Comic book death - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

fan community, the apparent death and subsequent return of a long-running character is often called a comic book death. While death is a serious subject, a comic book death is generally not taken seriously and is rarely permanent or meaningful. Commenting on the impact and role of comic book character deaths in the modern comics, writer Geoff Johns

Geoff Johns

Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...

said:
The phenomenon of comic book death is particularly common for superhero characters. Writer Danny Fingeroth suggests that the nature of superheroes requires that they be both ageless

Ageless

Ageless is an adjective describing a person or thing whose age cannot be defined, is nonexistent or does not change.It can also describe immortality, most specifically eternal youth.-Ageless people:...

and immortal

Immortal

Immortal, Immortals or Immortality may refer to:-People:* Thirty-six Poetry Immortals, a group of medieval Japanese poets* Immortals , members of the Académie française...

.

A common expression regarding comic book death was once "The only people who stay dead in comics, are Bucky, Jason Todd

Jason Todd

Jason Peter Todd is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Jason first appeared in Batman #357 and became the second Robin, sidekick to the superhero Batman, when the previous Robin went on to star in The New Teen Titans under the moniker of Nightwing.Though...

, and Uncle Ben." referring to the seminal importance of those character's deaths to Captain America

Captain America

Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...

, Batman

Batman

Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

, and Spider-Man

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

respectively. However, after the former two were brought back in 2005, the phrase was changed to only recognize Uncle Ben.

Some comic book writers have killed off characters to gather publicity

Publicity

Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...

or to create dramatic tension. In other instances, a writer kills off a character for which he/she did not particularly care for, but upon their leaving the title, another writer who liked this character brings them back. 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. At other times, a character dies and stays dead simply because his or her story is over.

The term "comic book death" is usually not applied to characters such as DC's Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy (comics)

Solomon Grundy is a fictional character, a zombie supervillain in the DC Comics Universe. Named after the 19th century children's nursery rhyme, Grundy was introduced as an enemy of the Golden Age Green Lantern , but has since become a prominent enemy for a number of superheroes, such as Batman and...

, Resurrection Man

Resurrection Man

The Resurrection Man is a fictional character, a superhero whose adventures were published by DC Comics from 1997 to 1999 in a serialized comic book of the same name, created by Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett and Jackson Guice...

and Marvel's Mr. Immortal

Mr. Immortal

Mr. Immortal is a comic book character, a mutant superhero in Marvel Comics' main shared universe. He is the leader of the Great Lakes Avengers and first appeared in the pages of the Avengers West Coast in 1989.-Profile:Mr...

, who have the ability to come back to life as an established character trait or power; rather it is usually applied when one would normally expect death to be permanent but the character is later resurrected through a plot device

Plot device

A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....

not previously established.

Notable examples

At least three comic book deaths are well known. The first two are the 1980 "death" of Jean Grey

Jean Grey

Jean Grey-Summers is a fictional comic book superheroine appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. She has been known under the aliases Marvel Girl, Phoenix, and Dark Phoenix and is best known as one of five original members of the X-Men, for her relationship with Cyclops, and for her...

in Marvel's Dark Phoenix Saga
Dark Phoenix Saga
"The Dark Phoenix Saga" is an extended X-Men storyline in the fictional , focusing on Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force, and ending in Grey's apparent death...

and that of Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

in DC

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

's highly-publicized 1993 Death of Superman storyline. There is one major distinction between the two, however - whereas it was never intended that Superman's death be permanent, and that he would return to life at the conclusion of the story, Jean's passing (one of many temporary deaths among the X-Men

X-Men

The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...

) was written as the true and permanent death of the character, only to be retcon

Retcon

Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...

ned a few years later to facilitate her return. In more recent history, the death of Captain America

Captain America

made real-world headlines in early 2007 when he met his apparent end, but Steve Rogers returned in Captain America: Reborn
Captain America: Reborn
Captain America: Reborn is a six-issue monthly comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics between July 2009 and January 2010...

in late 2009.

In DC Comics' Batman: RIP storyline, Batman

Batman

was apparently killed. It was revealed that he had survived, only for him to disappear into the timestream in the Final Crisis

Final Crisis

Final Crisis is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely by J. G. Jones; artists Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy and...

storyline. Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson

Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940....

took on the mantle of Batman, and Batman came back to the present in the "Return of Bruce Wayne" storyline, published about a year and a half after "Final Crisis".

Because death in comics is so often temporary, readers rarely take the death of a character seriously - when someone dies, the reader feels very little sense of loss, and simply left wondering how long it will be before they return to life. This, in turn, has led to a common piece of comic shop wisdom: "No one stays dead except Bucky

Bucky

Bucky is the name of several fictional characters, masked superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. The original, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as a sidekick character in Captain America Comics #1 , published by Marvel's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics...

, Jason Todd

Jason Todd

and Uncle Ben" referring to Captain America

Captain America

's sidekick

Sidekick

A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...

(retconned dead since 1964), Batman's second Robin

Robin (comics)

Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...

(dead since 1988), and Peter Parker's uncle (dead since 1962), respectively. This long-held tenet was finally broken in 2005, when Jason Todd returned to life and Bucky Barnes was reported to have survived the accident that seemingly killed him, remaining in the shadows for decades.

Comic book characters themselves have often made comments about the frequency of resurrections, notably Charles Xavier

Professor X

Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....

who commented "in mutant heaven there are no pearly gates, but instead revolving doors."

Parodies

Comic book deaths have been parodied

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

by Peter Milligan

Peter Milligan

Peter Milligan born in London, a British writer, best known for his comic book, film and television work.-Early career:Milligan started his comic career with short stories for 2000 AD in the early 1980s. By 1986, Milligan had his first ongoing strip in 2000AD called Bad Company, with artists Brett...

in X-Statix
X-Statix
X-Statix was a fictional team of mutant superheroes in Marvel Comics, specifically designed to be media superstars. The team, created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred, first appears in X-Force #116 and originally assumed the moniker X-Force, taking the name of the more traditional superhero team,...

, in which all the characters had died by the end of the series. In X-Statix Presents Dead Girl, it is further parodied. A group of dead villains want to return to life claiming "it happens all the time". Dr. Strange

Dr. Strange

Doctor Strange is a Marvel Comics character and Sorceror.Doctor Strange or Dr. Strange may also refer to:*Doc Strange, a Nedor Comics character named Doctor Thomas Hugo Strange*Hugo Strange, a DC Comics character and recurring Batman villain...

says that a character will be "promoted" to life if enough people want her alive.

In the 2000 X-Men film

X-Men (film)

X-Men is a 2000 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics characters of the same name. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film stars Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Famke Janssen, Bruce Davison, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijn, Ray Park and Tyler Mane...

, after a defeated Storm re-enters the fight, Toad

Toad (comics)

Toad is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an enemy of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men #4 ....

complains, "Don't you people ever die?"

In Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men
Astonishing X-Men is the name of three X-Men comic book series from Marvel Comics, the first two of which were limited series. The ongoing series began in 2004, with its first run written by Joss Whedon and art by John Cassaday. It was then written by Warren Ellis with art by Phil Jimenez. Daniel...

#6, Emma Frost

Emma Frost

Emma Grace Frost is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 , and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne....

states that "Jean Grey is dead" only to have Agent Brand

Abigail Brand

Special Agent Abigail Brand is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics' universe. Her first appearance was a cameo in Astonishing X-Men #3 , and she was introduced fully in Astonishing X-Men #6 . She was created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday.-Origin:Abigail Brand is the commanding officer of...

respond with a sarcastic "Yeah, that'll last". Similarly, in the Endangered Species series, Dark Beast

Dark Beast

Dark Beast , sometimes known as the Black Beast, is a Marvel Comics supervillain, an alternate reality evil version of the X-Men’s Beast...

says on being told that Jean and Nate Grey are dead, "Well, yes, but with that family, I've found it's best to get frequent updates. Exactly how dead, at this moment in time?"

In Next Wave: Agents of Hate, two of the characters are talking about the X-Men member Magik

Magik (comics)

Magik is a Marvel Comics character, associated with the X-Men. She is the younger sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus.-Publication history:...

. One of them comments that she is dead and the other replies "So what? The X-Men come back to life more than Jesus".

Comic book death has been also parodied by Mr. Immortal of the Great Lakes Avengers

Great Lakes Avengers

The Great Lakes Initiative, originally known as The Great Lakes Avengers , are a fictional superhero team that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters were first introduced in West Coast Avengers vol. 2, #46 , and were created by John Byrne.-Publication history:The team...

, a mutant

Mutant (Marvel Comics)

In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...

whose power is to resurrect from the dead. Consequently, he is killed and revived in almost all appearances. The concept was further parodied by Dan Slott

Dan Slott

Dan Slott is an American comic book writer best known for The Amazing Spider-Man, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell and She-Hulk. He is the current writer of the twice monthly The Amazing Spider-Man.-Early writing:...

's 2005 GLA miniseries, in which one member dies in every issue.

The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

also parodied comic book deaths in the episode "Radioactive Man

Radioactive Man (The Simpsons episode)

"Radioactive Man" is the second episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1995. The episode sees the film version of the comic book series Radioactive Man set up production in Springfield. Much to Bart's disappointment, the...

" in which Milhouse mentions an issue of Radioactive Man in which the eponymous character and his sidekick Fallout Boy die on every page. The killing of Kenny in practically every episode of South Park

South Park

South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

is a parody of the form, treated as being so pervasive that for much of the series it is not even worth providing a contrived explanation. (It is eventually revealed in Season 14 that Kenny has a "super power" of immortality, but the super power includes everyone forgetting his many, many deaths.)

The Comic Carnival Hotline had a recurring character in "Methuselah Spitshank, World's Oldest Comic Collector," who would die in every episode. Usual host Ramone would say "Don't worry folks, the writers will bring him back when they need him." In one episode, Mr. Spitshank survived the entire episode only to die when Ramone announces that the next episode is "when Dweebie, his boy assistant, runs out of paper towels, and uses a mint condition copy of Detective Comics #27 to dry his hands."

Outside comic books

The return of a character previously thought dead is certainly not limited to comic books. An early and famous example is the return of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

after his death at the Reichenbach Falls

Reichenbach Falls

The Reichenbach Falls are a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringen in Bern canton in central Switzerland. They have a total drop of 250 m . At 90 m , the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts in the Alps...

. In many slasher film

Slasher film

A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...

s and monster movies, the killer or monster seemingly dies at the end of the film only to return for a sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

. Daytime and prime-time soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

s are notorious for comic book deaths; famously, an entire season of Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...

was retcon

Retcon

ned into one character's dream so that a character who had been dead throughout that season could return. Even before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...

opened in June 1982, the media reported that Spock

Spock

Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...

, who died at the end of the film, would return in the sequel

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is a 1984 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the third feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise and is the center of a three-film story arc that begins with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concludes with Star Trek IV:...

.
In the Manga/Anime Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...

the main character Son Goku
Son Goku (Dragon Ball)
Goku, known as in the English-language manga and original Japanese-language version, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. He is loosely based on Sun Wukong, a central character in Journey to the West...

is killed off without the possibility of being revived by the Dragon Balls, only to have a Kaioshin give his life to him seven years later.

Common retcons

A common way to reformulate the death of a character is to create a retcon stating that the death scene did take place as seen, but something else took place as well, preventing the character from actually dying. Usually it is a severe near-death injury or situation (for example, an explosion), from which the character is saved (off-panel, detailed in the subsequent retcon) by his powers or skills, by good luck, or by the help of someone else. The death scene may also be a character's deliberate plot that simulates his own death or that of someone else for a certain purpose. In these cases, the death scene may have been staged, or it may have been an illusion of some kind. In other cases, the events took place as originally depicted, but instead of dying the character may be revealed to have been in a coma

Coma

In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

. This premise is often misused for injuries and illnesses that do not involve head trauma, the primary trigger for coma. Additionally, coma is often misrepresented as allowing a character to instantly resume their lives without the lengthy recovery time needed in reality (although the powers of the individual in question may help their recovery). Variations on this theme include suspended animation

Suspended animation

Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...

and cryogenic suspension, both of which are also used with varying degrees of scientific implausibility, and other types of metamorphosis created for the fictional universe. In more extreme examples, the consciousness of the character may be transferred to another body, human or otherwise.

Another way, in line with the mentioned one, is when a character dies but it is later revealed that it wasn't the real character who died, but someone else posing as him, such as a clone, impostor or shape-shifter. However, once comic book death became a standard, the trick was also used in another way: a character dies and returns, but the impostor ends up becoming the returned character, meaning that the original one remained dead all the time.

Other characters experience real deaths, but some cosmic or magical being makes them resurrect, either intentionally or unintentionally. Those kinds of resurrection may be intended to be either permanent or last only for a single story involving such a being. In those last cases the character may be resurrected as a zombie (for example: the Blackest Night arc in DC Comics, or the Necrosha
Necrosha
Necrosha is a comic book crossover story arc published by Marvel Comics. The crossover takes place in Marvel's main shared universe, the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Necrosha had been slowly building in the pages of X-Force...

arc in Marvel Comics) or harmed in some other way. Such beings may also have access to some afterlife

Afterlife

The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...

where the soul of the character fled after dying (such as fictional variations of Heaven

Heaven

Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

or Hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

), and have some limited interaction with the character even while keeping him dead. Time travel

Time travel

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...

, reality manipulation or other narrative tricks may also be used to undo big changes in the fictional universe (such as the death of characters) by setting them out of continuity

Continuity (fiction)

In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...

and restoring things to a previous point.

A less controversial solution is to make a dead character remain dead, and have a similar one assume his super-hero or super-villain identity and replace him as a successor. Sometimes this even leads to the creation of complete successive timelines of people assuming the role, such as Wally West

Wally West

The Flash is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first Kid Flash and the third Flash....

assuming the role of the Flash

Flash (comics)

The Flash is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 ....

after the death of Barry Allen (Although Barry was recently resurrected anyway).

The death of characters may also be circumvented by editorial means beyond storyline. Rebooted timelines or recreations of characters in a different fictional universe may introduce dead characters as new, as they belong to the publishing house all the time regardless of their fictional status. Other specific stories may be conceived as not being canon from the start, so that the writers have creative freedom to kill major characters or perform radical changes as they see fit for the narrative, with such changes taking place only in that work and not in the main fictional universe. It can also happen that a writer uses a dead character by mistake, out of ignorance that the character was dead. In this case, the use of that character would become a continuity

Continuity (fiction)

In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...

error until a proper explanation to fix it is given.

Notable examples

Parodies

Outside comic books

Common retcons

See also