Batman: A Death In The Family (TPB)
Jim Starlin & Jim Aparo | DC Comics | CBR | ISBN 0930289447 | 13th Printing | Dec 1 1995 | 147 Pages (c2c) | 145.39 MB
"A Death in the Family" is a Batman comic book story arc originally published in , from 1988 through 1989, by a creative team composed of Jim Starlin (script), Jim Aparo (pencil), Mike DeCarlo (ink), Adrienne Roy (color), and John Costanza (lettering). DC Comics editors, at the time perceiving that Jason Todd as the second Robin seemed unpopular with fans, came up with the interactive scenario where fans would have the ability to influence the story through voting with a 900 number. Suffice it to say that the publication was accompanied by massive media attention, mostly critical. This controversy, however, is not the only reason why this story is so great. The murder of a very famous fictional superhero resulting in a rare emotional state for Batman that has him treading on a moral gray area marks this as a significant comic book milestone. It's that rare moment when a creative team at the height of their powers mesh together and come up with something truly transcendent. Ranked by Hilary Goldstein of IGN as #15 in his list of the 25 Greatest Batman Graphic Novels of which the top two are Frank Miller's and followed by Alan Moore's A high-quality Hatful-of-Hollow-DCP scan.