I like to imagine in every comic book universe there exists a very incompetent Grim Reaper who sleeps on his recliner while deceased heroes and villains sneak out of the afterlife. Or maybe he's just gullible, "What's that, Superman? Forgot your keys in your body? Sure, go grab em'! I'll just wait here" only for Superman to never return for skull-shaped cookies. Yes loyal readers, today I'll be talking about death in comic books. Buckle up.
To ask how many comic book characters haven't died is a much harder question than asking how many characters have died. Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wolverine, heck Professor X has died like 12 times! So what's the big deal, right? Usually important characters dying means the rest of the story goes through interesting changes: Dick Grayson becomes Batman after Bruce "dies", after Superman "died" three other men tried to replace him, Spider-Man joined The Fantastic Four/Future Foundation after The Human Torch "died". But here is the problem: nobody dies forever. The first time a big revival happened was when Superman died at the hands of Doomsday, an event that threw the American public for a loop. The issue featuring Superman's death flew off the shelves because people believed such an important issue would be worth something someday. These people were sourly disappointed after it was revealed that Superman was actually in a "healing coma". When Superman returned rocking a new black suit and a 90's appropriate mullet those "Death of Superman" comics went under in value, but remained important to the character's history.
Some revivals of characters seem downright ridiculous, like the case of Jason Todd, the second Robin. In the most recent interpretation of Jason's return he was simply revived via a Lazarus Pit, the pool of magic water that keeps Batman's archenemy Ra's al Ghul from dying. But in his original revival, Jason Todd came back to life when an alternate version of Superman punched a hole in the fabric of reality, resulting in several events in DC's history to change. Seems a bit much, right? And these kind of stunts haven't stopped, with the most recent eye-grabber being the death of Wolverine. The lead up to Logan's death went on for a few months before he finally suffocated in an Adamantium coating. His death shook the Marvel Universe and resulted in Spider-Man becoming a teacher to the current class of X-Men and some of Wolverine's allies and foes forming a team called The Wolverines. All of this-mind you-happening shortly after The X-Men went to Heaven and rescued Nightcrawler who had been dead for several years. Wasted tears, X-Men, wasted tears.
The problem comic book stories have created is that death has become predictable. If a superhero dies, they'll likely come back to life later. If a supporting character dies, they'll most likely stay dead and their death will further mold the hero. If a super-villain dies, well it's a matter of popularity. It's bad enough most people have trouble relating to Superman because of his powers, but when you figure a character who's almost impossible to kill can still come back to life, it makes a one-on-one with Brainiac a bit less suspenseful. Unless their next universal reboots cut revivals out, I can only assume both DC Comics and Marvel Comics will continue to kill and revive characters simply for the profit and attention. Best case scenario, we get another "Blackest Night". Thanks for reading!
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Some revivals of characters seem downright ridiculous, like the case of Jason Todd, the second Robin. In the most recent interpretation of Jason's return he was simply revived via a Lazarus Pit, the pool of magic water that keeps Batman's archenemy Ra's al Ghul from dying. But in his original revival, Jason Todd came back to life when an alternate version of Superman punched a hole in the fabric of reality, resulting in several events in DC's history to change. Seems a bit much, right? And these kind of stunts haven't stopped, with the most recent eye-grabber being the death of Wolverine. The lead up to Logan's death went on for a few months before he finally suffocated in an Adamantium coating. His death shook the Marvel Universe and resulted in Spider-Man becoming a teacher to the current class of X-Men and some of Wolverine's allies and foes forming a team called The Wolverines. All of this-mind you-happening shortly after The X-Men went to Heaven and rescued Nightcrawler who had been dead for several years. Wasted tears, X-Men, wasted tears.
The problem comic book stories have created is that death has become predictable. If a superhero dies, they'll likely come back to life later. If a supporting character dies, they'll most likely stay dead and their death will further mold the hero. If a super-villain dies, well it's a matter of popularity. It's bad enough most people have trouble relating to Superman because of his powers, but when you figure a character who's almost impossible to kill can still come back to life, it makes a one-on-one with Brainiac a bit less suspenseful. Unless their next universal reboots cut revivals out, I can only assume both DC Comics and Marvel Comics will continue to kill and revive characters simply for the profit and attention. Best case scenario, we get another "Blackest Night". Thanks for reading!
Facebook: The Panel Biter
Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
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