DC Comics is taking readers back to one of the darkest chapters in comic book history, all to see how things might have turned out for Batman’s most tragic sidekick.

From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives! #1 brings readers back to the tail end of the 1980s. More specifically, it brings readers back to just after the events of 1988’s A Death in the Family, during which Jason Todd was brutally murdered by the Joker. This time around, however, the Caped Crusader was able to catch up with his young ward before the Boy Wonder lost his life. Of course, saving Jason’s life doesn’t mean the experience didn’t leave him or Batman with any scars, and while the latter isn’t driving him to kill his enemies, he is done saving the Joker from whatever situation they end up in.

Written by J.M. DEMATTEIS Art by RICK LEONARDI Colors by RICO RENZI Letters by TAYLOR ESPOSITO Main cover art by RICK LEONARDI & DAVE STEWART Variant cover art by KATIE HUBERT & MICHAEL MCCALISTER

Although Jason Todd originally appeared in the pages of 1983’s Batman #357 by Gerry Conway and Don Newton, this version of the character was demonstrably different from the one who would come into form following the events of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s 1985 epic, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Rather than being a relative rehashing of Dick Grayson, this updated Jason Todd was a kid who escaped a troubled upbringing and made a life for himself stealing tires. It was during one of these thefts when Jason met Batman, who took the boy in after leaving him in the care of a secretly criminal reform school.

It was in 1988’s Batman #428 when Jason Todd lost his life at the hands of the Joker, who had manipulated the Boy Wonder’s own mother into leading him into a trap. After savagely beating Jason with a crowbar, the Joker left the young Robin to die in a massive explosion he had rigged to go off long before Batman could ever have hoped to stop it. Even worse, the death of Jason Todd was decided by the fans themselves after a lengthy call-in campaign that allowed them to vote on whether Robin would live or die.

Eventually, it was revealed that Jason Todd had been resurrected six days after his demise by the reality-altering punch lobbed by Superboy-Prime during his Multiversal rampage. Not long after Jason escaped his own grave, he was taken in and offered both shelter and solace by none other than Thalia al Ghul, who immediately recognized the former Boy Wonder. This kicked off a series of events that paved the way for Jason to come into his own once more not as Robin, but as the Red Hood.

From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives! #1 is on sale now from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics