Product Description: This contoversial bestseller decided the fate of the second Robin! As Robin, a.k.a. Jason Todd, attempts to find his birth mother, Middle Eastern terroristd and the Joker conspire to wreak havoc of global proportion. After being captured by the Joker, Robin pr.
Great Book! This is one of the best and interesting graphic novel to own. Story line is great and shocking. Loved the old school drawings, it brought back memories. Recommend to buy this book.
A Compelling Story Ends In Tragedy DC Comics used a cheap promotional tool - a fan poll - as a means to "determine" what should be done with the second Robin, Jason Todd.
Turning a story line into a typical means for a radio station to give listeners "ownership" in shows yielded Todd paying the ultimate price for his brashness and bold steps into vigilantism, no matter the end results for Batman. The geopolitical angle with the Joker is silly, but the way the iconic villain meticulously sets a trap for Robin is brilliant, as it plays on the worst aspects of an ego that cannot be dismissed as youthful exuberance to do the right thing.
The feelings of Bruce Wayne/Batman truly slice into the soul of someone who understands the slippery slope of allowing raw emotions to determine actions while in the line of duty. But was everything done by the Dark Knight to prevent the steps to death?
Though this volume is not be a complete picture to the hype - that won't happen until the company releases the alternative finish for the vote - it is a compelling story that gave the (slim majority of) voters what they wanted....in a compelling story.
An Excellent Tale of a Caped Crusader, a Boy Wonder, and a Man Who Laughs. I just finished reading this, and wow... That was one of the best Batman stories I've read. Being myself adopted, I connected straight off with Todd's search for his mother, not knowing who she is. This, of course, only amplified the effect of the titular death. I also enjoyed much of Joker's plans in this story. The Iranian delegate struck kind of close to home- remember the guy who said "no preconditions"?- but it never got too political, even in dealing with that. A great, emotional Batman story with a great twisted Joker plot.
Important Outcome from a Mediocre Story This is a decent story which is mainly well known for the out come rather than a great story. This is something I would recommend to fans of Batman to read for the sake of the importance to the Batman story line, but I probably wouldn't recommend to many others. In fact even if you're a Batman fan and you don't have a lot of money to through around there a lot of other Batman stories I'd point to before this one. Now I don't want to say that this is that bad of a story I was entertained and never thought about not finishing reading it.
I think the biggest problem for me was the fact that most of the time it didn't feel like the Batman universe. It just seems odd having Batman run around in the Middle East. Now having been a fan of comics for a number of years now, I have come to know that often I will be asked to suspend my disbelief. But a few times it took it a little too far form me in this one. For example it seems a little too coincidental that Batman follows the Joker to the same city in the Middle East that Jason Todd ran off to looking for his mom. Two other examples are Batman bringing gliders and a mini helicopter with him to the Middle East/Africa. And the Joker being recruited as Iran's ambassador by Ayatollah Khomeini. I don't know it could just be me but I thought that was a bit much.
There were a few good things about it to though. While I wouldn't say the art work was amazing or anything, I thought it was pretty good and reminded me of the artwork in some of the older Batman comics (I mean that in a good way). I also liked the fact that the story addressed that when the Joker got out of Arkham he was without most of his assets and need to make some money to get started up again. In short I recommend this for the historical aspects rather than a great story.
Another Batman Classic! Okay,when DC was planning this storyline they knew they were treading into new territory.It would be a controversial time in the comics industry where the companies wanted to get more mature with their readers.DC lead a campaign in whicn the fans would vote to either kill Robin(Jason Todd,Dick Grayson's predecessor)or to let him live at the end of the story.Long story short,the Joker ends up beating Jason within an inch of his life with a crowbar.Batman was elsewhere at this time.Jason discovered that his mother was alive but under the Joker's fearful leadership.They met briefly before they were locked in a shipping crate.Jason was laying on the floor bleeding to death when the Joker placed a bomb with a timer in the crate.The Joker preceded to beat Jason's mom up pretty bad too.Just before the bomb went off,Jason shielded her from the blast.Jason died in her arms.Batman found the two,then Jason's mom dies and the last image you see is Batman carrying Robin's lifeless body away from the scene.It was a very gritty story for it's time but it was necessary for DC to evolve into the '90's.A new or old Batman reader or fan should own this story.Not only is it gripping, but it's comic book history just like the Death Of Superman and Knightfall.Excellent DC Comics read!