Just
recently I read a New York Daily News article detailing the death of Marvel
Comics Professor X.
I
really wish newspapers would stop wasting time reporting on junk like this. Because
it isn’t news.
Professor
X has died twice already. It wasn’t news then. And it isn’t news now.
Forty
years ago a comic book death meant something. When a character like Bucky, The
Green Goblin, Gwen Stacy or Barry Allen died it meant something. It had an
impact. Readers felt it for years on end and the ramifications of that death
impacted dozens of stories in between.
In
today’s comic book world death means nothing. In two or three years a character
who was “killed” in the pages of one comic book event is miraculously bought
back in another to save the day. It’s nothing more than a plot device meant to
shock readers and drive up sales.
That’s
why it’s not news.
Objectively
looking at the major comic book universes of Marvel and DC, every character has
“died” practically once or at least twice in some major event storyline over
the past 30 years.
Do
all those deaths warrant an article in the newspaper?
HELL
NO.
Comic
book characters aren’t people. They’re properties owned by multi-national
billion dollar corporations. When editors like Dan Didio have death lists on
their desks for major story events it shows how little value the lives of these
fictional characters have to their corporate owners.
Death
in modern comics is nothing more been a gimmick used to drive up sales of a
struggling book. A last ditch effort to force people to take notice of a title
that’s about to go on the cancellation block or a character who’s popularity on
the wane.
It’s
attention whoring 101.
I
find it funny that in all these news reported “deaths” of comic book characters
none of the women get the big press. When Wasp, Jean Grey, and Sue Dibney died as
part of recent comic book events like Secret Invasion, Warsong/Endsong and
Identity Crisis there was no big page spread for them in a daily newspaper
detailing the events of their demise.
No,
those just came and went with no fanfare.
Even
when an Iconic American female character like Wonder Woman was killed off in
the pages of a John Byrne in the 90’s run there was no big media blitz talking
about her demise the way they had national news blitz for the death of Superman
a few years earlier at the hands of Doomsday.
I
also find it funny that in all these news reported “deaths of African-American
characters aren’t announced. Bill Foster the first major Black superhero characters
created by Stan Lee. When he died in the pages of the Civil War event it just
came and went.
But
the death of Captain America was front page news for that event.
I
guess women and minority comic book characters aren’t newsworthy. But that’s
another story.
I
really wish news outlets stop reporting on nonsense like this. It trivializes
the craft of journalism.
Forty
years ago the death of a comic book character in a comic wasn’t reported in the
newspapers or on TV news broadcasts. Smart newspaper editors knew it wasn’t
news.
And
they were right.
That’s
why the death of a character had an impact on the reader. That’s why people
cared about the deaths of those characters when they read comics. That’s why
those stories had an impact that lasted for years.
And
that’s why people just roll their eyes about death in comics today.
If
I were an editor-in-chief at a comic book company I’d put a moratorium on the
deaths of major characters.
The
death of a major character has been done so much in comics it’s lost it’s
sting. It’s become a cop-out device for writers who can’t figure out an organic
way to conclude a story. Can’t find a way to make this story have an impact on
the reader? Just kill someone. That’ll shock the audience.
And
if that doesn’t work then show graphic gory details of that death. Mutilations,
decapitations, blood, blood blood. That’ll make people pay attention.
It’s
hackneyed half-assed writing. And a good writer can do better than that. Even
with a deadline.
There
has to be a better way for the comic book industry to make the front pages of a
newspaper. Because the death of a major character is not news. Comics coming
back to Wal-Mart is news. Comics coming to Target is news. Comics coming back
to a Supermarket chain like A&P or Ralphs is news.
Professor
X dying for the third time in 40 years? That’s not news. Find another way to
get attention for the 32-page floppy books.
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