Batman: A Death in The Family - Significance

Significance

DC Comics and Batman editor Dennis O'Neil were already aware that Jason Todd had become unpopular with readers and decided to remove him from the Robin role. The question was how to do that. Seeking a new way to interact with fans, and perhaps inspired by references to a dead Jason in Frank Miller's non-canonical future history comic book miniseries, The Dark Knight Returns, the company set up two 1-900 number 50-cent hotlines giving callers the ability to vote for or against Jason's death. The call-in period started after publication of the issue in which Jason and his mother are trapped in the warehouse.

Over 10,000 votes were cast, with the final vote being 5,343 votes for Jason to die over 5,271 for him to live. DC published A Death in the Family to massive media attention, some of it critical. Over a decade later, in a Newsarama interview conducted alongside writer Judd Winick, O'Neil said: "I heard it was one guy, who programmed his computer to dial the thumbs down number every ninety seconds for eight hours, who made the difference." If true, that would have amounted to over 200 votes (and 100 dollars), certainly enough to decide the count. There is no way to confirm that rumor, but it adds uncertainty to the question of whether the poll was an accurate measure of what fans wanted to happen to Jason Todd.

Other notable incidents in the story include Batman punching Superman and treating villains a lot more violently than usual. Aspects of his moral character even come into question. Although the Joker has been responsible for dozens if not hundreds of deaths, it is only now that Batman, for personal reasons, seriously considers crossing the line set by his moral code and killing his nemesis. "His insanity always got him a stay of execution," the character thinks. "But no more. Jason's dead." In a story set shortly after these events, Superman confronts Batman with the fact that he left the Joker to die in the helicopter crash at the conclusion, although Batman pointed out in response that it had already been unlikely that he would survive an escape attempt on his own and trying to save the Joker would have definitely killed them both.

The story touches on a number of contemporary political and social issues, such as the Lebanese Civil War, the Arab–Israeli conflict, the Ethiopia famine, corruption and the handling of rogue states. When he goes to Lebanon, Wayne uses a fake Northern Irish passport, the province being synonymous with terrorism at the time.

Although the plot point of the Joker getting hold of an actual nuclear missile is somewhat fantastic, the smuggling of nuclear material is an issue that has been taken seriously in recent years.

The Joker attributes his financial state to "Reaganomics", seemingly blaming then-president Ronald Reagan (though in fact it is because the authorities have stripped him of his assets due to his criminal nature).

The story makes clear allusions to the Iran–Contra affair, including the Joker's sale of a cruise missile to Arab extremists with Israel as their target. Ayatollah Khomeini makes a brief but important appearance, appointing the Joker as a UN ambassador for Iran. (The Joker's appointment as UN ambassador was later retconned to the fictional nation of Qurac.) But the story's depiction of Persian (referred to, in that language, as farsi) as the language of Lebanon and Arabic as the language of Iran reveals how superficially it treated its Middle East setting.

Overall, the depiction of Batman in a rare emotional state, the murder of a well known superhero, and the phone-voting element have allowed A Death in the Family to remain a significant milestone in American comics.

This story strongly suggests that The Joker knows Batman's identity : Robin revealed his true identity to his mother while The Joker was close around. Robin's mask is already gone by the time he wakes up and tries to escape from the time bomb. Jason's death has been described on the telex (though attributed to an accident). The Joker tells Batman that "even a madman can add 2 plus 2 ...". Batman tells The Joker that Robin's real name was Jason. The Joker stares at Bruce Wayne and laughs maniacally. Bruce Wayne changes into Batman in front of The Joker and the entire assembly attending his speech at the United Nations Plaza. The Joker just wants to kill Batman along with countless other victims or with a gun, instead of having a special death just for him (which could indicate he no longer feels as obsessed with him, now that he may or may not have just recently discovered his true identity).

IGN Comics ranked A Death in the Family #15 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels.