Episode 46 – Starlin’s Batman Part 8: A Death in the Family Part 1
Welcome to the forty-sixth episode of The Overlooked Dark Knight. The is a non-index index show where the hosts, Andrew Leyland and Michael Bailey, look at Batman comics that rarely, if ever, get talked about. Back in episode 39 they started a series covering Jim Starlin’s run of Batman and they are going to continue with that until they get through all of his issues, up to and including Batman: The Cult.
It’s here.
What is quite possibly the most controversial Batman story ever.
Andy and Mike have gotten to…A Death in the Family.
Not the second Incredible Hulk pilot where David comes across a supposedly crippled heiress that is being slowly poisoned by her step-mother, forcing David to become the Hulk on several occasions and he even fights a bear (or, more accurately, a guy in a bear suit) at one point. No. The guys are covering the story that made headlines because DC decided to use the then new technology of 900 numbers for something other than a phone sex line.
In this first part of the coverage, Andy and Mike talk about Batman #426 and #427, which are the first two parts of A Death in the Family, but when you consider that the issues are double sized it is almost like they are the first four parts of the story. Jason is out of control and Bruce benches him before getting involved in yet another Joker escapes Arkham case Along the way, Jason finds out that the woman that he thought was his mother was not, in fact, his mother, so he goes on a quest of his own. “Shockingly” those two quests collide and Jason eventually finds his mother, but not before the Joker does and some really bad things happen. Jason and his mother are locked in a room with a bomb and at the end of issue 427 it explodes. Did Jason survive?
Well, no. He didn’t. Sorry for the spoiler.
Mike and Andy really dive into the story, both from a historic stand point and a critical one with Andy being very honest about his feelings about it and Mike admitting that nostalgia googles were worn while he re-read it. It’s a stark look at what the story represents and how it’s told.
Below are the covers and select pages from the comics discussed during this episode.
Promos played during this episode include…
- The Longbox Crusade – Hosted by Pat, Jarrod, Delvin, and Weasel Skull
- Waiting For Doom – Host by Mike Garvey and Paul Hix
Andy and Mike want your feedback on this episode so they can read it on an upcoming show! You even have options in how you leave your feedback. The most direct way is to leave a comment right here on the site. You can also send all questions, concerns, fears and trepidations to overlookeddarkknight@gmail.com. Then there’ the Facebook page, where you can also leave a Batman related question for Andy and Mike to answer at the beginning of the show. If you talk about this show on the social medias please include a #overlookeddk so the guys know where to find it.
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Next Time: The penultimate episode in the Starlin’s Batman series and the conclusion of A Death in the Family.