Batman 1940 #427 Direct ed. - back issue

Jason meets his real mother, Sheila Haywood, but she turns out to be working for the Joker and allows her son to fall into his deadly hands inside a warehouse. Joker beats Robin with a crowbar and leaves him for dead as a badly beaten Robin attempts to save his mom and himself from the dynamite left behind by the Joker as he leaves them both to a horrible fate. Batman watches in horror as the warehouse containing Jason and Sheila blows up, too late to stop the Joker.

The direct sales edition has no UPC on the cover, but has the 1-800 number to either vote "for" or "against" the death of Jason Todd on the inside back cover.

• A Death in the Family, Book Two of Four - Color credits confirmed by Anthony Tollin.
• Robin Will Die Because the Joker Wants Revenge, but You Can Prevent It with a Telephone Call. - Inside back cover. This ad, only printed in the direct sales edition, contains the phone numbers for readers to call and vote "The Joker fails and Robin lives" or "The Joker succeeds and Robin will not survive."