Jason Todd, the second character to assume the Robin persona, was introduced in 1983 to replace Dick Grayson, who had grown out of his sidekick role and adopted an adult identity as Nightwing.

Editor Dennis O'Neil was considering having Jason revamped or written out of Batman when he recalled a 1982 Saturday Night Live sketch in which Eddie Murphy encouraged viewers to call the show if they wanted him to boil a lobster on air.

Inspired to orchestrate a similar stunt, DC set up a 900 number voting system to allow fans to decide Jason's fate.

The story was controversial and widely publicized; despite Jason's unpopularity, DC faced backlash for the decision to kill one of its most iconic characters.

Retrospective reviewers agreed with the decision to kill Jason and have ranked "A Death in the Family" among the best Batman stories, though its plot has been criticized as nonsensical.

He was introduced by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson to give Batman a companion and increase his appeal to children.

[2] The original Robin, Dick Grayson, made regular appearances in Batman publications from 1940 until the early 1980s, when Marv Wolfman and George Pérez began including him in the New Teen Titans comics.

'"[1] Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–1986) crossover event, which rebooted the DC Universe,[a] Batman writer Max Allan Collins was asked to reintroduce Jason.

[11] Around that time, DC was planning to publish a comic promoting HIV/AIDS education, and requested that writers submit suggestions for characters to kill off from AIDS.

[4] The idea of having fans call to influence the creative process was a novel concept at the time, and DC's sales and marketing vice president Bruce Bristow described setting up the numbers as the most difficult part of the project.

[4] A 2009 hardcover reprint included Wolfman, Pérez, and Aparo's 1989 sequel storyline, "A Lonely Place of Dying", which introduced Jason's successor Tim Drake.

[20] While eavesdropping on a child pornography ring and awaiting police backup in Gotham City, Jason Todd (Robin) ignores Batman's orders and attacks the criminals.

The Joker is Iran's representative to the UN and will be giving a speech on the floor of the General Assembly, and any confrontation between Batman and him could start a diplomatic incident.

[22] As an editor at Marvel Comics, O'Neil had received angry mail from fans when characters such as Phoenix and Elektra were killed, so he was prepared for reader backlash to Jason's death.

[1] Assistant editor Dan Raspler was chastised by DC's then-executive vice president Paul Levitz for referring to "A Death in the Family" as a "stunt" in an interview.

[8] Hilary Goldstein of IGN and Jamie Hailstone of Den of Geek praised the story's handling of Jason's death for its emotion and portraying the dangers of superheroics.

[28] Charles Prefore, writing for Screen Rant, said the story "can't decide if it wants to be fun or dark"; while Jason's torture and death at the hands of the Joker is quite somber, elements like the "globetrotting nature of the story" and the Joker becoming an ambassador for Iran are evocative of the goofy Silver Age of Comic Books.

[27][28][29] Hailstone called the story a "guilty pleasure" that, while not as groundbreaking as "Year One" or Batman: Son of the Demon (1987), was entertaining nonetheless,[28] and Prefore summarized it as "a good read if you don't mind all the strangeness".

[32][33] Sean T. Collins of Rolling Stone ranked it among the 15 Batman stories he considered "essential" to understanding the character, praising Aparo's art and how Starlin characterizes the Joker.

[37] Tembo contended that the death leaves the reader to ponder Jason's nature as "Batman's greatest failure, as an orphan betrayed, and/or as a careless and overzealous lost boy who reaped what he had so impulsively and thoughtlessly sown".

[39] Written in the aftermath of the Iran–Contra affair, "A Death in the Family" reflects American attitudes towards the Middle East in the 1980s, and has been criticized as inaccurate and relying on racist caricatures.

[44] Inverse described the Joker's alliance with Khomeini as "the culmination of an embarrassing series of storytelling gaffs that flattens the complexities of Middle Eastern turmoil into a homogenous caricature of racial stereotypes".

[44][48] Dar said that "[Starlin]'s and [DC]'s disregard for cultural, religious, and political accuracy simply points to a crude and racist generalization: Arabs, Iranians, and Muslims are all the 'same' and 'hate' the West".

[49][50] Chris Snellgrove of Looper described the scenes depicting Jason's torture and death—with the Joker covered in his blood— as "one of the most disturbing moments in the publisher's long history".

[54][55] The story altered the DC Universe: instead of killing anonymous bystanders, the Joker murdered a core character in the Batman fiction.

[4] It portrayed Batman as more violent and emotional following Jason's death, and for the next decade of comic book canon, he was haunted by his failure to save him.

[57] Jason eventually re-joined Batman's supporting cast as an "on-again, off-again ally",[8] and starred in the series Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011–2021).

[70] The story was eventually adapted in the comic book sequel Batman: The Adventures Continue (2020), written by Dini and Alan Burnett and penciled by Ty Templeton.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) features a damaged Robin suit on display in the Batcave,[77] while Suicide Squad (2016) reveals that Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) helped the Joker (Jared Leto) murder him.

[85] The DC Universe and HBO Max streaming television series Titans (2018–2023) features Jason as a central character portrayed by Curran Walters.