Batman: A Death In The Family is a classic Batman story. It features one of the most influential moments in Batman's history: the death of Jason Todd. Jason Todd was the second Robin but, unlike Dick Grayson, he was bit of a jerk. He was the classic annoying rebellious kid who thinks he's all that and who everyone wants to teach a lesson. Well in 1988 the fans got the opportunity to do just that. There was a poll in which fans could call one of two numbers; one number for Jason Todd to die and one number for Jason Todd to survive. The sadistic bastards had their way, and Jason Todd was killed. Despite the fact that its one of the most important and remembered Batman stories of all time, I hadn't read this book until now. But, with a new paperback released recently, I decided to pick it up and give it a read. Here are my thoughts.
Now I know that this opinion might not be popular, and I'll probably get some hate in the comments for it(if I get any comments), but I thought that this story was overrated. I will, of course, elaborate. First the art; the art isn't really bad per say...its just not really up to par with other art from this time period. Note that I'm not comparing the art to comics of today, but of art from that time. People who don't know what I'm talking about would do well to remember that this story came out after The Killing Joke. How does The Killing Joke's art look today? Still fantastic! This art looks like something out of the 70s or 60s, not so much the late 80s. I still don't really mind the art(like I said its not BAD)since I actually read comics from the 70s and 60s and still enjoy them. The splash page of Batman discovering Jason's body does look great though. The story itself is a little odd. A little TOO odd. The characters themselves are all written very well. Batman is good, Jason is good(actually likable! What a surprise!), and the Joker is good. But the story itself is just too coincidental and wacky for what should be such a serious story. Robin discovers that his real birth mother is living in the middle-east, so he runs away from Batman to find her. The Joker, meanwhile, escapes from Arkham and take a missile to sell in the middle-east. Batman, pursuing the Joker, just happens to run into Jason, whose real mother just happens to be working with the Joker(unwillingly). The entire story takes place in the middle-east with Batman and Robin fighting stereotypical terrorist caricatures. I'm not saying this because I'm angry that middle-easterners are misrepresented or anything like that(a could hardly care in the context of the story), but why did the entire story have to be set in the middle-east? Its weird seeing Batman and Robin fight terrorists in the desert, their bright costumes just seem out of place there and the plot comes of as trying to hard to be topical as a result. Also, the Joker becomes ambassador of Iran to the U.N. It is as ridiculous as it sounds. The Joker then has diplomatic immunity. Now I know this is a comic book and I should put away disbelief(after all there are flying, laser-eyed aliens in comics) but this is still just too ridiculous. Again, this is after The Killing Joke. Its like Charles Manson being appointed the U.N. ambassador of Iran and America just saying, "Well, I guess if you say he has immunity, there's nothing we can legally do so we'll let it pass this time..." I mean come on, that's just stupid. I know since I've been ripping the book up this whole time, you probably expect me to hate it, but it has many redeeming qualities.
Like I already said, all the character themselves are well written(its just the plot that's ludicrous). The scene with the Joker beating Jason are very well done, tasteful but still brutal and hard to watch. Also, Jason's final heroic moments are touching and only make his death more tragic. The fact that he tried to save his mother, only to have her betray him to the Joker, and then still try to save her again anyway was a really nice touch on the writer's part. The third issue(in which Batman finds Jason's body and mourns him)is superb. For this issue, all the other silly plot points are temporarily put aside and we get a really tragic, haunting, and poignant story. The relationship between Batman and Superman shown in this issue is also very well done. Its a shame the conclusion of the story couldn't live up to this issue. Batman goes after the Joker at the U.N., knowing he'll eventually make his move and his immunity will be lost, but the final confrontation is anti-climactic. After the death of Robin, this should have been the best Joker/Batman battle ever, but it sadly is not; the Killing Joke battle, the Dark Knight Returns fight, the Long Halloween fights, and even the fight from Hush all stand out as better Batman/Joker fights than this, which is a shame since this story really had the potential to have the best one out of all those stories. The Joker and Batman do have a pretty good conversation the night before the showdown though, and a moment where the Joker knowingly looks at Bruce Wayne as he enters the U.N. building is chillingly good, but all this build-up just leads up to a disappointing climax.
Overall this story is not quite as good as it could be, or as it is often cited as being, but it has its moments and is still worth reading for the actual death issue, which is fantastic.
7/10
But wait, there's more! This paperback includes not only the "A Death in The Family" story, but it's follow-up, "A Lonely Place of Dying" as well. These two stories combined make for a pretty thick little paperback(about nine issues worth of pages), and its notable that "A Lonely Place of Dying" has been out of print for some time, so its nearly impossible to read that story for a good price until now. I will review this story as well.
"A Lonely Place of Dying" happens some time after the "Death in The Family" story, and introduces us to Tim Drake, the third Robin. Tim Drake is one of my favorite bat-characters, and I've never had a chance to read this story before, so I had pretty high expectations. This story is actually, in my humble opinion, better the previous story for which the paperback is named. We see that Batman is in a really dark place, he's lashing out at criminals and fighting them without thinking through his actions. We get to see young Tim Drake realize that Batman can't exist without a Robin to remind him of his humanity, and Tim sets out to give Batman another Robin. What's really interesting about Tim is that his origin is vastly different from the previous Robin's. His parents were killed or anything like that(although the would later die), he's simply a really good detective and he figured out Batman and Robin's identities. He actually figures it out in a pretty logical and believable way. What's also unique is that he isn't actually trying to become the new Robin, he's trying to convince Dick Grayson, now Nightwing, to become Robin again. Of course we all know that Dick will refuse and that eventually Tim will become Robin, but its still fun seeing it all play out. The villain of the story, Two-Face is written as crazy, but intelligent and scheming too. He actually comes off as kind of like the Riddler, he leaves a bunch of elaborate and subtle clues that hint at the number two(Two-Face is obsessed with duality) and that only Batman could possibly figure out. Some might find that Two-Face's characterization actually comes off as TOO Riddler-like, and that's probably my only gripe with the story. Otherwise, its a great story that features the birth of the third Robin and great characterizations of Nightwing, Batman, and Tim. It also has a pretty cool twist at the end that I actually didn't see coming, but I won't spoil it for you.
9.5/10
Overall this is definitely a must-buy for any Bat-Fan. I may have been harsh on the "Death in The Family" story, but its still necessary reading and the previously hard-to-come-by "Lonely Place of Dying" makes this paperback more than worth your $25.