Cover: Ed Hannigan & Bruce Patterson

Batman #409

Jul 1987 · DC · 0.75 USD; 1.00 CAD; 0.40 GBP

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“Just Another Kid on Crime Alley!”

★ 1st appearance — Willis Todd

About this Issue

Batman #409 is the pivotal second chapter of Max Allan Collins's post-Crisis retelling of Jason Todd's origin — the issue in which Batman, having seen the street kid's resourcefulness in action, makes the fateful decision to take Jason on as the new Robin. By replacing the pre-Crisis circus-acrobat backstory with a harder-edged portrait of a Gotham orphan who survived by his wits, Collins and editor Denny O'Neil gave the Robin mantle a grittier, more morally ambiguous dimension that set the template for every subsequent version of the character. That this Jason Todd would later be killed off by reader telephone vote in 'A Death in the Family' and eventually resurrected as the Red Hood makes #409 — the moment Batman says yes to him — the narrative hinge on which one of DC's most consequential long-form character arcs turns. The issue also marks the first full appearance of Ma Gunn (Faye Gunn) as a villain in post-Crisis continuity, rounding out the cast of a two-part story that permanently shaped what Robin could mean.

writer Max Allan Collins · artist Ross Andru · inker Dick Giordano · colorist Adrienne Roy · letterer John Costanza · cover Ed Hannigan, Bruce Patterson

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VF) $5

CGC 9.8 · 84 in census $90

CGC 9.6 · 42 in census $41*

CGC 9.4 · 23 in census $35

CGC 9.2 · 17 in census $27

CGC 9.0 · 10 in census $24

CGC 8.5 · 1 in census $23*

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CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $21*

CGC 7.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 · 2 in census $20

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $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

More listings for this title

FN · Newsstand $2.95 3rd print $3 VF/NM $4.98 VF $4.99 NM $5 NM $5 NM $5.19 FN $5.72

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History

In the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths, editor Dennis O'Neil — who had taken over the Batman group in 1986 — recruited crime-fiction writer Max Allan Collins to rework Jason Todd from the ground up, specifically to distinguish him from the original Robin and address persistent fan dissatisfaction with a character who had been, until that point, little more than a Dick Grayson duplicate. Collins, approached by O'Neil at San Diego Comic-Con largely on the strength of his gritty indie work on 'Ms. Tree,' scripted the four-issue origin arc beginning with #408; #409, the concluding chapter of the two-part 'Crime Alley' story, was pencilled by veteran Ross Andru and inked by executive editor Dick Giordano, with Adrienne Roy on colors. Collins later recalled that communication with O'Neil was minimal throughout his tenure — a creative disconnect that produced both editorial friction and, eventually, the 1989 Toys 'R' Us multipack reprints of his issues that reached a much wider audience than the original printings.

Trivia · 8 facts

Part 2 of 2 of the story 'Just Another Kid on Crime Alley!' — continued directly from Batman #408 — which together constitute the post-Crisis retelling of Jason Todd's origin.
Batman decides to take Jason Todd on as the new Robin at the end of this issue, making it the narrative turning point that establishes the post-Crisis Robin identity for Jason, even though he does not yet wear the costume.
First full appearance of Ma Gunn (Faye Gunn) as an active villain in post-Crisis continuity: her school for boys is revealed to be a front for training juvenile criminals, and she is apprehended by Batman with Jason's help.
Willis Todd's backstory is established here: Jason's father is said to have been killed by Two-Face after a botched criminal assignment, making Two-Face (who appears only in a photograph) a key part of Jason's origin.
Credited creative team: script by Max Allan Collins, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Dick Giordano, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Costanza, edited by Dennis O'Neil; cover pencils by Ed Hannigan, cover inks by Bruce Patterson.
Cover-dated July 1987, published March 17, 1987; exists in direct, newsstand, Canadian price variant, and 2nd and 3rd printing (multipack reprint) editions — the reprints resulted from a Toys 'R' Us arrangement that saw most Batman issues #397–432 repackaged in 1989.
The story arc (Batman #408–411) was collected in the 2015 DC trade paperback Batman: Second Chances (ISBN 978-1-4012-5518-3), which gathers Batman #402, 403, 408–416, and Batman Annual #11.
The issue has also been reprinted in DC Finest: Batman: Year One & Two (DC, 2024).