Why DEAD should mean DEAD!

I am a firm believer in the "dead is dead" policy Marvel had a few years back. I really wish they hadn't gone back on it.

I believe death in comics should be permanent for several reasons:

When you are trying to recapture the past, like the recent return of Hal Jordan, I think you are simply catering to the desperate fans who can't or won't move on. I am a big proponent of books moving on, so going back to the past for nostalgia is just recycling old ideas with a slightly fresh twist. In my opinion it usually fails, as shown in the recent Green Lantern. Hal is now officially the most boing character in the DCU again... and it only took 7 issues!

Death in comics becomes trivial if everyone (or almost) comes back. It looses its effectiveness as a storytelling tool because there's no permanence. Why get pissed because So-and-so's dead when they're eventually going to be back?

Bucky's death was a retcon itself... so all Ed did was alter that. Jason Todd's death had relevance to Batman and his entire cast. The return of such a pivotal death takes away from the "realism" of Batman (he's more realistic than Spidey!) and adds nothing to the mythos. Batman's GREATEST failure was his inability to protect and save Jason. Now it's undone... so what lesson was learned? Why should Batman worry about his helpers when they can just come back?

Sometimes they are handled well (Bucky) and other times not (Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Jason Todd... all DC books... Hmmmmmm...)... but overall I think death in comics should be a LAST resort for the writers... and have SOME permanence to it.

Otherwise it's a temporary gimmick. At best.

A List characters.... B Listers... where do they fit?

The ICONS are characters that ANY non-comic book fans (like your grandmother) have no problem recognizing.
Examples (and there are only four): Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Spiderman.

There are some up and coming icons... Wolverine, Hulk, and Robin the Boy Wonder.


A Characters
These are characters non-comic book fans would recognize but might have some trouble identifying. They can sustain a solo series.

Examples: Fantastic Four, Captain America, Catwoman, Daredevil, Lex Luthor, the Joker, Green Goblin, Supergirl.


B Characters
These are characters that roughly 90% of people buying comics would recognize. They might or might not be able to sustain a solo series.

Examples: Maritan Manhunter, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, Punisher, Thor, Batgirl, Nightwing, Dr. Doom, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Captain Marvel (Shazam) and Iron Man


C Characters
These are characters that might be hard for the casual comic book fan to identify or are currently very popular. Some might be able to sustain a solo series (most have had one or even several).

Examples: Black Canary, the Atom, Elektra, Spider-Girl, Jean Grey, Spectre, Deadpool, Nick Fury, Sgt Rock, Namor, Venom, Emma Frost, Hawkeye, Cyclops, Ms Marvel, Storm, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, Superboy, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider Woman, Moon Knight, Cable, Black Panther, Steel, Sub-Mariner.


D Characters
Decent characters that are primarily used as "extra's" in books (especially team books) and who cannot sustain a solo series.

Examples: Blue Beetle, Susnspot, Artemis, Deadman, Booster Gold, Warpath, Kitty Pride, Nightcrawler, Wasp, Hank Pym, Shanna, Wildcat, Hercules, Hourman, Quicksilver, Psylocke, Beast, Kid Flash, Diamondback, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Firestorm, Vision, Union Jack, Captain Britain, Plastic Man, Elongated Man.


E Characters
These are the bottom of the barrel. Used as cannon fodder when companies want to show death still means something in comics.

Examples: Kole, the Spot, D-Man, Black Lightning, Sersi, Gilgamesh and pretty much everyone else not named.


I've tried to only list heroes unless the villain warrants special attention like The Joker or Lex Luthor.

Agree? Disagree?