From Marvel's Spiderman, Iron-Man, X-Men to DC's Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and all the way to the independents like Aspen, Image, Top Cow, BOOM! Studios, Archaia, IDW and others, comics have been a long loved medium that have been with us since the beginning of civilization (think pictographs from the Egyptians)
But with that lifelong love of comics that us fanboys have, we also have to deal with the ups and downs of our favorite characters. Whether it's alcoholism to domestic abuse, or the marriage of a god-like alien to a mortal woman, we celebrate and mourn along with characters that sometimes we forget are fictional. They affect our daily lives and even, sadly, to whether we continue our weekly emptying of our wallets to buy their titles.
As we can't avoid taxes, we also can't avoid death. And this week's huge news is the highly anticipated death of one of Marvel's beloved characters. The famous group Fantastic Four is now down to just three. As announced towards the end of last year, Marvel editorial made a decision to kill off one of their popular characters and make it stick.
That poor character was Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch. He went out fighting monsters and going through the Negative Zone. ( We don't know if he even went Super-Nova, he could have an we would never know). But as we read this, I know that many of us are thinking: does death even really matter in the comic book world?
I used to be saddened by the death of a character ( and sometimes still do) but a part of me rolls my eyes because I know: THEY WILL BE BACK.
As shocking as Captain America was being sniped and announcing him dead-dead ( I remember that even FOX news ran a story on it), he still came back.
Jason Todd, Batman's greatest failure, eventually wormed his way back into our lives. And let's not go there with Superman.
I can't help but wonder: why even bother killing off superheroes/villains? They'll come back sooner or later. Readers will soon become (if not already) numb to supposedly, epic-changing stories. We will stop taking comic book publishers seriously.
But even so, I'm proud to say that some publishers take death quite seriously. The founder and director of Studio-407 sure does. As an outside person coming into this company, I was very happy to read our titles and know that when a character dies: THEY STAY DEAD. (zombies is another story). I never once felt cheated by some cheap plot twist or even turn the pages with one eye open because, lo and behold, some previously dead character is back to taunt me.
The writers that work with us are fanboys themselves and understand how much it means when a death means just that: life no longer exists in any form. They give what they know the reader wants without any ulterior motive.
What do you guys think? Do you guys mind when a dead character comes back? Do you guys think that Johnny will be back? Do you think it's a coincidence that Human Torch is a goner around the same time Chris Evans is Captain America? Hm...suspicions, suspicions.
We miss you buddy......well for now.
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