Death used to mean something in comics. It was a shocking event, one that would fundamentally change the surviving characters and would permanently remove the deceased character from the playing field. But over the years, as one generation of fans became the next generation of comic creators, that started to change. It wasn't long before dead characters started to pop up, sometimes with poorly thought-out resurrections. Soon it got to the point where death stopped being a meaningful story point and instead just became another in a bag of tricks intended to shock the audience. But over the years, as fans became savvy to the tricks, just the simple act of killing a character was no longer enough. No, now it was necessary for the deaths to become increasingly more shocking. The effect of this has led to almost a kind of one-upmanship among comic creators, where the goal is to think up a unique death scenario for the characters. After all, everyone knows the resurrection is inevitable, so there is now no concern about killing a character. Now death is the equivalent of a spa weekend for many characters. But the deaths persist. And the writers have begun to crank up the insanity level. Here are just ten of many insane send-offs characters have received over the years.
Percival Constantine is the author of several novels and short stories, including the Vanguard superhero series, and regularly writes and comments on movies, comics, and other pop culture. More information can be found at his website, PercivalConstantine.com
