Batman: A Death in the Family (Review)

This is one of the greatest stories of the Post-Crisis Batman. It would be a very welcome, but not essential, addition to any Batfan's bookshelf. To me only the trinity of  Miller's Dark Knight Returns, Year One and Moore's The Killing Joke belong to the category of being essential, (although I'm sure there are many out there that might add one or two that list). Death in the Family is a very well executed story. It is severely flawed, however by an outlandish plot and just two many 'million-to-one chance' type coincidences that writers use to keep a story moving and together. That said I've it's still excellent. My only real exposure to Starlin before this was his work on Warlock and Captain Marvel, and was surprised, in later life, when I actually stopped and noticed he wrote it and not Marv Wolfman or Doug Moench, being used to Starlin's wild space opera type stories. I do feel he goes a little over the top introducing the grit that had been the prevalent type of style since Miller's opus DKR.                                                                                                            

Of course, classic Batman artist Jim Aparo does his usual flawless job on pencils, while his work always looked better when he inked it himself, Mike DeCarlo, gives it a gorgeous slickness. The story opens with Robin being rash and aggressive and moody, taking unnecessary risks and Batman reprimands him. He stops him being Robin until he learns to come to terms with his parents death. Jason then leaves Wayne Manor where he goes back to his old neighborhood in Crime Alley where a woman gives him his late parents personal effects. He discovers his birth cert and realises that his mother is still alive, but because of the smudged writing on the cert and his fathers address book realises that it must be one of three women, two strangely enough located in Iran and one in Ethiopia, helping with famine relief. The fact that two are located in Iran where the Joker has gone attempting to sell a nuclear weapon is really a bit much to take. Jason leaves for Iran to track two of these women, without Batman knowing, Batman decides to leave for Iran also in order to stop the Joker (Strange coincidence). The two meet undercover in a lane way 2000 miles from home, Jason trying to find his mother in the same hotel Batman is stalking to find an associate of the Jokers (come on...)

Enough of the plot, Joker bludgeons Jason to death with a crow bar and kills him and his mother in a warehouse explosion in one of the most shocking depictions of a 12 year old being bludgeoned to death in code approved comics. What particularly unsettled me reading this is the callous, uncaring look on his mothers face as she watches her son being beaten with the Tyre iron. She winces and then casually lights a cigarette. Joker ties her up and Robin and blows up the warehouse, and we get the countdown scene where Jason tries to save his mother and they both try to make it out of the warehouse... and then BOOOOM!!!

Batman arrives on the scene to find the battered and burnt body of Jason.

The Joker is well off the scene and returns to the states as the Ambassador of Iran (no really) complete with turban and stuff, and plots to kill everyone in the UN assembly.Superman stops by to make sure Batman doesn't do anything stoopid, like jeprodising international relations like the big boy scout he is. Batman in one of the best scenes in the book nearly breaks his hand off Superman's face with an almighty  blow that would have probably felled Ali in his prime.
    There's a marvelous scene where Bruce Wayne and the Joker make prolonged eye contact as the Joker makes his way to the podium. Superman in disguise saves the assembly as he inhales all of the jokers toxic laughing gas, and then has enough lung power left to actually talk without exhaling the roomful of gas, in a move that conveniently sidesteps every biology, physics & chemistry law commonly held by man. Joker tries to escape batman jumps on his helicopter nad the Joker ends up shot in the chest. Batman jumps out of the helicopter and     then it explodes. Fini.

Rereading this years later I realise how depressing this book is and how sad the life of Jason Todd was. But it's still a great story, a real page-turner. Jason Todd was disliked by the majority of Batman's readers for being an obnoxious little prick, but in his last moments his inherent heroism shone through, and this adds added poignancy to his death. Interestingly this new edition for 24 bucks contains the sequel 'A Lonely Place of Dying' which is a good story and introduces the third Robin. It's crazy to think that when I originally picked up this book sans glossy pages it was exactly one tenth of the price it is to day. It always struck me as odd how Batman would take a twelve year old into battle with him, and does he learn his lesson after this? Hell no, he accepts another know-it-all pre-pubescent twerp to take up the mantle. There was only one Robin and his name is Dick Grayson and at least he was about 19 when he finished working with Batman and became Nightwing over in the pages of the New Teen Titans #39. 'Holy child endangerment Batman!!'
Here is the original cover for this collection which tears strips off the new one. (I tried to track it down after I lost the original but the guy in the shop was looking for 5 times its original cost). Bastard.

As I remember it