Comic book death
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- This article is about the deaths of characters in comic books. For the personification of death in comic books, see Death (comics).
Some comic book writers have killed off characters to gather publicity or to create dramatic tension. More often however, the publishing house intends to permanently kill off a long-running character but fan pressure or creative decisions push the company to resurrect the character. Still other characters remain permanently dead, but are replaced by characters who assume their personas (such as Wally West taking over for Barry Allen as The Flash) so the death does not cause a genuine break in character continuity.
Death isn't the handicap it used to be...
The two most famous comic deaths are arguably the 1980 "death" of Jean Grey in Marvel's Dark Phoenix Saga and that of Superman in DC's highly-publicized 1993 Death of Superman storyline (although of the two, only Jean's was actually intended to be a true, permanent death). Since the Dark Phoenix Saga, comic book deaths have been particularly common in X-Men-related series.
The prominence of comic book deaths has lead to a common piece of comic shop wisdom: "No one in comics stays dead, except Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben," referring to Captain America's sidekick (dead out of continuity since 1964, 1945 in continuity), Batman's second Robin (dead since 1989 and killed-off as a result of a fan poll) and Spider-Man's uncle (dead since 1962), respectively. Ironically, both Todd and Bucky returned from the dead in 2005. Note that sometimes a character can be dead in the mainstream continuity, but alive in an alternate reality, such as the aged Bucky in the Ultimate Marvel universe, or Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy's return in the House of M storyline.
Comic book deaths have been parodied by Peter Milligan in X-Statix, in which all the characters had died by the end of the series, and by Dan Slott in his 2005 miniseries Great Lakes Avengers, in which some characters have lasted only a single issue.
The Simpsons also parodied comic book deaths in the episode "Radioactive Man" in which Bart mentions an issue of Radioactive Man in which the eponymous character and his sidekick Fallout Boy die on every page.
Resurrection as a Metaphor
While many comic "rebirths" occur with little fanfare or convoluted retconning, some writers have taken the opportunity to explore deeper themes when bringing back a character (and indeed, in some cases, the character was only killed in the first place to create the proper circumstances to tell those stories). Many of these stories become almost mythological or epic in nature, mimicking as they do the sorts of tales which have been told by humans since the beginnings of civilization.
As a concept, resurrection is an archetypal metaphor which appears in many places throughout human history, both in religion, literature, and mythology. Many cultures have their own views on and stories about resurrection, and many of these variations have been referenced (or outright adapted) in comics. These include, but are not limited to:
- Jesus Christ - the story of Christ's Crucifixion is perhaps the most well-known resurrection in Western culture, and is rife with elements of personal sacrifice and redemption. The Death of Superman storyline consciously references this, as Superman willingly gives up his life in battle with Doomsday, the discovery of the empty tomb, and his eventual return.
- In Egyptian mythology, the Phoenix was a bird which immolated itself, and, in the process, gave birth to new life - symbolic of the cycle of life, and how life and death are but two halves of the same whole. In the same way, Jean Grey's "death", followed immediately by her rising up once more wreathed in flame, was a deliberate allegory of the phoenix myths (and thus, resulted in her new name).
- In Sumerian mythology, Inanna descended into the underworld, was trapped, and had to choose someone (Dumuzid) to take her place before she could return to the world above. In similar fashion, the conclusion of the Contest of Champions limited series, showed the Grandmaster willingly allowing Death to take him, so that the Collector could be restored to life.
- Similar to the tale of Inanna and Dumuzid, the Greek story of Orpheus is a "near resurrection" story which revolves around the quest of the musician Orpheus to descend into Hades to rescue the soul of his dead wife, Eurydice. This story was referenced in I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League, in which Guy Gardner and Fire attempted to rescue the soul of Ice from Hell. In this story, Fire plays the role of Orpheus, looking back before they had actually escaped, and thus, preventing Ice from actually returning.
Characters who have experienced a comic book death
DC Comics
| Character | Died in | Returned in |
|---|---|---|
| Iris West Allen | Flash #275 (1979) | Flash #350 (1985) |
| Black Mask | Catwoman (2nd series) #16 (April 2003) | Robin #130 (November 2004), part of the War Games Batman crossover |
| Captain Atom | Superman/Batman #6 (January 2004) | Superman/Batman #20 (June 2005) |
| The Creeper | Eclipso #13 (1993) | The Creeper #1 (1997) |
| Doomsday | Superman #75 (1993) | Superman/Doomsday (1994) |
| Eradicator | Action Comics #687 (June 1993) | Action Comics #693 (November 1993) |
| Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) | Identity Crisis #5 (December 2004) | Firestorm (3rd series) #9 (March 2005) |
| Firestorm (Jason Rusch) | Infinite Crisis #4 (March 2006) | Firestorm (3rd series) #22 (April 2006)
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