Cover: George Pérez

Batman #440

Oct 1989 · DC · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.50 GBP

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“A Lonely Place of Dying, Chapter One: Suspects”

★ 1st appearance — Ravager

About this Issue

Batman #440 opens 'A Lonely Place of Dying,' the five-part 1989 crossover that gave the DC Universe its third Robin by introducing Tim Drake as a teenager actively stalking Batman and Nightwing from the shadows — a pivotal narrative response to the fan-vote death of Jason Todd in 'A Death in the Family.' The issue establishes the arc's central dramatic question: can a self-destructively grief-driven Batman, increasingly reckless in the field, be pulled back from the edge, and does the answer require a new Robin? Crucially, this chapter seeds Tim Drake's key defining trait — that he alone, through pure deductive reasoning, pieced together the secret identities of both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson — distinguishing him from every Robin who came before and reframing Robin not as a ward taken in by tragedy but as a partner earned through intellect. The storyline's title was later honored by DC itself in the 2017 'A Lonely Place of Living' arc in Detective Comics, confirming its lasting creative weight.

writer George Pérez · writer Marv Wolfman · artist Jim Aparo · inker Mike DeCarlo · colorist Adrienne Roy · letterer John Costanza · cover George Pérez

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VF) $6

CGC 9.8 · 84 in census $61

CGC 9.6 · 52 in census $37

CGC 9.4 · 29 in census $21*

CGC 9.2 · 14 in census $21

CGC 9.0 · 12 in census $20

CGC 8.5 · 3 in census $20*

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CGC 8.0 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20

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NM- $1.6 FINE $2.49 NM- $2.95 MINT $2.99 VF · Newsstand $2.99 VF · Newsstand $3.99 VF/NM $3.99 NM- · Direct $3.99

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History

The arc was conceived by writer Marv Wolfman and co-plotter George Pérez — the same team behind New Teen Titans — as a direct editorial answer to the vacuum left by Jason Todd's controversial 1988 death, with editor Denny O'Neil and associate editor Dan Raspler overseeing the Batman side. Wolfman deliberately designed Tim Drake to stand apart from both of his predecessors: where Grayson and Todd were defined by physical skill and tragedy, Wolfman built Tim around high intellect and an intact family, intentionally making him harder for Batman to refuse on purely emotional grounds. The character's first name was changed late in development from 'Jeff' to 'Tim' as a nod to Tim Burton, director of the then-current 1989 Batman film — a change made so close to press that one panel in the very next issue, Batman #441, accidentally still called him 'Jeff,' an error DC acknowledged and corrected in reprints. Batman #440's cover was penciled by George Pérez, while the interior art was handled by veteran Bat-artist Jim Aparo with inks by Mike DeCarlo and colors by Adrienne Roy.

Trivia · 8 facts

Titled 'A Lonely Place of Dying, Chapter One: Suspects,' written by Marv Wolfman (co-plotter/writer) and George Pérez (co-plotter), with interior pencils by Jim Aparo, inks by Mike DeCarlo, colors by Adrienne Roy, and letters by John Costanza; edited by Denny O'Neil with associate editor Dan Raspler.
Cover-dated October 1989; published on-sale August 31, 1989.
This is Chapter One of a five-part crossover split between Batman #440–442 and The New Titans #60–61; the story continues directly in The New Titans #60.
Tim Drake appears as an unnamed cameo — an unseen photographer surveilling both Batman and Dick Grayson — establishing that he already knows the secret identities of both heroes before he has even introduced himself.
The issue makes clear that Batman has become dangerously reckless and self-destructive in the aftermath of Jason Todd's death (recounted in 'A Death in the Family'), a psychological deterioration that Alfred Pennyworth explicitly calls out in this chapter.
Two-Face (Harvey Dent) is confirmed as the arc's primary villain after Batman decodes a pattern of crimes themed around the number two, including a villain named Ravager, a warehouse called Zwei Brothers ('Zwei' being German for 'two'), and a 2 AM robbery.
The issue's 'Bat-Signals' letters page famously contained a reader letter by Christopher Scott that spoiled the entire arc's ending — Tim Drake becoming the new Robin — before subsequent chapters had even been published; letter editor KC Carlson publicly acknowledged the error in Batman #442.
The story has been reprinted multiple times, including in the standalone Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying trade paperback (1990), the DC Comics Classics Library: Batman — A Death in the Family hardcover (2009), and the Batman: A Death in the Family Deluxe Edition (2021).