Anyone who reads comic books knows that death is not the end of the road, but simply a short break before your triumphant return to fighting evil. Loads of characters have been seemingly (or actually) killed off, only to return at a later date, much to the shock and awe of their unsuspecting comrades and enemies.

Superman fell at the hands of Doomsday, and Doomsday at the hands of Superman in 1993… each of whom returned several months later… where Doomsday died again. Doomsday returned and seemingly died around four times… the last of which Superman died again, but this time in the future where Doomsday (this time a highly intelligent hero) is given the chance to go back and save Superman… a chance he takes and Superman returns to life again.

In X-Men, the mutant Colossus gave his life to activate a cure for the Legacy virus… but had his body abducted by an alien named Ord and was revived. He recently made his return to comics.

Cypher and Warlock both died. Warlock was eventually brought back to life… with Cypher’s memory.

And the list goes on and on: Green Arrow, Jason Todd (Robin) and Charles Xavier have all been dead… and have all returned.

It’s not that surprising that comic creators can’t pull the trigger on their beloved characters once and for all. How could they leave their creation (aka: money maker) stiff in the ground? I just want to know why other characters are shocked when another character returns from the dead. It’s a common occurrence that should be expected at this point.
I’m also curious as to whether or not the writers actually expect the audience to be surprised to see someone return from the dead. Killing a character off feels like a cheap marketing ploy at this point. Everyone runs out to grab the death issue, the following grieving issues, and the subsequent return to life issue.

Although I believe that some writers actually intend to let their characters rest in peace. The problem lies in new writers taking the reigns and reviving that lost character, or in the case of DC and Marvel comics, an executive decision is sometimes made to resurrect a fallen character.

In the future I would like to see the dead stay in their home. No more cheap death / resurrection thrills. It has become an insult to the reader’s intelligence, and I for one am sick of it.