featured Batman carrying a severely wounded Jason. Readers were warned that Jason could die of his injuries, but that they could "prevent it with a telephone call". Two 900 numbers were given: one (1-(900) 720–2660) which would let Robin live, and another (1-(900) 720–2666) which would cause him to die. The numbers were activated for 35 hours in the United States and Canada from 9:00a.m. Eastern Standard Time on September 15, 1988. Starlin and the artists prepared two versions of Batman #428, depending on the outcome. As O'Neil stated, "It really could have gone either way. We prepared two choices of balloons. We had alternate panels. We had everything set up so that the two outcomes could be accomplished with a minimum of changes. We prepared for either situation." Raspler explained that Aparo prepared three alternate pages and several panels with static images that could be easily rearranged. O'Neil voted to let Jason live, as he felt killing the character would complicate his job as an editor, and Starlin was unable to vote because he was in Mexico at the time. O'Neil and Raspler checked the results every 90 minutes. DC executive editor and vice president Dick Giordano expected readers to vote in favor of Jason's survival; O'Neil believed they would vote for his death to see if DC would follow through. The poll received 10,614 votes and 5,343 voted for Jason's death over 5,271 for his survival—a margin of just 72 votes. Although Kahn dispelled rumors that the process was rigged in favor of Jason's demise, O'Neil said it was possible many votes favoring Jason's death came from a single person. He recalled hearing that "a lawyer programmed his Macintosh to dial the killing number every few minutes", but had no evidence. O'Neil canceled a party he planned to throw once the verdict was in and decided to keep the result secret until Batman #428 was shipped. O'Neil did not tell his wife, Starlin, or Aparo. Starlin had expected Jason to die but was surprised by how close the vote was. Production director Bob Rozakis supervised Roy as she finished coloring, and then had Steve Bove take the "real" Batman #428 to finish it in the secrecy of his basement. Publication "A Death in the Family" was published when Batman was surging in popularity. Following the success of The Dark Knight Returns and the "Year One" (1987) storyline, monthly