Batman travels the Middle East battling the Joker, terrorists, and on the search for Robin’s true mother. This is one whopping story arc. I would make note that there’s going to be many spoilers here exposing some major character and plot changes, but I’m guessing the cover picture and title, Death in the Family, probably foreshadows most of the story. That being said, let’s dive in.
Issues #426 – #429 of the Batman comic series tells the story of Batman and Robin traveling to Northern Africa and the Middle East on the search for Robin’s true mother. I have to make note here that this is Batman’s second Robin, Jason Todd. The first, Dick Grayson, has already retired and moved onto to become the hero, Nightwing - or something to that effect; the Robin lineage is inconsistent and confusing. While on this expedition, the Joker (after recently escaping Arkham Asylum) is in the process of selling off a nuclear warhead to some Arab terrorists to make some big bucks that will help rebuild his crime empire. The Joker’s deal goes south when Batman and Robin break up the sale... then Joker’s bomb accidentally detonates. Everyone's fine, but the Joker escapes. (Side-bar: They have a nuclear warhead explode as if it’s a stick of dynamite. All of the important characters walk away from this completely unharmed. Go figure?) By process of elimination, Batman and Robin track down Robin’s real mother working as medical aid in Ethiopia. The Joker has serendipitously swooped in on Robin’s mom as well blackmailing her to give over some medical supplies he can sell for profit. In this quandary, Robin’s mom lures her son into the Joker’s clutches where he beats him mercilessly with a crowbar. At the end, he locks mother and child in the warehouse and kills them both in an explosion right before Batman could arrive to save the day. A crushing scene… then things start getting a little weird.
As Joker is making his escape he is captured by, of all people, Ayatollah Khomeini – the radical religious leader of Iran. (Did I mention this was written in the late 80's?) He wants to offer the Joker a job: representing Iran at the UN as their formal diplomat. We cut back to Gotham. Everyone is up in arms that Joker is returning to the states with diplomatic immunity, now acquitted of all crimes charged against him. Batman is still ready to kick ass when Superman pops in on the President’s orders to keep him in check. He’s able to keep his cool when everything culminates at the UN assembly as the Joker, in the middle of his address, unleashes a giant gas bomb to kill everyone. Now worries, Superman shows up. Saves the day. Then lets Batman (sitting in the crowd as Bruce) makes chase after Joker that ultimately ends in a helicopter crash with the Batman escaping and the Joker… well, he doesn’t escape – and was shot in the gut mid crash – but we all know damn well he’ll live on.
It’s a little baffling reading these issues. Seeing Batman slugging Arab terrorists wielding AK-47’s is probably on par with Superman doing battle with the Nazis (I’m pretty sure this was thing). And while there are some glaring logic issues besides the nuke survival (like how the hell does a notoriously dangerous/wanted criminal allowed to enter the UN building… and with a bombed strapped to his chest no less?) it’s still very entertaining and a bit shocking to read. One other question that still looms in my mind is about Robin’s mother. I don’t know if this is ever touched upon later in the series, but I’m not sold that this final woman he meets is in fact his true mother. Jason Todd’s original parents died when he was young (father shot by Two-Face; mother taken by cancer or something) and then finds his birth certificate where the mother’s name is all smudged out except for the first letter, “S”. He then goes on a long deduction path using Batman’s supercomputer and his father’s old address book to narrow his possible “real” mother down to three people. Then when this woman finds her lost son, she immediately turns him over to the Joker to save her own corrupt ass… I don’t buy it. As Batman sorts through the rubble that Robin and his mother’s bodies lie in, he manages to get one last word with the woman commenting how Robin covered her before the blast. “That boy must have really loved his mother," she says before croaking. The story leaves it fairly open, but I’m left with the feeling that Robin dies never truly find his mom, only a con-artist.
Damn, what a cruel world.
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