Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: The Misfits "Dig Up Her Bones" ::
Something that has always bugged me about comics is that they kill characters just to bring them back later. Why do they do this? If you want to kill someone fine. Do it. In fact I dare you. Just don't go all wobbly and soft a few years later (or possibly come down finally from your acid trip) and resurrect them. I mean sure, its a good, shocking story to kill off a major player. It can even be sad and touching. It just cheapens it to turn around and say "It was a deception by Mysterio the whole time!" Its almost as bad as when a thrilling story turns out to be a dream.
Take, for instance, when some "genius" decided to kill off Superman. This is Superman we're talking about here. Not some lame-o like oh Stiltman or Killer Moth. Superman. This must'nt have been a decision everyone at DC took lightly. I bet some editor somewhere even cried. They were probably just that desperate to sell comics. And it was a big deal too. People who hadn't collected comics in a decade ran out and got a copy. Collectors bought the polybagged editions, complete with death certificate. It actually made news reports on TV. For a while, the special bagged copies of The Death of Superman was one of the highest priced comics out there. But then...
That's right. Some even "bigger genius" decided to bring Supes back. There were polybagged editions of this comic too, but well DC had paradoxed itself. Collectors bought them, but not in the droves as when he died. Superman was back, but he was all...blue and white and ... electric? What were they doing? This is Superman! No one really cared.
The resurrection that most gets my goat though is when the brought back Jean Grey. Unlike Superman's demise, where he basically took part in a Dragonball Z-esque extended fight sequence, Jean's death was quiet and private. She had grown to cosmic level power and it drove her mad. She had snuffed out a solar system, and an intergalactic empire sought retribution. The X-men returned Jean to her former gentle self and fought the alien empire's best soldiers for her. She and Cyclops fled to safety. It was there, hiding out, that she realized at any moment the power could well up and consume her once more. And so, for the protection of everyone and everything, she killed herself. Right in front of her love Cyclops.
Her death lasted about 5 years. In 1983 Marvel Comics got the idea in their heads that they wanted a team of just the original X-men line up. Beast, Ice-man, Angel, Cyclops, and...uh oh Marvel Girl is dead! "What will we do?!" resounded throughout the Marvel bullpen. "Hey let's make it so that it wasn't Jean at all but a cosmic being impersonating her!" Whoever thought this was a good idea should be beaten very, very hard.
One of the most touching and famous stories they ever put out was just negated. Just like that. It was the kind of story where you could introduce someone to X-men from the beginning and by the time they finished that story they would say, "I can't believe they killed Jean Grey!" Well no more. X-men is so popular now, that even a new comer would read it and say "So how did they bring her back?" instead of the touching reaction it garnered at its release.
Don't even get me started on the "death" and "return" of Aunt May. And Doctor Octopus. Norman Osborn managed to stay dead for more than a decade but he's back now too, so is Electra. Why do they do this to us?
For a while it seemed difficult to come up with someone who was STILL dead. Jason Todd. Bucky. Miss America. Gwen Stacy. Harry Osborn. Sarah Gordon. Queen Hipolyta. Barry Allen. Over 60 years of comics...are there any others?
All I'm saying is, if you're going to kill a beloved character for a good story/increased sales, please for the love of god and your own body DON'T turn around and say "April Fool!"
