Jason Todd Lives! What's Next for the Fallen Robin?

I have always been fascinated with Batman's Jason Todd story arc, and this short-run comic book series from DC Comics is an unexpected treat.

In 1988, DC fans made the seminal choice in the history of DC publishing—voting to kill off Jason's Robin in Batman's A Death in the Family storyline. Now, for the first time, we find out how Jason's story would have unfolded had the fans voted to spare him. And it all begins with the murder of The Joker!

A survival storyline for Jason was never written in 1988, but writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Rick Leonardi picked up where the original creatives, Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, left off. Robin Lives #1 begins right after Batman #428, with Jason struggling for life in the hospital and The Joker dead at the hands of an unknown assassin... who might just be Batman himself.

Like the Starlin and Aparo storyline, much of the drama derives from Jason's inner and outer pain, Bruce's guilt at bringing his new Robin into the fray before he was better trained, and his failure to save him from The Joker and his crowbar. Bruce, Alfred, and Dick Grayson all try to support Jason through his recovery, but he finally decides to take matters into his own hands by facing Scarecrow alone...

History repeats. It was a similar decision that left him to the cruel devices of The Joker — and Jonathan Crane is a villain who has turned mind-fuckery into an art form.

I can't wait to see where the subsequent three volumes take us!

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