Review: Batman #428: Robin Lives! (DC Comics)

What a weird — wonderful, but weird — release is the Batman #428: Robin Lives comic. It’s not even clear to me “why now” in terms of DC releasing this volume — Jason Todd is a little bit in the forefront though not as much as he has been at other times (though I sense the general-er public is more familiar with Jason’s Red Hood persona via video game appearances than they might be with even some of the better known Robins). At the same time, I’ve worn out at least one or two Batman: Death in the Family collections over the years, and DC got me to go plunk down $5.00 for this ($8.00 or more for a foil edition!), so I guess there’s some year-end profit to be had. (The thing’s even getting a second printing!)

My big concern was that the only difference here would be the single “He’s alive” page previously reprinted in Batman Annual #25 (and then Batman: Under the Hood Vol. 2). That annual was a draw for much the same reason as this, the chance to see what art wasn’t used in the will they/won’t they of the original “Death in the Family.” But though the page was obviously the work of classic Batman artist Jim Aparo, the modern colorization was a mistake, and that single page has looked over-done to me ever since.

Pleasantly, Robin Lives re-recolors that page. I’ve been staring at it long enough that I still don’t think it’s seamless, but at least there’s less discernible digital effects involved. And it is not indeed just that page that’s different, but also half of a page later on (previously rumored, apparently). That’s not much, though a new, brief cameo by Dick Grayson in this story is interesting.

Fascinatingly, the one issue with two outcomes is accomplished mostly through revised lettering over the same art. There’s worthwhile study here for anyone interested in the business of making comics — see how Bruce can be angry simply over the Joker attacking Jason or the Joker killing Jason, and a subsequent page need only differ by the context of the page before? That a funeral can easily be for Jason and his mother or just for his mother, by dint of lifting a piece of art and a narration box?

[See the latest DC trade solicitations.]

I frankly wish DC had leaned a little less into the “exact replica” nature of this comic and had offered a little more behind the scenes of making it. Back in 1988, before all the newfangled digital, “Death in the Family” was definitely drawn on boards, scanned, and then manipulated not unlike puzzle pieces. At the time, someone would have literally laid down or picked up the relevant narration box scrap of paper, though I doubt that’s how it went down this time.

Indeed I wouldn’t mind an edition without the replica ads in it; it’s the way it was, but the licensed medallions and “Invasion First Strike!” piece really interrupt the flow when Batman finds Jason’s body (though, wow, dig the advertisement for a little new DC series called Sandman!). DC is sure a couple of times to note the ads are for replica purposes only, though I’m surprised they didn’t try to get General Mills to do a new-retro Trix ad — and I am certain someone out there has newly tried that Superman ActionLine number. That is, this is such a replica, and the updates to the letters page are so minor, I wouldn’t have minded if DC had a little more fun with the “what never was” here.

Could “From the DC Vault” have more installments? “Death in the Family” benefits from not just being the way the road diverged but also that the other possibility was (somewhat) drawn. Sure, you could have “Death of Superman” where Superman lived, but that would just be Dan Jurgens creating afresh, not recreating something previously done. Only thing I can think of, of course, is the original Armageddon 2001 ending with Captain Atom instead of Hawk, but maybe I and some of you are the only ones who want to see that? (Is there some different version of “Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight” where something else happens to Hal? That comes to mind now.)

Rating 2.25