Batman#357

Batman #357

Mar 1983 · DC

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★ 1st appearance — Jason Todd

About this Issue

Batman #357 is one of the most consequential single issues of DC's Bronze Age, simultaneously introducing two characters who would reshape the Batman mythos for decades: Jason Todd, the second Robin, and Waylon Jones, better known as Killer Croc. Jason Todd's introduction was editorially motivated by a genuine publishing problem — Dick Grayson had been absorbed into the New Teen Titans universe by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, leaving Batman without his traditional partner for the first time since 1940, and Conway's solution was to quietly seed a successor. The understated, almost incidental nature of both debuts — each character appears only in cameo — gives the issue a peculiarly potent retrospective weight, since Jason would go on to die at the Joker's hands in the landmark 1988 reader-vote storyline 'A Death in the Family,' and Killer Croc would become one of the more distinctive entries in Batman's rogues gallery. Few Bronze Age issues deliver two first appearances of such long-term narrative consequence inside a story that, on its surface, is simply about a gangster called the Squid.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $43

CGC 9.8 $743

CGC 9.6 $277

CGC 9.4 $191

CGC 9.2 $174

CGC 9.0 $167

CGC 8.5 $152

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 $138

CGC 7.5 $109

CGC 7.0 $96

CGC 6.5 $62

CGC 6.0 $62

CGC 5.5 $52*

CGC 5.0 $50*

CGC 4.5 $43*

CGC 4.0 $40*

CGC 3.5 $32*

CGC 3.0 $29*

CGC 2.5 $22*

CGC 2.0 $20*

CGC 1.5 $20*

CGC 1.0 $20*

CGC 0.5 $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

Writer Gerry Conway had been simultaneously scripting both Batman and Detective Comics since issue #337 (July 1981), treating the two titles as a single twice-monthly narrative — an approach that brought a Marvel-influenced continuity discipline to the Bat-books that was still relatively novel at DC. Batman #357 was produced near the very end of Conway's tenure on the title; he departed with issue #359, making this issue part of his final story arc. The editorial challenge of replacing Dick Grayson without simply ignoring the vacancy led Conway to model Jason Todd's pre-Crisis origin deliberately close to Dick's own — circus-acrobat parents killed by a criminal extortion racket — a decision that would later draw criticism as a missed opportunity for differentiation, and which writer Max Allan Collins ultimately addressed by giving Jason an entirely new street-orphan backstory in Batman #408 (1987). The cover was penciled by Ed Hannigan and inked by Dick Giordano, while the interior story featured pencils by Don Newton, inks by Alfredo Alcala, colors by Adrienne Roy, and letters by Ben Oda, with Len Wein and Nicola Cuti serving as editors.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Jason Todd (cameo): Dick Grayson visits a New Jersey circus and encounters the Todd family — Joseph, Trina, and young Jason — performing as trapeze artists; Jason does not speak or receive a formal introduction by name in this issue.
First appearance of Killer Croc (cameo, shown in shadows): Waylon Jones appears only as a silhouetted figure known as 'Croc' running a protection racket against the circus owner; his reptilian features are not revealed until Detective Comics #524.
The story — titled 'Squid' — was written by Gerry Conway with interior pencils by Don Newton and inks by Alfredo Alcala; the cover was drawn by Ed Hannigan (pencils) and Dick Giordano (inks).
Editors on the issue were Len Wein and Nicola Cuti; the issue carried a cover date of March 1983 but was distributed on November 23, 1982.
Jason Todd's pre-Crisis origin deliberately mirrored Dick Grayson's: his circus-acrobat parents are killed by Killer Croc's criminal protection racket, after which Bruce Wayne takes him in. This origin was completely retconned by Max Allan Collins in Batman #408 (1987), replacing the circus backstory with a street-orphan origin.
The issue was part of Conway's final story arc on the Batman title; he left the book with issue #359, and Doug Moench succeeded him beginning with #360.
The letters column includes a submission from Kevin Dooley, who would later become an editor at DC Comics.
The issue has been reprinted in Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway Vol. 3 (2019) and received a full facsimile reprint edition from DC in May 2023, complete with original period advertisements.