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Title: A Death in the Family
Series:
Batman/Robin #1
Author: Jim Starlin
Artist: Jim Aparo &
Mike Decarlo
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Comics
Pages: 144
Format: Digital Scan
Batman
has taken Jason Todd under his wing and trained him as his new Robin.
Unfortunately, Jason lost his mother to illness and his father to
crime and so he's got a lot of anger and he lets it out while on the
job.
Going through some
papers of his parents one day he comes across his birth certificate
where he finds out that his “mother” was actually only his
step-mother and his birth mother is still alive and either in the
Middle East or Africa. After “quitting”, in a note no less, Todd
runs off to Israel to check on the first of three possible “Mom”
candidates and then ends up in Lebanon.
At the same time
the Joker has broken out of Arkham Asylum, again and with most of his
secret funds being not so secret and impounded by the US Government,
heads to Lebanon to sell off a nuclear cruise missile. Batman is
tracking him down and runs into Todd. It turns out the people they
each are looking for are connected. So they team up, foil a bunch of
arab terrorists who want to launch a nuke into Tel Aviv and find out
that the Israeli Secret Agent isn't Jason Todd's birth mother. The
Joker is out a million dollars with no more missiles to sell and a
large grudge.
While Batman and
Robin go after Candidate Number 2, the Joker makes a run for Ethiopia
and blackmails Candidate Number 3, who is in charge of large amounts
of medical supplies from the UN. The Joker doesn't know she's
Candidate Number 3 of course. Candidate Number 2 turns out to be Lady
Shiva and she wants nothing more than an all out, one on one fight
with Batman. After defeating her and doping her up with sodium
pentathol, it is revealed that she too is not Todd's mother.
The Joker not only
blackmails Candidate Number 3 but drops off a load of his lethal
laughing gas in the place of the supplies he takes. This will kill
off whole camps of refugees. Bruce and Jason discover that CN3 IS
Jason's mother and there is a tearful reunion. At least until Jason
discovers what the Joker is doing and informs Batman. Batman chases
down the tainted supplies and Robin goes in to rescue his mom,
against Batman's express orders, only to discover that she's been
dipping into the medical funds and is as dirty as a sewer herself.
She delivers him over to the Joker who beats him bloody with a
crowbar and leaves him and his mother to die in a bomb blast.
Batman
is devastated and returns home, vowing to never take on another
apprentice. The Joker is caught by the Iranian Secret Police and
given the job of UN Ambassador for Iran by the Ayatollah. As such he
has immunity for all past crimes and Batman can't touch him without
setting off WWIII. Superman delivers the bad news to Batman and keeps
him from going thermonuclear. The Joker has his time at the UN
Assemblage, sets off a gas bomb and when that is foiled by Superman,
a regular bomb. Batman chases him down and it ends in a fight in a
helicopter, which crashes. Batman escapes but the Joker's body is not
recovered.
My first thought on starting this was “What a jerk Jason Todd is”.
While he's angry about his parents being dead, how does that excuse
his going against Batman's direct orders to wait on the police to
break up a criminal ring? And then his actions in going after his
birth mother? Leaving Gotham, stealing credit cards, breaking into
secret bases, compromising secret agent identities? And then again
ignoring Batman's direct order to stay away from the Joker because
he's too dangerous? You would have thought that being taken out so
easily by Lady Shiva would have shown him some of his limits, but no,
Jason Todd was a selfish, arrogant jackass who brought his death upon
himself. I have NO sympathy for him and was rather glad he died. He's
the kind of person that leads into the Watchman universe and the fear
of Superheroes/Vigilantes. Jason Todd is a Taliban Fighter to
Superman's United States Marine.
My second real issue is the handling of the Joker as the Ambassador
for Iran. I'm sorry but that is NOT how Ambassadorship works. It
would be like saying that Osama Bin Laden could have become
Afghanistan's Representative and gotten off scot free. We still would
have put a bullet in that bastard's head. I realize this is a comic
book and played up for drama, but come on!? My real issue is that I
can see the kind of attitude that allowed this to happen in the comic
book happening in real life. It makes me sick because it could happen
for real.
Now I'll talk about why I still liked this story and gave it 4 Stars.
Batman. With the recent movies, Batman has become just another
vigilante. Willing to kill if it's convenient. In this book Batman is
back at his “I won't use a gun and I won't kill people” attitude.
When he goes after someone, he drugs them, cuffs them and then lets
the Authorities dole out the justice. That ethos is sorely tested
here and I found that inner battle quite well displayed. It was
fascinating to watch Batman realize that Law does not equal Justice
and how that tore him apart. Batman is a Hero with strong internal
ethics and not just doing whatever he wants because he can.
Superman. He played a very small part but it was interesting to see
how he was portrayed in the late 80's. I didn't really get into
Superman until the mid-90's and by then some things had changed. Here
he's portrayed as acting upon the orders of the United States
Government. Not quite what I'd call a government Stooge, but only one
decision away from that status. His decision to side with the “Law
is the Law and so it is Right” way of thinking was a bit
disturbing. Yet at the same time how many people in the nation
thought that way? Today, with the scads of laws promoting
perversions, that are knee jerk reactions to special interest groups,
that are passed with no intention of ever being enforced, I find
myself being cynical. It simply wasn't quite that way 30 years ago.
It was eye opening to be reminded of how much of a sea change in
attitude has gone on in our nation and in the whole world.
Lady Shiva. I simply liked seeing her because I recognized her from
the Knight Fall/Quest/End storyline from later in time. Just one of
those interesting tidbits.
Finally, I like the cover a lot. At a time when Superheroes did not
die, but simply stopped having their stories told, seeing a Robin
undeniably dead is shocking. It shows Batman being vulnerable, it
shows just how murderous the Joker truly is and it gets at the pathos
of the human factor in a Superhero story. Much like the iconic cover
for the Death of Superman years later, this cover will always
mean more to me than just the story.
On a side note, I read the original 1988 edition that JUST had the
4part “A Death in the Family” storyline. Later editions of A
Death in the Family do include a A Lonely Place of Dying.
I'll be reading and reviewing that next.
★★★★☆
