for the title was "Ten Nights of The Beast" in issues #417-420 (March–June 1988) which introduced the KGBeast. During Starlin's tenure on the title, DC Comics was becoming aware of the fanbase's growing disdain for the character of Jason Todd, Following a cliffhanger in which the character's life hangs in the balance, DC set up a 900 number hotline which gave callers the ability to vote for or against Jason Todd's death. The kill option won by a narrow majority, and the following month the character was shown dying from wounds inflicted in the previous issue's cliffhanger. The story, entitled "A Death in the Family", received high media exposure due to the shocking nature in which a familiar character's life had ended. Cover artist Mike Mignola would illustrate the Elseworlds story Gotham by Gaslight the following year. Marv Wolfman returned as writer on Batman with issue #436 (Early August 1989), beginning with the story arc "Batman: Year Three" (pencilled by Pat Broderick, inked by John Beatty) which incorporated flashbacks to a retelling of Dick Grayson's origin story. The flashbacks in issue #436 also featured an early appearance by Tim Drake, who would ultimately become the third Robin. Tim Drake would be properly introduced in the next story arc, "A Lonely Place of Dying", a crossover with The New Titans co-plotted by George Pérez which acted as a sequel to "A Death in the Family". The character first donned the Robin costume in issue #442 (December 1989, pencilled by Jim Aparo and inked by Mike DeCarlo); however, the remainder of Wolfman's run featured Tim Drake only in subplots showing his training in criminal investigation, such as in "Crimesmith" and "The Penguin Affair". The release of the 1989 film Batman, directed by Tim Burton, was accompanied by significant increase in sales of the ongoing Batman comic titles, leading 1989 to be dubbed "The Year of the Bat". Capital and Diamond City Distributors reported that Batman surpassed sales of the previously top-selling comic Uncanny X-Men. Upon its launch in September of that year, the third ongoing Batman title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight – a series focusing on darker stories set early in Batman's crimefighting career – surpassed Batman in turn to become the top-selling comic of the year; Batman #442 ultimately came in third place. Batman and Legends of the Dark Knight continued dominating comic sales charts into the first half