so mad... (Spoilers for fearless defenders)

Anabelle Riggs An aweaome new character had just been killed off in Fearless Defenders. She was a successful queer woman hand chosen by Valkyrie to become one of the new Valkyior and she dies. She " goes out like a hero" and she did it. But its still BS, especially since Marbel has been queerbaiting us this whole time with a potential relationship with her and valkyrie.

Instead she is killed off to save everybody else. Its sad that we have so few lgbtq characters.in comics, and the ones that do get put through the freaking ringer and get killed off. Wth. Like honestly. She couls have been such a role model to queer woman everywhere. Instead they killed her off and it will be used to develop the straight characters

Now who knows, this stor does involve valkyries so maybe she will be back sooner. But this issue left a bad taste in my mouth.

So they killed off the optimist, comedic relief character? So what we have left is angsty stares and snarky one-liners? Oh, I guess this book has nothing new to offer then.

She doesn't seem to have a page on here, so I'm guessing she's very new. Was she introduced in this series?

If so, introducing a character just to kill them off is a pretty stupid thing to do, made especially unfortunate as she's a minority.

Does this count as fridging, and redshirting?

@v_scarlotte_rose: yeah she was introuced in the series. Im not sure if its redshirting it might be. But it is Fridging, and also queerbaiting.( a relationship had been teased)

@shadowx: I had to look up queerbaiting, but it sounds like that's probably true.

I don't read this series, so I can't really determine if this a redshirt kind of situation. I think a character is a redshirt if they're a new character that's just been introduced, going along on a mission with the well known characters, just so they can be killed to show how dangerous a situation they're in. Did it go like that at all?

@v_scarlotte_rose: I heard from a friend. ( i read last issue but not todays yet) And i think ahe died going up against a possessed valkyrie while the rest of the female heros fought against the doom madiens. So it might be

Although the writer apprently had claimed we will be dissapointed If we dont read the next few issues When my friend sent her response to the issue. So she may come back in the near future. But i still have a bad taste to the whole thing.

@shadowx: I'll call that a maybe then.

Maybe her death will lead to good things for her, like some kind of resurrection with extra power or something. Hopefully it'll all turn out O.K.

She has a page on CV:

http://www.comicvine.com/annabelle-riggs/4005-87572/

Found it with google.

@fodigg: I was spelling it wrong it seems.

@v_scarlotte_rose: i hope so. I mean she was given some valkyrie powers and weaponry before her death. Hopefully she comes back

Poor Anabelle Riggs. Hey, remember in Fearless Defenders #1 when the grad students and people she was responsible for were killed off by undead vikings and kissing Valkyrie was a bigger priority for her? What a shame that a character who demonstrates lesbians as self-absorbed hedonists is dead. She was Gabrielle in Cullen Bunn's poorly executed homage to Xena. Oh, well. Maybe she'll gain some Asgardian weapons and powers that will somehow make her a more well-rounded character, and not an Angela clone. Riiiiight.

I understand the complaint, but methinks you're expecting too much realistic grief and horror from a genre that uses such tragedies instead as a springboard for a call to adventure. I don't mean to excuse poor writing, but I don't think this is a shortfall that can be laid entirely at Anabelle's feet.

Leia comforting Luke after her entire planet was destroyed in front of her eyes because the guy he met 24 hours ago got killed springs to mind.

@riot_sqrrl: angelas personalityand anabelles are nothing alike.

2) Numerous characters have stopped midfight for kisses before. Ill give you that its problimatic since civillans are in danger. But to say she is self absorbed for that is untrue. And as a lesbian i didnt find a peoblem with her portrayal. Also i dont recall any panels were students were killed. If there were, i would glaldy be proven wrong.

They killed off a character... been doing this for decades, does it really matter if she was straight, queer, gay?

@ximpossibrux: yes it does, because there is huge lack of gay characters. And guess what when there are gay characters they often get killed to give the main cast development. There are literally a handful of queer character compared to hundreds of straight characters. Its not something you can put a blanket over and say " does it matter?" Because to alot of queer people there arent enough people they can relate to. Ans for a gay character to be killed off potentally for the striaght characters to gain development, puts the straight characters as more important.

I guess I see your argument. Peers with whom I had been working for who knows how long in jeopardy should take a backseat to kissing a sword-wielding stranger. @fodigg, the Luke/Leia example doesn't stand up since, as you point out, they are on the Millenium Falcon, hauling balls away from the Death Star and not in the middle of a battle. Even the kiss before they swing across the chasm in the Death Star is justified as "for luck," and maybe such a caption would have worked in Fearless Defenders, but no. The readers weren't trusted to see the kiss, read such a caption and infer that Annabelle Riggs likes girls. Instead, we are spoon-fed that info, which, in context to the action going on, seemed exploitive and trite.

Meanwhile, @shadowx, thank you for proving that not all fans are white, morbidly obese thirtysomething-year old males. Still, not all lesbian characters are going to be well-written. Foxglove in Death: The Time of Your Life? Wonderful. Moondragon and the new Quasar? Fine. Annabelle Riggs? Sorry. She doesn't do it for me. Viking corpses were touching people and turning them necrotic; if they weren't killed by this process, it still looked pretty unwholesome.

Wow that sucks... kinda makes me want to drop it before catching up.... I'm getting really sick of how Marvel and DC refused to let old characters die and move on to someone new.

You don't have to be the same sexual orientation as a character to relate to them... But I do agree it's stupid to introduce a character with potential to just kill them off.

@_black: you dont have to be. But it helps. Especially when it comes to a representagion. It feels good to see somebody thats like you in media. And its been proven that seeing characters like you in media, boosts self esteem and helps minorities as oppossed to somebody who doesnt see thosse representations in them. It also allows kids who maybe questioning or scared of their sexuality that its okay, especially within a society that isnt always supportive, it says hey look this person is a hero, and they are like me maybe its okay. Maybe i'm not alone.

I was upset with this issue for lots of reasons. First, yes, we just got a fridge moment with a gay character but I didn't feel it -- the whole drama and love thing between her and Valkyrie -- it didn't come off genuine. For me, it was more a physical lust thing that was slowly becoming more so having Annabelle die with the understanding she was this lost love -- it sucked. In my opinion, she'll be back. Back as in almost immediately since she's a real shield maiden. If there was a part in this book that I liked, it was when Misty clocked Valkyrie.

Another thing was how they took all these heavy hitters in the Marvel Universe -- I am talking about really powerful female characters -- and had them pretty much get jobbed. Jobbed in a pathetic, empty, hollow way. While I like that Valkyrie saw them as Shield Maidens afterwards, it still p*ssed me off.

As for the potential new baddies, I am a little excited at the prospect of seeing the Enchantress again (hopefully).