C&C Comic Review - DC's Batman: A Death in the Family - The Hero Doesn't Always Win

C&C Comic Review - DC's 'Batman: A Death in the Family'

The Hero Doesn't Always Win

By Steven Carter

 

In the wake of the launch of Batman: Arkham Knight, I thought it would be rather appropriate to review another classic series. Rather than cover another Marvel series I have taken it upon myself to take a step into the murky waters of the DC universe! 

Batman: A Death in the Family was a 4 part series released way back in 1988/89. It came at a time when popularity for Jason Todd, who was the second person to take on the “Robin” mantle was seriously dwindling. The fans didn't take to Jason, he was a lot more hot-headed than Dick Grayson, often rushing into conflict without much thought. He saw crime fighting in a very different light which often put him at odds with Batman.

Jason had a rage that even Batman could not sedate

After another haphazard encounter with a bunch of criminals, Batman questions Jason’s recklessness, asking whether he thought this was a game. Todd’s response was not what Batman was hoping for and he subsequently relieved Jason of his duties. Jason decides to try to come to terms with his parent’s death in the hope it will give him a fresh perspective on life. He finds out that the person whom he'd regarded as his mother wasn't actually his biological parent. Todd embarks on a journey to find his real Mum. It's this search that takes Jason halfway around the world and alone into the path of the Joker.

The Joker stepped up a gear after murdering Jason

What follows is comic book history and results in one of the most defining moments in the Batman mythos, the Joker kills Robin and for once Batman arrives too late, he fails. the rest of the story deals with Batman's quest for revenge, he crosses paths with Superman but ultimately the joker gets away to murder another day.

The Dark Knight fails

A Death in the Family really was to comics as The Empire Strikes Back was to Star Wars. It was a hugely significant story which pushes the point that every now and again, the bad guys can win. The events of this story keep on getting referenced in other story arcs, more notably in the “Knightfall” and “Hush” story lines and then later in “Under the Hood”. This was one of the very first “proper” comics I had ever read. Up until then I had been used to the bright, colourful, child friendly world of Sonic the Comic; where the heroes always win and the villain is no more than a bumbling loon spurting out lines like “I’ll get you next time!” Or “You haven’t heard the last of me!” To go from this to a hero’s most trusted sidekick getting badly beaten and then killed was quite a shock to the system! 

Batman's thirst for vengeance puts him at odds with Superman

Another thing to take note here was that DC set up two phone lines with a message at the end of the second issue, giving the readers the choice of whether Robin lives or dies. Over 10,000 votes were cast and the results were surprisingly close. 5,271 voted for Jason to live and 5,343 voted for death. There was a rumour at the time claiming that one person had rigged their phone to dial the death number once every 90 seconds for around 8 hours, if those calls were successful then it would have resulted in over 200 votes being cast for Robin to die and would have decided the overall result. They had two issues made in anticipation of the results which begs the question: If Jason survived, would the Joker have been taken as seriously as he is now? 

DC had prepared an alternate panel in case the vote went the other way

Batman and Joker’s relationship became a lot more personal after Jason’s death. Without that, things could have been a lot different. Would we have ever seen Tim Drake? Red Hood? When they wrote Spiderman, the writers initially wanted Doc Ock to be the main nemesis but when the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacey, Goblin quickly became enemy number one. Could the same thing have happened to Batman? Maybe at a later time, Two-Face or Penguin kills Alfred then they would be considered arch enemy material! 

Joker reigns supreme as Batman's most dangerous enemy

As significant as the story was, it was made at a time when the Batman image was a little camper than usual. At that time we were yet to see Tim Burton’s version of the Batman appear on the big screen, with the last TV appearance being Adam West’s in the ‘60’s. There is a faint whiff of the cheese hidden within the panels, such as the dynamic duo’s idea of sneaking into a terrorist camp was to wear turbans and robes over their superhero costumes. The numerous bat-darts and truth serum, the bat-copter, jet powered hand gliders, it gets a bit much in this day and age. The story has been retold more recently in other media. Batman: Under the Red Hood was an animated movie which gave the plot line a much needed update. Less camp and more brooding. I would certainly love to see this done in the comics again. This may sound like sacrilege to the comic book purists, but I’m sure a retold version of this story would draw in a whole host of new fans to the medium. 

Under the Red Hood explores life after the events of the comic

Overall, the series is a brilliant, defining story but certain elements are starting to show their age in comparison to more contemporary story lines.

8/10