DC were never ones to shy away from hot button topics, using the Green Arrow/Green Lantern title in the seventies to tackle contemporary issues like racism and drug addiction. So, naturally, during the AIDs epidemic of the eighties, Jim Starlin suggested that the company kept up its reputation for dealing with real-world problems by giving one of its characters the deadly virus. In an office memo the editor asked for suggestions of who could be the one to contract HIV and eventually pass away due to complications caused by it. One suggestion was that Jason Todd, who had recently replaced Dick Grayson as Robin in Batman, would be the most deserving candidate. Fan reaction to Todd's introduction had been mixed to say the least, and he did eventually get killed off in the landmark Death in the Family story (only to come back as the Red Hood years later). Jimmy Olsen, meanwhile, had only just made his way back into continuity following the Man of Steel relaunch, but ended up being selected as the character who would die from AIDs. If it's true, it doesn't sound like the most sensitive way of handling such a tragic disease. In fact it is all true, as Starlin has confirmed both the Jason Todd and Jimmy Olsen stories; Todd was never seriously considered, and the only reason Olsen was dropped as a candidate was because Marc McClure - who played the character in the Christopher Reeve Superman films - was reportedly gay, and the story would've hit a little close to home. Yeesh.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
