💾 Archived View for idiomdrottning.org › superhero-resurrection captured on 2023-11-04 at 11:58:29. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

My two rules for superhero resurrection

There’s too much death & resurrection in comics which lowers the stakes and tension.

The following is completely pointless voidshouting because I have no say whatsoever but if I ever were a comic book editor, here is the rule I’d introduce.

There can only be resurrection if one of the following exceptions apply:

1. The resurrection is within the same issue as the death. “It was only a dream or a trick” is an unavoidable trope. I don’t have to like it but I can live with it. You can tell resurrection stories but only in the scope of a single beat. Don’t fool the audience over a long story. It’s been done.

2. The resurrection is by another artist/writer team, against the first team’s wishes. The main draw of superheroes is the shared universe aspect (which is also true for RPGs, Star Wars/Trek, LotR, christianity, and many other things I’m fascinated by). Seeing many creators in the same playground. It’s unfair to hold an author to a previous author’s shenanigans. You’ve dreamt your whole life of writing the Fantastic Four but Ben is dead? OK, you can bring him back. (Made-up example to avoid spoilers, I’m more into the mutant side of things, I don’t know who have died and not in FF.) Now, I definitively do not like this one.

Please note that both of these exceptions are granted reluctantly. It still sucks. But with them, we can get tension and stakes back while still allowing for the full trope space of superhero comics.