From the DC Vault: Death in the Family - Robin Lives #4

Recap
Over 30 years ago, history was made when fans voted to kill the second Robin, Jason Todd. Now, DC continues the alternate story of what would have happened if he had lived... Will Batman be able to bring Robin back from the brink of madness... or lose the boy forever?
- From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives #1: What If Readers Saved Jason Todd
- From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives #2
- From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives #3: For Whom The Bell Tolls
And, in losing Jason, will he lose himself as well? The stakes have never been higher — as the Joker prepares to unleash an army of mad virus bats on the city. It all comes down to a bullet aimed at the Joker's head, with millions of lives — and Jason Todd's soul and sanity
Review
From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives #4 concludes the series that asked “What if Jason Todd had survived his encounter with the Joker?”
The issue picks up with Jason transformed into Joker’s sidekick Jokey, The Boy Lackey as they visit Joker’s shrink from Arkham. Joker pushes Jason to kill the doctor but Jason refuses, leaving the Joker to consider finishing the job he started on Jason, only to decide he isn’t worth it and goes to confront Batman instead.
Certain parts of the story feel glossed over and part of the narrative by the Doctor Dev, such as Jason’s getting the gun to kill the Joker in favor of a longer verbal tete-a-tete between Batman and Joker before Jason shoots and kills the Joker (revealed in issue 3).
As a whole, the story was interesting, even if it was more focused on Bruce and less a deeper look into Jason’s state of mind. The reveals at the end of the story: Bruce not turning Jason in, quitting Batman turning the role over to Dick, and where Jason ends up seemed predictable but overall, well executed given that the story beats that readers were probably expecting.
The art for the series didn’t really work well as it want the clean-lined art or style like the original Death In The Family arc in Batman.
Final Thoughts
From the DC Vault: Death in the Family - Robin Lives #4 and the series as a whole was an interesting exploration of a possible outcome from a pivotal moment in the DCU and Batman's mythos.
It will be interesting to see if DC Comics does other stories along this line, exploring critical junctures in the DC timeline.
From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives #4
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 8/108/10
- Art - 7/107/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10