Saturday, March 04, 2006

Why Bring Back The Dead?

I hate when Marvel and DC bring back characters from the dead. I always have. The only character that gets a pass in this department is Phoenix/Jean Grey, because the Phoenix is supposed to come back time and time again. But no other character deserves a second chance if they had been killed previously. Don't you like how DC has that Lazarus Pit to explain how people come back in their universe? It's a lame attempt at bringing the characters back.

In recent times who has come back to life? Psylocke in Uncanny for no apparent reason. Colossus in Astonishing. While that was a cool surprise, I will have to say that I was dissapointed to see him return. It ruined his legacy, and made the issue he died become useless in the broad scheme of things. And what about Bucky? Wasn't he supposed to be one of the characters that Marvel would never bring back? Lame, lame shit. Don't even get me started on Hawkeye. DC is not without their mistakes in this department. Case in point: Jason Todd. This dude was a Robin who had his ass beat to death by Batman's greatest villain, and they decide to bring him back in this increasingly lame IC (that said, I like the mini, but each issue is getting worse and convaluted). And these are just the tip of the iceberg. And these are just recent characters that have come back from the dead.

Superman, Green Arrow, Wolverine, Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Iron Man, Multiple Man, Apocalypse and countless others have all fell into this category. I have a feeling that DC is on the verge of bringing back Barry Allen Flash, who remains the best and one of the only deaths that has remained without the possibility of a return. Batman missed the boat because Bane only broke his back. Spider-Man has just had his ass kicked to the point of death by Morlun. Nightcrawler and Kitty almost died during the Mutant Massacre, but were only severely injured. The point I am trying to make is that the comic book would be a much more serious form of literature if the stories were kept the same when they were written. Think about how different the universes at DC and Marvel would be if the previously mentioned characters stayed dead. It would have been forced to be different, and I don't know about you, but I think that would be pretty sweet. Sure we wouldn't like it at first, but damn I think the stories would be pretty damn interesting.

Next time you decide to kill someone, either do it for good, or just don't kill someone you like enough to bring them back eventually because it ruins the legacy that they were built on.

3 comments:

ella m. said...

Bringing back characters is a cheap and overused device....you'd think that writers would get the hint that it's a bad idea to use plot contrivances most often seen in those awful daytime soap operas.

Kenny said...

Hmmm.... I have too many thoughts on this one to condense into a reply.

I think I'll do a response blog later this evening, on why I think bringing back dead characters is a good thing.

neo said...

I'm still HEATED they brought back Jason Todd. His death was legit..sad and we moved on..but NOOO they just had to bring him back.

I'd rather they allowed the characters to age and die off than just kill 'em off dramatically and then have 'em resurrect in some kind of weird fashion