Today in Comics History, September 15, 1988: Batman progressively walks closer to you until you can see he's carrying FOR PETE'S SAKE BATMAN PUT THAT THING DOWN

Yes, today, September 15, is when a phone vote to assassinate a comic book icon determined the fate of Batman comic books forever. Don't ask who it is that killed Jason Todd: as Mick Jagger sang, "after all it was you and me."




"Some Will Die" ads from DC comics cover dated September-December 1988, pencils by Jim Aparo



Yep, this happened:


from Batman #428 (DC, Winter 1988), script by Jim Starlin, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Adrienne Roy
And not this...


alternate art from Batman #428, script by Jim Starlin, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo
(Here's a color version of that alternate history:)


from Batman Annual #25 (DC, May 2006), script by Jim Starlin, pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by John Costanza
All because of this:


house ad from Batman #427 (DC, December 1988), art by Jim Aparo
Yep, Jason Todd died today. Ignore the fact that it says something different on his death certificate. They're always pullin' that stunt over at the Gotham City coroner's department.


from Batman Annual #25 (DC, May 2006), script by Judd Winick, pencils by Shane Davis, inks by Mark Morales, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Travis Lanham
So, in conclusion...we have no one to blame but ourselves for not spending 50¢ to prevent the creation of Red Hood and the Outlaws.



assistant editor's note from Batman #428
Bonus: J. L. Bell has some great commentary on Robin and the death of Jason Todd (click on other inks to explore lots of additional Robin posts), and no conversation about the crowbar-beatin', big explosion death of Jason is complete without Mike Sterling's iconic animated gif seen at the bottom of the post here.