Batman: A Death in the Family

TL;DR — The Essence

Jason Todd, the second Robin, has grown reckless and unpopular with readers by the late 1980s. Searching for the mother who gave him up, Jason travels to Ethiopia and stumbles into a Joker weapons deal. DC let readers decide his fate through a 1-900 telephone poll — call one number to save him, another to let him die. The vote was close, but the answer was death: the Joker beats Jason with a crowbar and leaves him in a warehouse rigged to explode.

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Why It’s Worth Reading

1. The Reader Vote Wasn’t a Gimmick — It Changed Batman Permanently

This isn’t a hypothetical “imaginary story.” Jason Todd’s death stuck, reshaping Batman’s psychology for decades of stories afterward — his guilt over failing to save a second child he took in became a recurring wound the character never fully closes.

2. It’s One of the Clearest Examples of Fans Directly Shaping a Major Character’s Fate

Comics had teased reader input before, but rarely with this much real weight attached to the outcome. The controversy it generated — was killing off a legacy character to a phone poll good storytelling or a stunt? — is still debated among longtime readers today.

3. It Set Up Consequences That Are Still Playing Out in Modern Batman Stories

Jason Todd’s death (and eventual, much later resurrection as the antihero Red Hood) became one of the most load-bearing pieces of Batman history — directly referenced by Under the Red Hood and still shaping how new Robins are written into the mythology.

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Creative Team

A Death in the Family was written by Jim Starlin, with pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Adrienne Roy, and letters by John Costanza. It was originally serialized in Batman #426–429 from August to November 1988. Modern collected editions also include the follow-up story from Batman #440–442 and The New Titans #60–61, written by Marv Wolfman with art by George Pérez, which shows the immediate aftermath.

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Who Should Read This

This is essential reading for understanding Jason Todd as a character — both his death here and his return as Red Hood only make sense with this story as the foundation. It’s a shorter, more emotionally direct read than Knightfall or Year One, closer to a single gut-punch than a sprawling saga.

If Absolute Batman or Knightfall got you interested in how far Batman stories are willing to push the character’s limits, this is one of the earliest and most literal examples — readers themselves decided how far it would go.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Batman: A Death in the Family about? Robin (Jason Todd) searches for his birth mother in Ethiopia and is captured by the Joker; DC let readers vote by phone on whether he would live or die, and the vote decided death.

Was the reader vote real? Yes. DC ran a 1-900 telephone poll in 1988 letting readers call in to vote on Jason Todd’s fate, and the vote to kill him won by a narrow margin.

Did Jason Todd stay dead? For years, yes — he later returned as the antihero Red Hood, a story told separately in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

Do I need to read other Batman comics first? No, though it helps to know Jason Todd is the second Robin; the story explains enough on its own to follow.