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- NARRATOR: DC Comics had
helped usher in the new
generation of writers and
artists
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00:00:06,047 --> 00:00:07,667
that were focused
on grittier stories
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00:00:07,674 --> 00:00:10,344
that appealed to an older,
more mature audience.
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00:00:10,343 --> 00:00:13,393
Marvel titles were also
becoming more intense
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00:00:13,388 --> 00:00:16,808
as the two companies
continued to push the boundaris
with racier content.
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00:00:16,808 --> 00:00:19,228
But in an attempt to engage
this edgier generation,
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DC put the fate of one of
their most beloved sidekicks
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into the hands
of hardcore fans.
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[triumphant music playing]
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Since 1940, the real identity
of Batman's trusty sidekick
Robin, the Boy Wonder,
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00:00:36,953 --> 00:00:38,583
had always been
Dick Grayson.
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00:00:38,580 --> 00:00:41,580
- Dick Grayson had been a
staple of the Batman mythology
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00:00:41,583 --> 00:00:43,333
for many,
many years.
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- He was the gold standard
of sidekick characters.
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00:00:46,296 --> 00:00:47,796
- NARRATOR: But beginning
in the late '60s,
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DC decided to age Dick
Grayson through high school
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00:00:50,341 --> 00:00:52,931
and begin his own adventures
in the Teen Titans.
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00:00:52,927 --> 00:00:56,057
And in 1984, Dick Grayson
retired his role as Robin
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00:00:56,056 --> 00:00:58,846
to assume the new superhero
persona of Nightwing.
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- MICHAEL: Robin
had grown up.
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That left a void in the
Batman and Robin team.
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And DC realized
that there was commercial value
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00:01:06,399 --> 00:01:10,359
in the names Batman
and Robin together.
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And a new guy named Jason Todd
is introduced as Robin.
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00:01:16,826 --> 00:01:20,366
- USLAN: That was one of
the most major changes
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00:01:20,371 --> 00:01:23,581
in a major comic book
character in decades.
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This was huge.
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- MICHAEL: Jason originally
came from the wrong side of the
streets.
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Real world stories had been
becoming more commonplace.
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Jason Todd was the
evolution of that mechanism.
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- IVAN: Jason Todd
was introduced as a kid
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who was stealing the
tires off the Batmobile.
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- A young man not that
you'd necessarily want your
teenage daughter to... to date.
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- IVAN: He was a
jerk. He was horrible.
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He was an asshole if we're
allowed to say "asshole."
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And this was the character who
was going to replace Dick
Grayson
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who had been on TV
and a thousand comics.
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- MICHAEL: Dick Grayson
was trained by Batman,
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and so there was a
certain expectation
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00:02:00,453 --> 00:02:04,503
of altruism and heroism
that Robin should have.
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00:02:04,499 --> 00:02:08,499
And Jason was at least
originally kind of a bratty
kid.
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00:02:08,503 --> 00:02:09,343
- He rubbed people
the wrong way.
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- REED: Readers did not
really warm up to Jason
Todd.
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00:02:14,092 --> 00:02:16,552
- Ugh! Jason Todd is
seriously the worst.
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- Ugh! I just don't
appreciate how they forced him
on us.
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00:02:25,562 --> 00:02:28,062
And then to make
him kind of a turd?
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00:02:28,064 --> 00:02:30,694
- DC realized that
he was never gonna be
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a real hit character.
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- [sighs] I wish he was dead.
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- What's that?
- Nothing.
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- So, maybe they would try
to do something about that.
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[dramatic music playing]
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- USLAN: The big comic
companies were always
looking for that magical
moment
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00:02:46,624 --> 00:02:50,594
where they could capture some
publicity in mainstream press.
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- JENETTE: Our readers
didn't really like Jason Todd o
much.
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00:02:53,089 --> 00:02:55,879
So we came up with
an idea which was,
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"Should we let our readers
decide whether Jason Todd shoud
live or die?"
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Thumbs up or thumbs down?
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00:03:02,515 --> 00:03:07,595
- USLAN: In 1988, DC Comics
had the idea to do the
story-line called,
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00:03:07,604 --> 00:03:10,274
A Death in the Family.
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- We are dealing with the life
and death decision made by fans
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to decide whether the
second Robin, Jason Todd,
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is either killed or not killed
by the Joker.
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00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:21,450
You're given these
numbers, 900 numbers.
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You pay 50 cents a call, and
you have these hours to call
in.
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- USLAN: And if you
called one number,
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00:03:25,330 --> 00:03:28,040
you registered kill him.
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00:03:28,041 --> 00:03:31,591
If you called another
one, it was keep him alive and
keep it going.
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00:03:31,586 --> 00:03:34,836
Oh, everyone was talking
about it in every fanzine.
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You would hear about it
at comic book conventions.
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- KRYSTEN: Just
involving the fans
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in that decision-making in
the storytelling is... is really
cool.
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And probably candy for the fans
to feel involved.
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00:03:44,849 --> 00:03:46,769
- USLAN: This was
the late '80s.
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We had the beginnings
of the transition
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00:03:51,022 --> 00:03:55,072
into a world of what
would become social media.
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00:03:55,068 --> 00:03:58,738
And I think this is
like maybe a caveman-era
attempt
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00:03:58,738 --> 00:04:00,368
to be more
interactive.
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00:04:00,365 --> 00:04:02,075
That was the new thing.
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00:04:02,075 --> 00:04:04,695
"How can you be more interactive
with your audience?"
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00:04:04,702 --> 00:04:06,252
- IVAN: DC
challenged the fans
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00:04:06,246 --> 00:04:08,286
to literally put their
money where their mouth was.
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00:04:08,289 --> 00:04:11,789
- When I wrote the script, we
had the two different, uh,
versions.
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00:04:11,793 --> 00:04:16,763
It was two pages at the end
where either Robin bites the
dust or he's still alive.
85
00:04:16,756 --> 00:04:20,886
- JENETTE: We had both
of the story-lines completely
ready to go to the printer.
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00:04:20,885 --> 00:04:22,345
- IVAN: You don't like
this character, phone lines are
open.
87
00:04:22,345 --> 00:04:24,305
[phones ringing]
88
00:04:24,305 --> 00:04:25,005
- OPERATOR:
Thank you.
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00:04:27,058 --> 00:04:29,098
- MICHAEL: Some people I know
voted repeatedly to kill
him.
90
00:04:30,979 --> 00:04:32,559
I voted once, and I voted
to keep the guy alive.
91
00:04:34,774 --> 00:04:36,444
- JIM: I was
banking on the fact
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00:04:36,442 --> 00:04:39,362
that my readership was so
ghoulish that they were gonna o
him in.
93
00:04:39,362 --> 00:04:42,952
I was quite surprised the vote
was actually as close as it was.
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00:04:42,949 --> 00:04:44,989
- PERSON: Over 10,000
votes were cast
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00:04:44,993 --> 00:04:47,083
and it as just neck and neck
up until the last half hour.
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00:04:49,122 --> 00:04:52,502
- MICHAEL: Back then we had
no idea. "Was Robin going
to live?"
97
00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:54,420
"Was Robin going to die? "
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00:04:54,419 --> 00:04:57,509
"You know, tune in next issue."
That's the only way you're gonna
find out.
99
00:04:57,505 --> 00:05:00,085
- REED: It was a
72-phone-call margin that pushd
him over the edge.
100
00:05:00,091 --> 00:05:02,721
And Robin got the chop.
101
00:05:02,719 --> 00:05:04,969
[heavy metal music playing]
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00:05:04,971 --> 00:05:07,391
- USLAN: The old
Roman thumbs down.
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00:05:07,390 --> 00:05:11,100
They went with the
extermination of Robin at the
hands of the Joker.
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00:05:11,102 --> 00:05:13,482
- REED: The way they killed
him off was disturbing
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00:05:13,479 --> 00:05:15,229
considering he
was a teenage boy.
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00:05:16,524 --> 00:05:18,534
- JIM: It was a
really gruesome scene
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00:05:18,526 --> 00:05:20,776
with multiple shots of the
Joker bringing the crowbar
down.
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00:05:23,364 --> 00:05:25,204
Then blows up the
warehouse that he's in.
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00:05:28,745 --> 00:05:31,905
- Any time you get that level
of investment from the fans
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shows you're doing
something right.
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00:05:33,958 --> 00:05:36,998
- DE CARLO: DC was hoping it
was gonna be a big mainstream
story
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00:05:37,003 --> 00:05:38,173
that would attract
attention. And guess what?
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00:05:39,464 --> 00:05:40,634
They got their
mainstream story.
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00:05:44,052 --> 00:05:46,102
- I was opening up
the paper one day,
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00:05:46,095 --> 00:05:49,095
and there's a full page spread
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of Batman holding
the dead Jason Todd Robin
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in the New York Daily News
with a three or four million
subscriber audience.
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00:05:58,441 --> 00:06:00,741
And ultimately, they got the
coverage that they wanted.
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00:06:00,735 --> 00:06:03,735
So it worked really,
really, really well.
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00:06:03,738 --> 00:06:04,818
- Proof that it
was not a hoax ...
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00:06:06,741 --> 00:06:10,081
we have original
un-run, alternate pages.
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00:06:10,078 --> 00:06:12,038
And I think it's the happiest
Batman you've ever seen.
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00:06:16,709 --> 00:06:18,539
- NARRATOR: Fans were
becoming increasingly
passionate
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00:06:18,544 --> 00:06:20,134
about their
favorite characters,
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00:06:20,129 --> 00:06:23,339
so both Marvel and DC needed
to continue to push the
envelope
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00:06:23,341 --> 00:06:24,971
to keep those
fans engaged.
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00:06:24,967 --> 00:06:28,927
- The most unusual thing I've
signed in regards to this
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00:06:28,930 --> 00:06:33,100
was a guy who snuck in a crowbar
into the convention.
129
00:06:33,101 --> 00:06:37,151
Got it past security somehow and
came over and asked me to sign
the crowbar.
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00:06:37,146 --> 00:06:40,016
A little bit macabre,
but also very humorous.
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00:06:40,024 --> 00:06:42,574
So I... I did get a
picture of it. [chuckles]
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00:06:42,568 --> 00:06:44,318
- NARRATOR: As for the
untimely death of the Boy
Wonder...
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00:06:45,363 --> 00:06:47,623
the plan worked.
134
00:06:47,615 --> 00:06:49,825
It attracted media attention
and became a bestseller for the
company.
135
00:06:49,826 --> 00:06:51,656
[shouting]
136
00:06:51,661 --> 00:06:54,541
One thing that became clear
to everyone was that death
sells,
137
00:06:54,539 --> 00:06:57,209
so that meant life for DC
characters was about to get a
whole lot bloodier.
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00:06:57,208 --> 00:06:57,998
- Let's kill him.
11530
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