Anonymous asked:
brevoortformspring answered:
I think the return of Jean Grey was a big shift, as was the return of Elektra before that (people forget that Frank Miller’s second-to-last issue of his original run brought her back to life) and even the resurrection of Thanos, Adam Warlock, Pip and Gamora in the lead-up to INFINITY GAUNTLET. To say nothing of the deaths and resurrections at other companies. That said, it’s not like readers truly believed in comic book deaths completely even when Jean Grey died–there was always a certain amount of cynicism that, say, Gwen Stacy would return (even if only as a clone) and so forth.
I would really say the biggest shift in this opinion was Superman.
Back in the day, you could buy that Jean might not come back, or Elektra, or Bucky…but there was NO WAY Superman was going to stay dead. None. Zero. He was coming back.
And since then, stakes are constantly being raised, characters are always being offed to show how serious a threat or villain is, or as consequences of the character’s actions in the story, that it’s easy to see why people have become cynical about deaths and returns in comics. It can, and some might say HAS been overdone.
IMO, as long as the death drives characters forward (Like with Steve’s death creating a void, the MU playing with that, Bucky stepping into the mantle, etc etc) I am personally okay with deaths and returns. Sure, the character will almost certainly return, especially if they have their name on a cover, but if you entertain me in that year or two or five while they *are* dead? I am cool with it.
