Batman: Death In The Family

This eiditon of “A Death in the Family” not only contains the titular story, but also has “A Lonely Place of Dying.” Though the first story is more famous and popular, I actually like LPOD more. Still, both stories are excellent, and either of them alone would make this collection worthwhile.

“A Death in the Family” takes place before LPOD, and as you probably know, deals with Jason Todd, the second Robin. I won’t go into plot summary too much, but I do have some non-spoiling thoughts on this story. First of all, the artwork is okay. Not great, not terrible, and certainly outdated. It’s not even the drawings that are the problem, but how they’re colored. The colors were much more limited in the ’80s, and that’s why people who should be colored with black hair, actually have blue hair in this story.

Next, even though I was eager to see the end, something odd happened: I actually found myself caring for Jason. The creative team was able to get me attached to the character, even though I had no particular fondness for him before reading this. Somehow I found myself dreading the end. It made it very emotional and sad–two good things.

The story was not, however, perfect. I felt that Batman recapped things too often. Something would happen, then Batman would recap, then something else would happen, and then you’d get the whole story told to you again. It felt a bit unnecessary.

Another thing I didn’t like was how often Batman reiterated that the reason he had not killed the Joker in the past was because the Joker is insane, and therefore, not responsible for his actions. 1) Batman doens’t care if you’re insane or not. If you’re a criminal, he treats you how he sees fit. 2) That’s not the only reason Batman hasn’t killed him. It doesn’t matter whether or not the Joker’s insane, because Batman would never kill him anyway.

*SPOILER*
However, there comes a part where Batman pretty much leaves the Joker to die….even though he would never do that..
*Spoiler End*

Overall, I felt the ending was a little incomplete. Batman pretty much sums it up perfectly when he says, “Unresolved.” There should have been a few more pages, either showing Batman’s grief, following the Joker’s story, having Batman talk with Superman . . . Anything! Any sort of epilogue would have been better than none.

I know I spent most of the review criticizing DITF, but I did enjoy it a lot. The story was really good and I liked how both the page number for each issue was given, as well as the page number for the overall story. DITF is probably about 7.5/10 and LPOD is over 9/10.

Came a bit damaged in two places, but could’ve been worse 🙂

Tragedy has always been the defining characteristic for Batman. His origins, his career as the Dark Knight, his most definable moments are often a tragic event in his life. This book contains perhaps one of the most important, and tragic events for Batman: the death of Robin. It is an excellent window into a rare comic book moment, when a protagonist truly dies (and then stays dead for quite some time). Right off the bat, you should purchase this book. It is too important of a moment in Batman’s history to simply pass up.

So, with all that gushing, what are some of the failings of this work? As with Death of Superman, it suffers from comparison to certain elements of current comics. The dialogue, for example, is less mature and more wooden. What is important to remember about this comic, however, is that it was geared towards younger readers. Despite the current trend, comics have been primarily children’s literature. It cannot be faulted too much for being a product of a different era.

The art is respectable, unlike certain late 80s and 90s art, but again looks less impressive when compared to some of today’s talent. There is less detail, fewer colors, and a much more ‘cartoonish’ look. But Batman still captures the look of a brooding hero, and the talent is consistent throughout the entire collection.

As already stated, this book is worth the buy. It’s interesting, gripping, and as every bit enjoyable as it is meant to be.

C’mon. Any collector/Batman Fan has to have this Graphic Novel in their collection.

This depicts the death of Jason Todd at the hands of the joker and Batman’s emotional collapse afterwards. A lot of people really didn’t like Jason Todd as Robin-which kinda blows my mind in a sense, yet I can understand how his attitude as ‘Robin’ puts people off. He jumps the gun and runs almost on pure emotion most of the time.

This graphic novel gives the reader a little bit of insight on Jason’s attitude in my opinion. (Without spoiling anything.) We (the reader) have to remember that Jason is just a kid who’s confused and just wants answers-which this graphic novel really sheds light on.

(Sorta spoiler in a sense.)

In my opinion, Jason’s death was an unconditional sacrifice and this graphic novel helped me see that-which gave me more respect for the lad.

I feel like people see Robin less as an adolescent and more as Batman’s…almost sort of crutch; They want him to have the same sense of justice as Batman, they want him to look up to Bruce as a mentor and they want his attitude to be optimistic.

Honestly, I enjoyed Jason Todd as a Robin and I enjoy his presence in the Dc Universe as a character even more. I felt his conflicting views with Batman really sheds light on the reader that Robin is just a kid who’s been thrown into a confusing and dark world. Seeing Robin with a totally different attitude than his predecessor (Grayson is awesome, don’t get me wrong.) is awesome for those reasons.

Overall without more rambling-this comic is awesome. I felt Tim Drake was a bit too pushy and too ‘on the ball,’ but I get it and I still enjoyed his introduction.

Keep in mind that this graphic novel is a bit older, so don’t expect anything super flashy and overly dramatic like the newer Batman stuff. As far as story telling though, it’s done incredibly well for its time.

I would definitely recommend this graphic novel.

If you want more Jason Todd as Robin stories, pick up:

Second Chances
Batman the Cult.