DC's writer extraordinaire Geoff Johns once said that "death in superhero comics is cyclical in its nature, and that's for a lot of reasons, whether they are story reasons, copyright reasons, or fan reasons." Mortality in superhero comics is such a joke that "comic book death" is used a pejorative term - any major character that gets killed off, everyone knows, which eventually come back. Nobody stays dead. Sometimes that frees people up to do awesome, inventive stories; other times, it robs what could be an emotional scene of any gravitas because, well, they'll be resurrected in about six months, right? The recent Death Of Wolverine came down somewhere between the two. Obviously nobody believes that Marvel's biggest cash cow is going to remain six feet under for very long (especially when Hugh Jackman's set to play him in yet another blockbuster X-Men film in a couple of years). What'll be interesting is how they chose to bring him back. Some characters return from the dead in ways befitting of a soap opera - no, that was my twin, or a shape-shifter, or however Professor Xavier faked his death with this week! - whilst others just kinda show back up and nobody questions it, because comic books. Some of them, meanwhile, are head-slappingly, almost insultingly ridiculous. Some characters are killed off so gruesomely bringing them back is a massive stretch. Reality warps, the fourth wall is broken, people are glad Superman doesn't wash his cape often. Here are ten of the most ridiculous ways superheroes were resurrected.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
