Batman: A Death in the Family (found unfinished "Jason Todd lives" version of comic; 1988)

"You decided his fate. Or did you?" A panel depicting Robin's demise.

Status: Found

Date found: 12 Dec 2023

Found by: DC Comics

Original inking of the completed page.

In 1988, DC Comics made the controversial decision to kill off Batman's second Robin, Jason Todd, a character disliked by some fans as well as members of DC's creative staff.

To generate publicity and gauge fan sentiment, a 1-800 call-in line was established to decide Robin's fate. At the end of one of the issues, called A Death In The Family, callers were to whether or not the Joker managed to kill Jason Todd after a cliffhanger beating followed by an explosion. The fans allegedly decided that the Joker succeeded in killing Robin, but the legitimacy of the vote and the existence of an alternate outcome comic have been questioned.

Context

Jason was a wilder, more rebellious Robin than Dick Grayson, which the fans and staff grew to dislike with time. In an infamous sequence in the A Death In The Family storyline, the Joker beat Jason near to death with a crowbar, then blew up the room he was in. Batman arrived in time to see the explosion, and the comic ended, leaving the cliffhanger ending. The vote in question followed, and in the next issue, Jason was dead.

It has been claimed (and denied by DC from the start) that the vote was pure theater, and that Jason Todd was to die no matter what. While the vote's outcome was close (no outside vetting has been done, and now seems unlikely), Batman veteran writer Denny O'Neil has posited that this was due to some readers thinking they were voting for the fate of Dick Grayson, and that the absent votes meant that this would have heavily favored killing off Jason Todd. Others say that wishing to nudge the outcome their way, DC staffers flooded the phone banks in favor of Jason's death. Whatever the truth of these rumors and speculation, DC may have ended up feeding this frenzy by how it has handled things since then.

Aftermath

The only clear released panel of the unfinished second page.

The only evidence of an alternate comic is a page published in Batman Annual #25. This issue, which was related to Jason's 2000s return, shows Batman with Jason, who here is still alive. This page was included in a reprint of the Death in The Family story claiming to be:

"[...]an alternative final page for the lost chapter of A DEATH IN THE FAMILY in case the fans decided to save Robin[...] not see[ing] print until the release of Batman Annual #25".

However, some believe that this scene was crafted well after the fact to kill the endless rumors.

Second page shown on DC Universe.

DC revealed there was just this completed page plus another incomplete one. Of the second one, only one clear panel has been released.

Website DC Universe's video series "Robin Week" showed the second page in one of their episodes, focusing on this canceled comic storyline. It is shown at a slightly blurry angle, however.

Release

On December 12th, 2023, DC Comics released the official "Batman: A Death In The Family" issue entitled "Robin Lives!". The issue contains the alternate outcome that Jason Todd may have had from 1988 if fans had voted for Todd to live, and even contains the original inking for the pages that were previously known to be from the issue.

See Also

• Batgirl (partially found unreleased HBO MAX superhero film based on comic book character; 2021-2022)
• Batman And The New Robin (partially found unproduced animated TV series; 1988)
• Batman: Clean and Dirty (found "Sesame Street" animated segment; 1970)
• Batman Dracula (partially found Andy Warhol film; 1964)
• Batman Fights Dracula (lost unofficial Filipino comedy parody film; 1967)
• Batman Forever (partially lost deleted scenes of DC superhero film sequel; 1995)
• Batman Meets Godzilla (lost Japanese film treatment of unproduced crossover film; 1960s)
• Batman: The Animated Series (partially found Tim Curry performance from animated series; 1992)
• The Dark Knight (lost build of cancelled multi-platform action game based on Batman film; 2008)
• The Dark Knight Trilogy (partially found deleted scenes of DC superhero film trilogy; 2005-2012)
• Gotham High (lost cancelled Batman animated series; 2009)
• Mike Henry's Batman publicity stills (lost photographs advertising CBS "Batman" TV series; 1964)

References

• Polygon news article on the unpublished pages. Retrieved 11 Mar '20
• Gizmodo article Retrieved 16 Mar '20
• The Beat article Retrieved 29 May '20