terrorists. The terrorists are portrayed as anti-American, anti-Israel fanatics who seek to violently take over the Western world. They are referred to as "bandits-in-bedsheets" and depicted as unshaved and always holding weapons, while Jamal, the terrorist leader, is overweight and perpetually sneering. In a 1991 study of Arab terrorist depictions in comic books, Jack Shaheen wrote that "A Death in the Family" conflates Arabs, Muslims and terrorists, and equates them to the Joker, an insane supervillain. Jehanzeb Dar and Shaheen cited the Joker's speech to the General Assembly as a particularly egregious example of Islamophobia in "A Death in the Family". Before he attempts to poison the chamber, the Joker gloats: Dar described the Joker's speech as blatant Islamophobia disguised as humor. Shaheen and Dar argued "A Death in the Family" promotes the idea of "Them vs. Us", pitting the Arab and Western worlds against each other as diametrically opposed in values. The story contains errors in its depiction of the Middle East. Starlin writes Batman as speaking Farsi, the Persian language, in Beirut (where Arabic is actually the commonly spoken language), and the Joker dons a traditional Arab headdress and robes as the Iranian ambassador, although Iran is not an Arab country. Dar concluded that and [DC]'s disregard for cultural, religious, and political accuracy simply points to a crude and racist generalization: Arabs, Iranians, and Muslims are all the 'same' and 'hate' the West." Legacy "A Death in the Family" was part of the American comic book industry's trend towards "grim and gritty" comics in the late 1980s, and is remembered as one of DC's most controversial storylines. Chris Snellgrove of Looper described the scenes depicting Jason's torture and death—with the Joker covered in his blood— as "one of the most disturbing moments in the publisher's long history". DC editors took the lessons they learned from the controversy and used media coverage for publicity when killing off major characters in the future, such as Superman in "The Death of Superman" (1992–1993). Although "A Death in the Family" sold well, it harmed Starlin's standing at DC. DC's licensing department was infuriated over the death because of the amount of merchandise—such as lunchboxes and pajamas—that bore Robin's likeness. According to Starlin, "everybody got mad, and they needed somebody to blame—so I got blamed." Work quickly declined for him, and within six months he departed DC and returned to Marvel Comics, where