it's so stupid and so easy to solve, all you gotta do is talk! Anyways, it doesn't really become a problem so I guess I'll let it slide.

[Nour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batman speaking Farsi in Beirut :')

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Death In The Family part-1.The beginning of one of the darkest events in the history Of Batman.

[Hammaad · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

[Austin Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[mat · Rating 5 out of 5]

who else loves depresssion

[Ayah]

Insanely racist what the fuck

[Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

How come Batman doesn't shudder at the overlap with his and Jason's missions? How doesn't that scream "Joker" to him?

[☆]

"even under these circumstances, it feels good having jason by my side again." not for long ig..........

[augustine]

according to dc writers anything that’s not white or american is terrorist and stupid. fucking disgusting

[Steven DeVito · Rating 4 out of 5]

favorite page: 42

(60%)

[Denim Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first 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]

I bet my bottom Robin's gonna die.