How many comic book characters haven't died? I don't think Batman did, but I'm not sure. I don't think Wonder Woman has ever died either... All of the X-men have died, though. Ditto for quite the Avengers. Well, depending on whether or not you count alterate timelines/other dimensions.

It depends if you're counting dieing, only to be shown later and explained as only "nearly dead" or if they just plain died and were resurected... 'Cause Pretty much every character has done the "nearly dead" thing..

Oh, and the Hulk has died once.. He somehow recovered from it...

Doctor Strange hasn't died though.. The Fantastic Four (sadly) refuse to freaking die.. Captain America never actually died, but he did disappear for a long time and was declared legally dead

Squirrel Girl never died, though her assistant Monkey Joe (a squirrel) was killed on a mission.

Invincible got pounded to a pulp on a mountain top, and was then in a coma, but he hasn't died so far (well...at least in the first 300 pages. I haven't read past that.)

I really can't believe DC rejuvinated the 2nd Robin. That was cheap stuff. Nice action in the book, but a gimmick.

Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen) didn't officially "die" in DC continuity. He "Became one with the Speed Force", which essentially means that, while he no longer inhabits a physical body, he can still show up for dramatic effect whenever necessary. I don't recall where, specifically, but somewhere in the recent "Infinite Crisis" he appeared before some of the speedsters with a warning of sorts.

Since his "death" he's shown up from time to time fairly regularly, usually on the premise that his spirit was blasting to Earth from time to time, or that, during one of his earlier time-travel adventures, he travelled to the point the story is at at the time. He usually appears as a lightning bolt, and it has been heavily implied that, after his death, he travelled back in time and actually became the lightning bolt that gave him his powers.



My favorite part of the Jason Todd thing is that it only worked out because the Evil Superboy literally punched a plothole in the universe.

I know I connect almost everything to this, but that whole Barry Allen thing sounds like the Jean Grey and Phoenix Force. She's dead, except kinda not and sometimes she pops in to warn people about stuff or save the world.

Just a thought.

Inkmonkey
My favorite part of the Jason Todd thing is that it only worked out because the Evil Superboy literally punched a plothole in the universe.

What?! Does that make even remotely any sense?

Well, basically what happened was, after the original "Crisis on Infinite Earths", the Classic Superman/Lois Lane, "Good" Lex Luthor, and a young Clark Kent from something close to our reality (no super heroes aside from the boy) all agree to go to a paradise reality, since it would be too confusing otherwise and everyone they love is dead anyway and it would just be awkward to see alternate-reality versions of them walking around.

Aaaanyway, "Superboy Prime" (as they call him), gets tired of stuck in a never-changing paradise, and tries to punch his way through reality. Doing so creates "ripples in reality", which allow DC to retcon stuff they feel like changing or cleaning up. The changes are surprisingly specific, and only seem to apply to major characters in the DC universe; Jason Todd barely survives, a fake funeral was held (or maybe it wa a clone, I don't believe they've entirely cleared that up yet), Superman's origin is more clear-cut and his powers are more diverse, yadda yadda yadda.

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

ccs1989
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

...just listen to a few White House press releases...

Wait, why Marvel?

Oh yeah, the whole "House of M" thing. Still...

Aside from bringing Hawkeye back to life, I personally don't have any real problems with House of M. It seemed a bit forced to have Scarlet Witch suddenly be so over-powered, but I guess they got lucky with that whole "ambiguous powers" thing she's had for a while now.

I am a bit upset about Bucky being alive again, though (which wasn't related to House of M). At least they didn't "burp" reality to justify it, but still...

I don't think that Judge Dredd has died yet, I'm not sure though, since I only have the access to a few albums here in Sweden.
On a side-question, does anyone know if Judge Death was finally destroyed in the story "My name is Death"? I hope not, he is my favourite comic book anti-hero.

The original Golden Age version of Batman died in the 1970s. That's the one that had Huntress as his daughter.

I walked into the comic books store near me for the first time yesterday and was greatly disapointed. All there was, was superhero comics, and about 30 different Xmen ones. It was embarassing. They just keep bringing superheroes out in different form but they all do the same thing. I find it all kinda boring.

Lilika
I walked into the comic books store near me for the first time yesterday and was greatly disapointed. All there was, was superhero comics, and about 30 different Xmen ones. It was embarassing. They just keep bringing superheroes out in different form but they all do the same thing. I find it all kinda boring.

I CONCUR. Seriously, superhero comics should be dead by now. But they just keep lingering, like a particularly ripe fart in the elevator inside the Seattle Space Needle.

~IJ

The first rule of comics is that only Bucky stays dead.

FinbarReilly
Why? From a writer's perspective, superheroes give me a chance to do stuff I just can't do anywhere else; I can make things bigger than life and have fun doing it. As a reader, it's sort of fun to imagine myself with the ability to fly. And illustrators just hav way too much fun with the bodies and tech.

Superhero books feed something inside of us, the part that needs to know that there is something bigger than we are...

FR

I agree that we need to believe in something bigger than we are. I agree that exaggerating real life is a great way to tell stories. But I just don't think that we should have to restrict ourselves to one genre to do these things.

~IJ

To be fair Mr. Neil, Finbar seems to be suggesting that Manga does what he and Ian are talking about, but using more than just the superhero genre. Not necessarily at the same time though.
I'm not sure but I don't think he's claiming anything about dimensionality (either more or less), I could be wrong though.

Dasien is a great fun superhero comic, with HEAPS of action, comedy, and none of that dull, emo relationship drudgery. SO it definitely transcendsthe dull stuff they’re talking about.

widdlestgoff
The first rule of comics is that only Bucky stays dead.

I'd always heard it as "Only Bucky, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben stay dead."

Of course, Bucky and Jason Todd are both alive again, so I guess that kinda nulls that saying.

Well, there was a story arc in Spider-Man a few years ago where Spidey met a character who was specifically designed to look and act like Uncle Ben (albeit with a lot of money and magic-based spider powers very similar to Peter's). So, while not actually bringing the old man back from the dead physically, it is a sort of "spritual" revival.

Uncle Ben is currently running around in Peter David's Spidey book (Spectacular? Can't remember which one it is :P), actually...

captain planet never died...cause he's our hero...

wait...did they ever make a comic book about that????


umm
Garfield never dies....he should.....he is getting OLD

Garfield = Cat
Cat = Nine lives

Therefore:

Garfield = awesome

Wait, that ain't right.