DC Comics Fans KILL Robin

[@MaxeyBoy]

All I want to say to you guys is a heartfelt thank you. I came across this channel at the start of the pandemic for something to binge on and not feel overwhelmed and its the best comics series on KZbin by a mile, but more than that, you made me fall in love with comics again - not the medium of comics, that never wavered - but genuine, physical comics, to hold, read and collect, and appreciate, (and not permanently seal in hard plastic!) In England today our covid restrictions have ended and it feels like a milestone of sorts, so I had to write this message and let you all know that I really appreciate this channel. I don’t usually write sappy crap out like this but when its earned, its earned. Cheers!

[@deadyrockspin]

I love this series so much because it's completely outrageous. If they ever adapt this into a film I hope it's directed by john waters

[@johnny2tons]

I got in big trouble for calling Big Lou Albano's 900 number when I was a kid. No credit card, it was just charged to the phone bill.

[@usedbymyusername]

Those Mignola covers have always stayed with me. I loved it.

[@ValadeCartoonist]

If I remember correctly, it was just tacked onto your phone bill. I know cuz I did call without my moms permission and boy did I pay for it when that bill came in. Robin got off easy by comparison lol

[@benthehumaniac]

Yes! Billed to your parents' phone bill. I DID NOT make those calls it was definitely one of my brothers. And if I find out which one, I'm gonna give em what for.

[@marcuswai]

That Starlin countdown clock is also used in Cosmic Odyssey that was written by Starlin with art by Mignola.

[@mattbraun5125]

I called the Howard the Duck 900 number every day the summer leading up to the release of the movie - and YES this was just tacked on to your phone bill - no cc required

[@AngusRockford]

My cousin and I voted to let Jason live. We were 15 and 16 year old boys at the time, and we enjoyed violent comics and movies, but we just weren’t *this* sadistic. I think even at that age we thought this was over-the-top crass and manipulative. One thing to consider is that the seeds for Jason’s death in action and the perversity of Batman’s attitude about it were laid in Miller’s DKR. Another reason I disliked this storyline was what felt like a forced, and fairly sudden, decision to drive the Batman universe as much into the Frank Miller vision as possible, to the point of trying to force his alternate future version to “come true.” I get the urge to copy what was then the most successful version of Batman in many years, but so many great interpretations just went by the wayside over night (Doug Moench and Barr/Davis’ versions in particular).

[@rubenfarrus]

I’ve never heard Jim so upset! Haha 100% Agree with him too

[@ferrarriohh]

I was a bit traumatized by this one growing up. Never looked at a crowbar the same. Reminds me of the Anthony Jezelnik joke about the guy who created Super Mario Brothers…

[@jamestrickingtonIII]

I'm with Ed, the thing that stood out most to me as a kid was the color choices for like the hair. Or how sometimes Robin's mask would be green and other times it'd be almost all black because of the shadows, but at the time I didn't understand that, but it was fascinating all the same.

[@AngusRockford]

Oh, man, your commentary had me laughing out loud from beginning to end, fellas. Somehow I think I can *finally* get closure on this tragic, twisted story now.

[@Stevenmulraney]

14:50 years later, they'd call for the new Battletoads

[@GrungyOipunkhalloween]

I remember those numbers and they were tacked on your phone bill I called this Halloween one in the 80s an my mom had a fit when she saw the bill 🤣🤣

[@drawrobot]

The timeline gets even further out of wack with that Red Hood shit. Batman should be nearing 60 or something if you factor in his time with Robin/Nightwing and then takes on another kid who dies then comes back as an adult, hellbent on fucking with Batman.

[@timothymarkin4481]

When Jim Aparo did his first Batman stories circa 1971 for Brave & the Bold, there was a bit more detail in the inking…and it was clear that Aparo was heavily influenced by Neal Adams. After he’d been on B&B for a few years as the regular artist, the obvious Adams bits were incorporated into the Aparo style.

[@jeffgentry3064]

Still got all 4 issues myself! Just a question....on the front cover when did they add the barcode? Mine there says "can he possibly be alive?".

[@CartoonistKayfabe]

Bar codes are on copies that were sold in places other than comic shops. Whenever your comic has a drawing or something other than a bar code it means it hit the direct market (comic shops).

[@chasedwards1163]

How did he die? -His head fell off! Yea, he was pretty old...

[@snarferyasmr3739]

When they brought him back, Judd Winnick wrote it. It was revealed that he was dumped into a Lazarus pit, dead, came back insane for a bit.

[@rybread7818]

This gave me a good laugh during my Monday morning coffee. It sounds crazy, but this bothered me more as an adult than it did as a kid (ya know, the whole teenager being brutally beaten to death by a psychotic terrorist thing), lol.

[@darioscomicschool1111]

1:23 that Face on the Second Panel of the left PAGE!

[@AngusRockford]

This storyline, coming hot on the heels of DKR and Killing Joke, was the first time I felt that the Joker was suffering from overuse. It only got worse from here onward, especially after the 1989 movie.

[@Ayanami0001]

Y’all on fire on this one! Diggin the energy

[@Machiavelli76]

Ah man! Those 900 numbers. They got you in trouble with momdukes. Even Santa Clause had a 900number, called him a few times I remember.

[@russworks2882]

There's a wild two-issue Starlin story with P. Craig Russell finishes in Detective Comics in the late 70's, some of Starlin's earliest DC stuff, with beautiful art and an intelligent, but insane gorilla.

[@AngusRockford]

I remember reading one of those off the spinner rack at the grocery store, but wasn’t allowed to buy it because it was a Dollar Comic (a whole dollar!). I didn’t get to read it again until about 35 years later. I still love pretty much everything Starlin or Russell ever drew, especially from that era.

[@theswan1852]

Another good episode. I try not to say things are utterly crap but Dan Decarlo's inks on Aparo were utterly crap. In the 70s Aparo was an excellent excellent artist who inked and lettered his own work. It appears to me that around the Batman movie he got promoted to regular Batman artist, like Curt Swan on Superman, and they gave him an inker and he started cranking out work double time. I was looking at Kirby at this time and wondering what the big deal was without realizing that he had a huge, huge vocabulary from the past. It seemed to me that these underpaid artists really put passion in their work when they were young but as older established artists they had made all their decisions and were just phoning it in for the paycheque.

[@AceLM92]

You guys should check out Salazar Knight's video on this story. He does a great overview and does presents some good theories as to why Jason's death might have been all the company's choice and not the fans'

[@LifeOnSaturnComics]

I’m so glad that we live in a time where Comics, Cartoons, Toys and video games are not considered exclusive to children 🙄

[@MrJohnffrey87]

It was so funny when I was reading it my sister said “put that back that’s for kids!” And I was like “oh yeah?!” And showed her Jason’s death, she was shocked and said “Oh my god!”.

[@nmj1937]

Pretty sure in later reprints they retcon the references to Iran and the Ayatollah as being a fictional country and individual.

[@mrtang18]

This would be such an awesome gimmick for RED ROOM! But to update it, it would be votes via Instagram or Patreon :D

[@chevon5707]

I was 9 when I bought this on the newsstand…. The crowbar beating has always stuck with me 😳

[@spookytatarelli1]

Love the episodes with Tom Scioli on the show 👍

[@deirdreharris899]

All three of your voices are so similar I feel like I'm listening to a crazy person play his own friends.

[@ferrarriohh]

Now choose: Robin dies, Or Superman *actually* dies

[@vizsla826]

The Jason lives page looks like a parody someone drew

[@MrJohnffrey87]

I’ve been waiting for you guys to talk about this one, it was probably the first graphic novel I ever read, I found out about it on the internet, I had no local comic shops nearby so I only know about the movies and cartoons growing up, I had no idea Jason Todd existed before and Joker had killed a Robin, I found a copy at my local Barnes and Noble and read it there.

[@Homeschoolsw6]

Jim Aparo. I've been giving Neil Adams the credit for both Jim Aparo's and Dick Giordano artwork for years. They are @ll amazing. Also García-López.

[@RandomAmerican3000]

They owe a refund to all the people who called in for Robin to be dead.

[@bob1964utube]

My late brother in law wanted a refund of his money --because he voted multiple times for to kill Jason Todd. He was really pissed off when DC brought Todd back.

[@rickderris5294]

DC's biggest mistake was bringing Jason Todd back. He should have stayed dead (along with Barry Allen).

[@atari2602]

Why *does* Robin have blue hair?

[@snarferyasmr3739]

IF they really made two issues, release the one where he lives!

[@exavierobocanegra8092]

@@MrJimlogan You don't have to read it. Stop telling other people what to enjoy. Thanks :^)

[@lynnwalker5576]

Voters should have filed a class action lawsuit against DC when they brought Jason Todd back.

[@miamikaos5958]

If you took money from people to kill or save a character off, and majority PAID to kill him, if you bring that character back isn't that fraud? You took (tens possibly hundreds of) thousands of dollars from people and reneged on the deal.

[@MRaadesign]

Interesting that you laugh at the tropes used at that time. Sold lots of comics during that time. Can't say the same of the last 2 decades. ALSO, you guys didn't mention anything about the urban legend surrounding the 1-900 number. That some guy set up his phone to redial the kill Robin number.

[@RyanBrown314]

Jim hates Robin abuse

[@billofdoom]

Love this comic !

[@frankg111]

very funny ep

[@jarred.shane10]

Tim Drake>Jason Todd

[@FritziSchnitzel]

I hated the idea of Dick Grayson "graduating" to become Nightwing. Dick Grayson as Robin was the only A level sidekick. When he put on that God awful Nightwing costume he became a C level character. Becoming Nightwing was a demotion. Still I could not help but like Jason Todd because he was so much like Dick Grayson. It wasn't until they rebooted Jason's origin after Crisis on Infinite Earths that he became unlikeable. But even with Jason becoming unlikeable I believe that most people voted in that phone poll because they were dissatisfied with Robin being anyone else but Dick Grayson.

[@jrodriguez6]

You are right about Nightwing being somewhat of a demotion (independent, grown up Robin running in his old costume with the Titans was so cool). Yet, it may be an age thing but Tim Drake is my Robin, and one that I remember being promoted as the best, most balanced sidekick Batman ever had. I hated when he got replaced by Damian and got a much worse demotion than Dick.

[@blacktionjackson7133]

Remember when comic book companies actually gave fans what they wanted instead of calling them "toxic fans" because they didn't fall for the latest dorky marketing strategy?