Batman: A Death in the Family (1988-1989) Review

 Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I'm back with another comic book review. I realized that I've been doing nothing but comic book reviews, so I'm going to do a movie review for you next week, probably on Tuesday, depending on how things go. For right now though, let's get into one of the most iconic comic book storylines of all time, Batman: A Death in the Family. I've had three different editions over the last 20 years or so, and I'm going to talk about those. But I'm going to do so in the order in which I got them rather than in the more linear way of how they were released. So let's get into it.

Batman: A Death in the Family originally came out as Batman #'s 426-429 in 1988. However, it was one of the first storylines to be immediately published in a trade paperback collected edition, following Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Batman: Year One, Batman: Year Two, and Crisis on Infinite Earths. There might have been one or two others on that list, but those are the ones I could think of off the top of my head. I didn't actually get my first copy until the mid 2000s, probably around 2003 or 2004. I got the 10th printing, which came out in 2000, as a birthday present from my grandparents because I had started going back and trying to find the big major Batman storylines that I hadn't read or hadn't read all of when I was a kid in the '90s. I'd also begun picking up back issues to fill in the gaps in my Batman and Star Trek comic book collections, which were basically the only comic books I owned at the time. So this book represented my growing interest in the Batman comics of the past, beyond what I'd grown up reading when I was a kid.

Only a couple of years ago I came across a much earlier printing of the book at the Ottawa Comic & Card Show, which is the monthly comic book sale that Brad and I would always go to. It's the sixth printing from 1992. It's cover is similar to the original 1988 trade paperback edition, except the title is in grey instead of red. And it has the more standard collected edition paper stock for it's pages, with the more standard '90s trade paperback colours for the artwork. However, there's still one more edition that I got.

On Sunday Brad and I went to the first Ottawa Comic & Card Show to happen since the pandemic hit last year. This was also our first time out together since the pandemic. I got alot of cool comics and movies during this outing. One of them, from our good buddy Ian, who runs Big Belly Comics, which I've talked about before on the blog, was the original 1988 first edition of Batman: A Death in the Family, for $10. Which is really cool, considering most places like eBay would be selling it for $60 or $70 or more. Now Ian did have another copy of it that was more expensive, but the one I got for $10 wasn't in a pristine condition as the other one was, which is why it was cheaper. Regardless, it was a really cool find. The thing this edition has that the other two that I've owned didn't is that in the back of the book is the original ad that ran in DC Comics in 1988 with the numbers for people to call to vote on whether Jason Todd, the second Robin, lived or died. So that's REALLY cool! Mainly because I've never seen the ad before as I don't have any DC Comics that it would've been printed in. And it would have had to have run in the comics of 1988 because the cover date for Batman #426-428 is all December 1988, with #429 having a cover date of January 1989. So the first three issues came out in August and September 1988, and the final issue was probably either late September 1988 or early October 1988. According to the DC Wiki, this trade paperback edition actually came out in March of 1989. Regardless, it's an old book.

I also have the 2020 DC Dollar Comics reprint of Batman #428 in my collection as well. Unlike the Facsimile Edition reprints that both DC and Marvel have done over the last few years, the Dollar Comics editions have modern ads in them pertaining to the story in question or to whatever reason the issue was being reprinted for. Because Batman #428 is an important issue for both Batman and for Robin, and it came out in Robin's 80th Anniversary year, there are ads for various Batman and Robin comics coming out in 2020.

A Death in the Family was a storyline that involved Batman and Robin facing the Joker in the Middle East following his attack on Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore. Of course Robin (Jason Todd) is dealing with anger and recklessness stemming from the recent deaths of his parents (or not so recent, comic books are confusing) so this leads to a confrontation with the Joker, and Jason's real mother, and results in the Joker killing Robin. And then proceeds to attempt to murder the United Nations, but Batman and Superman stopped him. 

Anyone who was a comic book fan in the '80s, '90s, and 2000s knows this book. Even if they'd never read it. Jason Todd's death had a profound impact on Batman within the DC Universe and he carried the weight of that death, and of Barbara Gordon being crippled by the Joker in The Killing Joke, all through storylines like Knightfall, Year Three, No Man's Land, Hush, and Under the Hood. Jason's death also impacted other characters in the DC Universe such as Dick Grayson, who was Nightwing by that point, some of the other Titans, and Barbara Gordon. It also loomed as a shadow over Tim Drake in his early years as Robin.

Personally, I like this book. Jim Aparo is the artist on the book and I love his work on the various Batman books. Jim Starlin is the writer on this book but I haven't read any other comics written by him. At least none that weren't Batman or Batman related. This, along with The Killing Joke, is the book that made me dislike the Joker. Because it's the first story I read where the Joker actually does something as extreme as he does it here. Now, I've never liked the Joker as a character, because he's a criminal. However, I enjoyed seeing him whenever he showed up in the comics and in the 1966 TV show and the 1966 movie. Mostly because Batman beat him every single time. 

Alright folks that's going to be it for me for today but I will be back soon for that movie review I promised you. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you later. Take care.