The Specialists

Hi, I’m Shawn. I understand if you don’t remember me, because I’ve been criminally negligent of this blog for the last month or so. I intend to rectify this, starting now…

I’ve been meaning to write about this subject for a while, but Marvel forced my hand by announcing the upcoming death of Spider-Man. Incredible, right? Why would Marvel put an end to their most famous character? Especially since they’re currently publishing five comics about him every month? They wouldn’t, of course. It’s a load of crap.

Death of Spider-Man

This certainly isn’t the first time that a major comic book character has been sentenced to death. In 1992, DC killed Superman in a much-hyped trade paperback. In 2006, they killed Batman in a much-hyped mini-series. More recently, Marvel killed Captain America at the end of the much-hyped Civil War series. Perceptive readers will notice that all of these events have two things in common: hype, obviously, and the fact that none of those characters stayed dead for very long.

It’s ridiculous to think that a comic publisher will suddenly end an ongoing revenue stream. The only characters that ever really die are the ones that aren’t moving issues. Which means that these over-promoted death events are nothing more than cynical ploys to sell comics.

Let me clarify once again that I don’t have a problem with comic publishers actually making money. That’s what they’re in business for. I get that. But I wish they would maximize their sales by simply publishing good comics, rather than manufacturing these cheap non-events.

The worst part is that these deaths aren’t even targeted at loyal readers. Regular comic readers know that comic book death is almost always temporary. So generally, they’re not going to shell out $4 an issue to read about the death of a character that they don’t already follow, when they know that he’ll just be back in a few months anyway.

The real target of these celebrity deaths are non-comics readers. It’s the guys who used to read comics as  kids, and want to see how their favorite character meets his end. Or the treasure hunters who hope that such a high-profile comic will one day be rare and valuable. You know that these events are directed at the non-comic-buying world when you start to see them mentioned in ill-informed fluff pieces on local news shows. “And now, sad news for comic book fans: Captain America will die in this month’s issue. I guess we all have to go sometime, even if we’re bulletproof.”

So in the end, the loyal readers — the ones who keep the comics publishers in business — have to suffer through an artificial and unsatisfying story line, for the sake of what are essentially tourists. I hope that doesn’t sound elitist. I just don’t like that beloved characters are forced to jump through continuity-cluttering hoops to make a quick buck from people who don’t really care about them outside the one morbid issue that brings them into the comic shop.

A character’s death is a powerful moment. It should mean something. By bringing a character back from the dead, you only cheapen whatever emotion their death initially elicited. Yes, that kind of thing happens all the time in comics. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the nature of the beast. But these high-profile celebrity deaths take a lazy plot device and turn it into a marketing scheme. It’s the ultimate example of sacrificing artistic integrity for commercial gain.

I know I’m tilting at windmills. Nothing’s going to change. And if it’s narrative integrity that I want, I’m probably looking in the wrong genre. It’s just frustrating, because it doesn’t have to be that way.

Anyway, make sure to check back in three weeks for the Death of Max.

Shawn

(Just kidding.)