The story is based on the 1988 Batman Comics storyline 'A Death in the Family', where readers voted via a 1-900 number to either save or kill off the second Robin, Jason Todd. Over 10,000 votes were cast and with only a 72 vote majority, the decision was made to kill him. Todd was later brought back in 2005 as part of the 2005 "Under the Hood" storyline.