Comic Title: Batman #427
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: 1988
On Sale Date: September 6, 1988 Shipping Date September 6, 1988
Source: Direct Currents, #8

Shipping Date September 8, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #147

Newsstand Date October 1, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #147

Copyright Date September 6, 1988
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1988

Cover Price: $1.50
Page Count: 48
Editor: Dennis J. O'Neil

Title: "A Death in the Family"
Pages: 44

Feature(s):
Batman (Post-Crisis)

Writer: Jim Starlin
Penciller: Jim Aparo
Inker: Mike DeCarlo
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Adrienne Roy

Reprinted In:
Batman:A Death in the Family TPB (1989)
Batman:A Death in the Family TPB (1989)
Batman:A Death in the Family HC (2009)
Joker:A Celebration of 75 Years HC (2014)
Robin, the Boy Wonder:A Celebration of 75 Years HC (2015)
Batman:A Death in the Family:The Deluxe Edition HC (2021)

Feature Character(s)

• Batman (last appearance in Batman #426; next appearance in Batman #428)

Supporting Character(s)

• Robin (last appearance in Batman #426; next appearance in Batman #428)

Villain(s)

• Joker (last appearance in Batman #426; next appearance in Batman #428)
• Lady Shiva (last appearance in Question Annual #1; next appearance in Question #28)
• A group of terrorists (no further appearances)
• The Joker's henchmen (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Sheila Haywood (first appearance; a famine relief worker; next appearance in Batman #428)
• A group of relief workers (no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Alfred Pennyworth (in flashback)
• Mrs. Walker (in flashback)
• Sharmin Rosen (in flashback)

Comments:
Book Two of Four

This story is told in two separate chapters which were originally intended to appear in separate issues. Instead, they were combined into a single double-length issue.

Chapter 3 (pgs 1-22)
Chapter 4 (pgs 23-44)

The inside back cover of this issue contains two phone numbers. Readers are invited to call in to decide Robin's fate. Calling one number would result in a vote for Robin's death. Calling the other would be a vote for Robin to live. Each number was only active during select hours on September 15th and September 16th, 1988. Voters were charged 50¢ per call.

The phone numbers were only printed in the direct sales edition. Newsstand editions during this era were released three weeks after their direct sales counterparts. Therefore, the voting was closed before the newsstand editions were released.

This story is continued from Batman #426 and continues in Batman #428.

Synopsis:
After learning that Catherine Todd was not his biological mother, Jason Todd is anxious to find the woman who gave birth to him. One candidate is Shiva Woosan, a mercenary who has tangled with Batman before. Batman and Robin track her to Beruit where she is training a group of terrorists. Shiva gets the long awaited fight she has wanted with Batman. She loses. Then, under the influence of truth serum, she reveals that she has never had a child.

The final woman on Jason's list is Sheila Haywood, a relief worker in Ethiopia. Bruce tracks her down and introduces her to Jason. She is his biological mother. Sheila explains, that her medical career in Gotham was ruined shortly after Jason's birth. She went to England. During that time Willis Todd met and married Catherine.

Jason is overjoyed to meet his birth mother. However, he soon learns that the Joker is blackmailing her. Jason follows them to a warehouse, where the Joker is stealing medical supplies for sale on the black market. While Batman stops a truck of deadly chemicals from being delivered, Robin tries to save his mother.

Jason reveals his secret identity to Sheila, who then betrays him to the Joker. Using a crowbar, the Joker beats Robin until he is almost dead. He then locks Jason and his mother in the warehouse with a bomb. It explodes just before Batman can arrive.