Off My Mind: Should Comic Characters Be Sad Over Deaths?

" @cbishop said:

" @wallymonster: To be fair: DC said from the start that Superman was coming back a few months after they killed him.   " 

I remember early on they said that sales were low on the titles and decided to kill him off. They tried giving the impression that it was final. But then, obviously we had Reign of the Superman right after. "

@batmanboy11:
Barry Allen cough. Jason Todd forever

I don't know, I think it's probably not as epic as something like death in Watchmen.  But the actual people in the comic are probably not looking at it like the people are coming back.  Kind of like in soap operas.  I agree deaths have become cheap, but what is crazier is that it doesn't happen that often that people die for good.  After all with everyone throwing bullets, magic, etc... All over the place you would think that someone would die for reelz just about every issue.

One of the things I loved about Final Crisis was Superman's speech at Martian Manhunter's funeral when he said they would pray for a resurrection. Deaths and rebirths are as much a part of comics as costumes and speech bubbles but the only time it bothers me is if it isn't handled well. A great character death and fallout was Captain America right after Civil War. Everyone knew Cap wouldn't be dead forever but he was playing such a major role in the universe it made sense that the Avengers and the supporting characters from his own series took it so hard. As long as there is some great story telling around it I don't mind character deaths that much. I think what I hate the most is when some random supporting character or C-list villain dies but they try to make it seem like they played a bigger role than they did. Most of the time these are the characters that are remembered mostly for their deaths cough*616 Gwen Stacy*cough

Heroes do sometimes come back, but it is still sad when they die.  
 
I'm still upset about Nightcrawler

It's only sad if it's symbolic. When Captain America died a few years ago, that was something to get chills over. The nation lost one of it's greatest sons and a huge hole was made in the heart of the Marvel superheroes. When someone like Wasp or Ares dies, it's not nearly as sad because, like it or not, those characters weren't that important. Besides, Ares is a freakin' God. You KNOW he'll make a comeback.  
 
While I'm on the subject, bringing Steve Rogers back from the dead was a mistake. I know I was one of the many who were pissed about his death and Bucky taking the mantle, but now I'm ok with that idea and I'm open to that idea. But now bringing him back (which, c'mon people, we ALL saw it coming) kinda destroys the whole Fallen Son arc and everything like that. 
 
Oh, and RIP Nightcrawler.

I genuinely dont feel anything when characters die in comics these days, it's just like "meh, they'll be back soon enough" and so when someone does die, theres no shock to it anymore :/

Wasp is still dead...
 
far as I know...

I think Bucky's return was one of the only, if not only, legit "resurrection" because as Ed Brubaker said, "No body, no death." And he retconned him into continuity in such a graceful, subtle way that I really forgive it. 
Old Man Logan had a lot of emotional resonance for me because it really felt like "This time...they really are dead." I know it was an alternate future from the actual timeline, but still...seeing all those people praying around Thor's hammer still meant something.

Remember when it used to be said that Bucky, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd would always stay dead. I wouldn't be surprised if Wasp came back (she died before in 1984's Secret Wars). I'd imagine Nightcrawler will return someday. Maybe it'd have something to do with his demon dad. The other mutant that died at the end of Second Coming...I feel there's still more of his story to tell.

It's cool if they grieve.  Just trying to relate to normal everyday real life.  People connect with that even if it is only temp., or make believe.  People like a little realism in a make believe world.

This is kinda mean but I think they should have left Captain America (Steve Rogers) dead for alot longer. I think one of the reasons we are all so desensitized to comic character death is partially how quickly they come back these days.  I mean look how long Bucky was dead, and we were all awed by his return.  If batman died and it was for more than a year we would all be in mourning. Something along the lines of "well shoot! Maybe they won't bring him back!" Whereas someone like one of the wonder twins dying would be years before we missed them.  Also everyone was up in arms about aunt may dying but let's face it if she really died and everyone was mad about it, it would be because she was shot not if she died  of old age.

All what'sbeing said before me. 
 
That and I feel it's sometimes very awful to use death so casually in comicbooks, what's the sense of sacrifice and heroism if you know that you don't isk anything, ever. 
 
And more, it's disrespectful of people wo read these book and have lost loved one. It happened to me some times ago, and frankly, I was feeling insulted, personnally. Because i treated death cheaply, and not seriously. Far worse, it seemed to me that it attempt to treat death in comics seriously and then ressurect caracter mocked the pain of real people.
  
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
In the right hands and properly handled, a comic book death can have meaning, sure. 
 
Individual issues that detail the funeral and are meant to pull at our heartstrings and pocketbooks by taking advantage of the death?  These are almost always contrived, sappy, and totally uninteresting.

I think the opposite... I think stop killing off characters in the first place that are the main staples because no matter how heartfelt their deaths are how is no one ever going to be tempted to want to bring back a classic and write new stories? That's just the price one pays for having a good character. For me I just suspend my disbelief when it comes to a comic deaths. So long as the death or the resurrection is compelling to the story then I'm okay with it. but if its dumb or too soon after they have died then I feel kind of cheated and I think the story suffers.

Personally, it gets me mad because it's a type of mistreatment. 
 
For, like, the death of Lois Lane of Earth-2 or Pa Kent, that was sad because they actually HAD something to do with the story. 
 
But other characters are killed simply for shock value, like Lian Harper, I guess, because the editors aren't wiling to spend enough time to think up in interesting story. So they rehash the old "superhero has lost everything" shpill, we spend five years with the character dead, and they come back as if nothing happened. But you bring the character back while the wound is still fresh, then their death and return will still have an impact and the consequences brought on FROM their death will still matter. 
 
I mean, Hal Jordan wiped out the Green Lantern Corps when he became Parallax, but aside from a couple of Lanterns, does anyone in the DCU honestly care? No. Wonder Girl spent half of OYL in a cult, and then thinking Supernova was Conner Kent. She had a very disastrous relationship with Tim Drake and acted like a real beyotch for a few issues. Does any of that matter after Conner came back? No. Hawk turned into Monarch and Extant before he died, what mention of THAT has anyone made at all? 
 
Some characters should never be brought back, like Jason Todd. His death had an effect on Batman and we got Tim Drake. Some should, like Lian, because what did we get from that? That Rise of Arsenal... thing. I'm still confused as to why Osiris was brought back, because if they were going to give him a heroic sendoff in Blackest Night why did they then have him help murder Ryan Choi?
 
That's the problem with most comic deaths. They don't mean anything because people instantly forget about them and what happened after when the character comes back.

Captain Marvel is still dead :(

I think it boils down to sometimes you just don't know. To them they deal with death but there are so many factors that determine who comes back, when they come back, and why they come back. Look at Darkest Night and the Skrull Invasion, in both situations people didn't know who was dead, who was good, who was evil, or who was fighting against who. I think its less the fact that the deaths don't last and more the fact that you don't know the condition of the person's return. Look at the price Parker paid to fix his life, Rogers gave up his mantle when he came back, hell Deadman is a live. So its not that someone dying is the only thing that affects them, its also the fact that in the case that person returns will things be the same. Hell it seemed like every time Jean came back she brought a new crazier version of the Phoenix with her. We deal with everyday tragedy they deal with everyday tragedy plus hero tragedy. You don't have to worry about getting sucked in the Negative Zone or Thanos killing you and your friends or a crazy super villain trying to kill your family, they need the time to mourn because at times its the only thing that seems normal to them in their crazy lives, just let them have it man.

I'm against killing characters, but believe bring them back is worst. It cheapens the characters and the medium. Looking at Geoff Johns.

I think more people need to look at Death Becomes Them.  
*kills Jean.* 
Scott: "She'll be back."  
 
@Gambit: I was upset about the reasons for Captain America's s death. For the public to be so vindictive and cruel about what they wanted Capt to do. Fans that wrote marvel telling marvel what to do still don't realize they essentially killed Cap themselves since Marvel was being pulled  from both sides. 

Funny how no one mentioned all the X-Men that tend to die left and right, I'd say the X-Men are probably the only group that experience permanent deaths but I got no doubt Nightcrawler will be back

I think they should be sad because if they didn't then they would look like cold-hearted.

what kind of a stupid question is that? 
If they are not sad, they are cold hearted Bastards/ really good Villains. 
however, in the case of Jean Grey, don't waste tears (I actually belive that South Park based Kenny off Jean).

    Thank the Lord for this:

Of course they should be sad, they don't know if the dead person will come back. Look at Siryn, she was so upset at her father's death, that she said he will come back from the dead.

I killed Nightcrawler in Ultimate Allaince, That pissed me off.

I'd say yes, they should be sad, but comics need to work more on keeping people dead. Not only does it cheapen the seriousness of the issue to bring people back, but it also removes a good deal of the suspense from comics in general. I mean, take the X-Men: they've all got some cool powers, but not a whole lot of them are functionally immortal, so in your mind, they could go into combat and die. When they start coming back all the time, you don't even worry about the more fragile characters because, hey, they'll just be back eventually anyways.
 
There are some characters that probably shouldn't be killed off in the first place, but for those characters, when you do kill them off, it should be permanent, or at least lasting several years. Steve Rogers, for instance. I would have liked to see him not come back, or at least not come back nearly as soon as he did. Ben Reilly though, has been dead for years, and hopefully will stay dead, but at the same time, I could see Marvel bringing him back in the next ten years, even if it was only briefly.

I've got a rule - if it's a major character I don't sweat it, because I know it's just a marketing gimmick to sell more prints.  But if it's a secondary character I like, that's a little different.  Take Vic Sage for example - he gets cancer and the whole thing gets downplayed.  By the end of it, we've got a character who dies - and has the potential to stay dead for a very long time - just to change up an established franchise character with a new look and attitude.  However, on the other end of the coin, Batman dies and nobody takes it seriously because we all know they're never going to kill off Bruce Wayne so long as the name is still profitable.  However, back in '92 it was a totally different song-and-dance - I was too young to know or care back then, but the Death of Superman arc was a big deal to a lot of people, and it did a great job of doing what it was supposed to do - sell copies.

It would be unrealistic if they were not affected by death.

T he death of V in V for Vendetta was sad because he never came back

Look at it like this, if you had an incredible healing factor but you could still feel pain and someone kept ripping your balls off, even if they did grow back, would you still want it to happen.

doods don't even get me started on Dragon Ball Z  
 
EVERYONE in that show died and came back atleast 10 times

R.I.P Laurie Collins.

It feels like in the "mainstream" DC & Marvel universes they are forever hindered, there can be no lasting change because the rules say, the most readily recognizeable versions of our characters has to be visible most of the time.

That's why the multiverse is such a fascinating concept to me, because you can create worlds where those rules don't apply and keep changing things as long as the creative juices keep flowing. The Ultimate Universe, and the old Earth Two are the best examples to date. Death meant and still means something over there, in so many ways those worlds are vastly different from the mainstream but they are just as vibrant as their counterparts, and in alot of ways still recognizeable

Its depends on how long they have been dead or how many times they have died. Like lets say Ironman dies. I would be shocked but not sad. I mean he will probably be back in 3 months. For me its how long they have been dead. When you start to miss the character and want them back that's when its sad. Poor jean has almost been dead for 10 years D:

Wait you mean the characters in the book (O.O). OH then yes, of course they should be sad lol, somebody just died. I get said when I hear people who I don't even know die. Yes the characters should be sad, its only realistic. (I just edited this in)

I think that comic book characters should be sad if someone dies, I mean its only natural for characters to be sad over a death.

@rlmay3 said:

No offense intended, but this is essentially how I think most of us feel when a major character dies.

ROFL

I want nightcrawler back why can't scarlet witch bring him back I mean they have a daughter in an alternate universe or goodness sakes

@AgeofHurricane said:

R.I.P Laurie Collins.

shes not died....she jst lost her powers.......if the scarlett witch's spell is broken, she will get her powers back

@HopesummersFORtheFUTURE said:

@AgeofHurricane said:

R.I.P Laurie Collins.

shes not died....she jst lost her powers.......if the scarlett witch's spell is broken, she will get her powers back

No, that's Sofia Mantega. Laurie was actually shot in the chest. Listen, i can't go into detail--i just--this is too much for me--*cries*.

@AgeofHurricane: oh yeah...i keep getting confused between the two...and laurie's arm was deformed from another mutant

i miss sofia.......i hope she gets her powers back