Bronze Age Killers

Which hero was the first the break the unspoken comic book rule that heroes don't kill? And I'm not counting gun waving Batman or Machine Gun Bucky.

Those instances are from the somewhat surreal Golden Age when many heroes were soulless Nazi killing machines. The cleansing combination of Comics Code conduct and Silver Age sensibilities did an effective job of keeping the violence in GA comics from having  either a spiritual or literal impact on Bronze Age heroes. In more modern comics, the Golden Age violence has been referenced quite a bit. In some cases resulting in interesting stories, like Ed Brubaker's Captain America run. Others, like DC's failed First Wave line, not so much.

Still, in today's modern world of violent comics, you sort of have to wonder how we got here. Which heroes in the bronze age crossed the line first?

Normally, we associate this paradigm shift with Wolverine and Punisher, and rightfully so. (and possibly Deathlok to some degree.) But were they really the first heroes to mae killing in the Bronze Age acceptable? In those cases, they were seen as sort of antiheroes or rogue heroes whose exceptional behavior proved the rule. I believe nightly news era accounts of the Vietnam War have more to do with violence in comics than the Punisher's rubber bullets. Also, you can see this trend slowly creeping in if you look at other comics from the era. Here are a few examples.

In Avengers 117, during the classic Avengers/Defenders War, the Swordsman (albeit a hero who was once a villain) kills a man:

 

When I was a kid, this scene made quite an impact on me, and I have to wonder if it didn't play some small role in the Swordsman's death later on in the series (much in the same way that the Phoenix's burning of an entire planet caused Jim Shooter to demand she pay for the crime.)

Next is a death scene I dare you to have forgotten. The classic Cap/Baron Blood showdown from Captain America 257:

When I originally read that scene, I was really shocked by it. Still, the explanation that Captain America was originally a soldier who had most likely killed people during the war was satisfying enough that I didn't have the fan freakout that some people did.

My final example is one a lot of people either haven't read or don't remember, and that's when Princess Projectra makes Nemesis Kid pay the ultimate price for killing her husband Karate Kid.

  

At the time, I felt she was totally justified in her actions, but looking at it today, I have to sort of quibble with her excuse that she has the she can take the law into her own hands because she was born into the right family. :\

Again, I think we can all agree that the real leaders in the bloody revolution in comics were Wolverine and the Punisher, but I believe these examples indicate other writers were picking up on the climate change as well.

If I missed a similar death scene from the era, please let me know.

Have a great weekend!

- Jim

From Noble Death to Lazy Execution

Editor's Note: Today Matt Linkous finishes Wednesday's DeathJerked article with a look how death in comics encourages bad stories. - Jim

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Why is this whole cycle of death in comics bad? Because it promotes lazy storytelling. Got a sales slump? No problem. Just kill a hero in hastily conceived death scene to bump up sales! It doesn't have to be this way. The transition from Barry Allen to Wally West, let Wally step into the role and grow from a teen sidekick into a great hero in his own right. As that was one of the first great deaths in comics, it was well planned and sat well with readers for generations. The imagery of Barry withering into a skeleton may have been a bit much, but it had impact.

 
On the flip side, the transition from Hal Jordan to Kyle Rayner, was a bit rockier. Getting into Kyle's story involved swallowing the bitter pill of your favorite Green Lantern becoming a psycho super villain who offed members of the Green Lantern Corp, which itself had now been taken completely out of the equation. To bring Hal back, we had to find out that he wasn't really responsible for that because he was possessed by a big yellow spacebug the whole time.

Even to enjoy Jaime Reyes as Blue Beetle you have to accept Max Lord's character being completely changed into a murderous villain who'd shoot Ted Kord, in the face, on camera. The reasons for death (and by extension, the planning and writing of them) have become weaker and weaker. Most recently, we've seen  examples of this with the Wasp losing control of her powers and blowing up, (How's that work exactly?) and Captain America getting shot coming down courthouse stairs. (Because no one has ever thought to draw a gun on Captain America in close quarters before.)

Is it really that difficult to come up with more elegant solutions for writing out old characters? A good writer should always have a way to let the previous incarnation return that doesn't call for yanking them out of the great beyond in some absurd, convoluted fashion. Yet, more often than is necessary, retcons and revamps are built on flimsy plot contrivances like Punching the wall of reality or saying "It's magic, we can do anything..."

Speaking as the kind of guy that did not want to see Steve Rogers killed off, I think I can say most fans of a classic superhero character don't have a real desire to take someone else's hero away from them. Especially not in this age when such deaths are seen as the vulgar money grabs they are. Also, we all know the heroes will eventually return, so what other reason is there for such badly written stories than to goose sales for a month or two?

If nothing else, if it is decided by editorial that a superhero icon must be retired, then at the very least write that hero out with dignity and respect in a way that speaks to everything that character meant to readers. In other words, make it a proper passing of the torch that ushers in the new hero's era. The publisher has to actually commit to the change. This would be far better, I think, than resorting to the vicious cycle of publishers effectively saying, "These ain't your daddy's comics no more! ... no, wait, come back, we're sorry."

That ultimately just results in jerking around both old and new fans alike.

Have a great weekend,

- Matt

Deathjerked

Editor's Note: Today, guest columnist Matt Linkous returns with some thoughts to add to our What Kills a Hero series. - Jim

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Most fans of iconic superheroes tend to feel that there's nothing wrong with any of their favorite characters that some solid writing, dilligent editorial guidance, and dynamic art couldn't fix. Even though some of these characters are long-lived, they're not necessarily tired or "old hat" because of that. When creators hired to work with them do their jobs right, these characters can be awesome. Of course, that means it feels like a slap in the face when your favorite hero or heroine gets bumped off in some big, bloated event.

Then make way for the arrival of the new character bearing the old one's name. There's always a storm of controversy, but also a sense of excitement. Eventually, the new hero matures and grows into his or her new role. The new character is typically around just long enough for a generation of readers to grow attached to him or her as "their" part of a hero's legacy. Given time, even old fans of classic versions of a character may begin to accept the new guy, even if there may be lingering resentment of the stunt that wrote their old favorite out.

Lately, though, the Big Two have proven that while they may introduce new characters, they won't stick with them. Eventually, the new guy is going to be killed off or simply demoted so the old hero can come back. Events like this leave the new hero's fans out in the cold. They were promised a brave new world and loyally supported the new character in fandom and with their wallets.

The old hero's return usually isn't everything it's cracked up to be, either. Bringing an old hero back always seems to demand a ridiculous drawn-out story involving deaths, an improbable return, and maybe an imposter running around. The resurrection story then becomes part of that character's history and backstory, ultimately changing the character.

While it can be fun to see superheroes cheat death, it's happening so many times in the Big Two that it saps the drama and tension out of future encounters. Both companies have even had characters on the page acknowledge death as little more than a revolving door in their universe, which just hangs a huge lampshade on how cheap death in comics has really become. It makes the characters themselves often sound more like posters on a message board than actual superheroes for whom these fantastic situations are reality, not genre rules.

How many times have fans been though deathjerks just in the past 20 years of modern comicbooks? Barry to Wally and back again, Hal to John to Hal to Kyle and back again, Peter to Ben Reilly and back again, Bruce to Azarel to Bruce to Dick Grayson and back again, Steve to Bucky and back again... and that's just for starters. Even B and C-List characters like Blue Beetle and Firestorm have been put through the deathjerk cycle, sometimes many times in the space of just a few years. Sometimes deathjerks create an uncomfortable situation where a non-white or non-male successor to a hero's name has to be bumped off to pave the way for the return of the original (white, male) version.

That's a whole other blog post, but whether intentionally or not, these stories are often ugly and unnecessary.

- Matt

What Kills a Hero: Duela Dent

Editor’s Note: Today Clayton picks up from part one of What Kills a Hero to bring some more ways he thinks characters can truly die.

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Perhaps the fastest way a hero can shuffle off this mortal spinner rack is when a new writer comes in and wastes the characters potential. Nothing can destroy an interesting character faster than apathetic and/or unimaginative writers who fail to pick up the torch handed off to them by the original creator.

An example of this syndrome is one of my favorite character's from the Bronze Age, the Joker's Daughter from DC Comics.

Created by Bob Rozakis during his Bronze Age run on Batman Family and Teen Titans, she was a fun character who claimed to be the daughter of the Joker, but was actually the daughter of Two-Face. Wanting to atone for her father’s crimes, she eventually took on the name Harlequin and joined the Teen Titans using an assortment of Joker inspired gadgets.

When Rozakis left DC, she was mothballed. And if that had been that, all would have been fine, but as other writers brought her back, her origin and personality would become more confused with each appearance. Her Post-Crisis appearances cast her as a middle aged mental patient who may or may not be suffering from schizophrenia. Each new appearance only served to diminish the original potential of the character. Eventually, she was (mercifully) killed in the pages of Countdown.

And while many people may think she didn't have much potential to begin with, I would ask them to examine the popularity of another Batman family femme fatale:

Harley Quinn is spiritually the twin of the Joker’s Daughter. True she is played for more sex appeal, but the Karl Kesel/Terry Dodson Harley Quinn series portrayed her in a way that echoed Duela Dent’s lighthearted first appearances. And I’m not the only one who believes that. Bob Rozakis has said this about the way the Joker’s Daughter has been written since he left DC:

I got a laugh out of it when I first saw it, but I thought they wasted the character. I realize that Marv and company didn't want her around anymore and felt they had to explain her away because of continuity, but they could have just as easily ignored her. Actually, I consider Harley Quinn to be a reincarnation of Duela


Recently, with the DC Relaunch of the Teen Titans, Duela Dent was mentioned as one of the characters DC was considering as a member of the re-imagined Titans team. For whatever reason, they decided against this. Perhaps this is for the best. Judging by the way DC has treated each new incarnation, I don’t know if I would want to see how they botch it again. :D

- Clayton