JayToddz for the masses

It’s Comical when Super Heroes Die: article on Jason’s death in 1989

SUNDAY MAIL (QLD)
May 14, 1989 Sunday

IT’S COMICAL WHEN SUPER HEROES DIE

SOURCE: QNP

BYLINE: JUDDERY M

LENGTH: 1461 words



SUNDAY MAIL MAG

May 14

PAGE 12

It’s comical when super heroes die Though his death is unknown to all but one, he will be mourned.

Trust us, he WILL be mourned

By MARK JUDDERY

IT WAS a moment of poignancy, heroism, violence and increased sales for The Uncanny X-Men.

Marvel Comics’ “”X-Men”, about a team of mutant super heroes, is the highest selling comic book in the English language, a position it has held for many years.

In issue 247, the most recent edition, the incredible happened when a giant, mutant-killing robot called Master Mold went on the rampage.

As usual, the good guys won _ but this time, one of them died in the process.

The casualty was Rogue, a super-tough young punk from Mississippi, who has been one of America’s most popular super heroines in the Eighties.

When Rogue was introduced in 1981, she was not very heroic. Indeed, she was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, with the ability to absorb the powers and memories of anyone else, knocking them out in the process.

She had become carried away while absorbing the powers of a super heroine, causing her to keep all her memories and powers (including super-strength and flight) permanently.

With these powers, she could defeat nearly anyone _ and then steal their powers, temporarily, at the merest touch.

She eventually realised that it was no fun being homicidal and decided to use her considerable powers as one of the good guys. She had been with the X-Men ever since, and at one time came up against the unbeatable menace of Famine in the 1985 “”X-Men: Heroes For Hope” comic book, the proceeds of which went to Ethiopia.

As an X-Person, she has also been a campaigner for literacy and the special Olympics.

Rogue is the latest in a long line of popular super heroes who have died. Comic readers were still recovering from the death of Robin the Boy Wonder only months ago.

Robin, whose bright costume and manner had always lightened Batman’s pessimistic outlook, was murdered in a fight with Batman’s old enemy, the Joker. What made it especially poingnant was the reason he died.

DC Comics, publishers of Batman, were presented with a cliffhanger ending, in which Robin was fearing for his life. To decide what would happen next, a phone poll was conducted, in which 10,000 readers participated. The result: a narrow majority wanted him dead. DC Comics set about pleasing the readers.

In the nearly 50 years that Batman has been fighting crime, the late Robin had been at his side for a mere handful.

He came to replace Dick Grayson, the original Robin, who had left Batman some years earlier.

The new Robin, Jason Todd, was a dead end kid who met his dark-suited mentor while trying to steal tyres from the Batmobile.

He died trying to save the life of his long-lost mother. But both were killed in a bomb blast.

As with many heroes, his death was basically suicide _ but it was noble suicide. It has been a popular plot device for years: if a character is becoming dull, kill him.

A few years ago, Marvel Comics dealt in this way with a character called Captain Marvel (who shared nothing but his name with the famous “”Shazam!” character). Marvel’s Marvel had gone through his own series and was no longer as popular as he had been.

The problem was that, with his miraculous powers, he had the habit of dying and being resurrected.

It had happened a few times in the past and the readers expected it from him (which is probably why he was being killed: most people could no longer worry for the character).

Therefore, his final death had to be a major event. To emphasise this, Marvel published a “”graphic novel” _ a glossy, oversized comic book _ entitled “”The Death of Captain Marvel”.

The story (well written and drawn by Jim Starlin, the same man who wrote the means to Robin’s demise) detailed the Captain’s calm, peaceful death from an alien form of cancer.

In the story, many of his colleagues said their final, moving goodbyes.

””Death touches us all in different ways,” said the Captain.

“”Some barely feel it passing. Others, it strikes right in the face.”

“”The death of Captain Marvel” ended with a hopeful twist, which indicated that life is just something we all pass through before going to a less painful place.

Captain Marvel, like Robin, seems to stand no chance of being brought back to life _ and so it should be.

At the risk of sounding bloodthirsty, super heroes should prove that even they have human elements, otherwise why should we worry if Spiderman is being dangled helplessly over a vat of acid, or if Superman has swallowed a jar of Kryptonite?

The “”murder of a super hero” motif happened as early as 1943 in “”Police Comics”, published by the long-defunct Quality Comics Group.

The hero was 711, a non-superman who would regularly escape from prison for a crime he did not commit. Once outside, he would put on a purple costume and fight crime _ and then he would go back to prison.

After a time of sharing the pages of “”Police Comics” with such legends as Plastic Man and the Spirit, 711, was gunned down by a racketeer.

The caption wasted no tears, explaining: “”Yes, readers, 711 is DEAD! He was no superhuman being. He was alive, so the day had to come when he would die. It was his fate, his DESTINY. And if you look back to the preceding panel, you will see DESTINY in the background, that daring new character who starts where 711 left off.”

Despite such events, super hero deaths remained unusual until the 1970s, when Marvel and DC Comics _ unsure of what to do with the heroes of the 1940s _ allowed some of them to die as they entered old age.

However, the series which murdered the most super heroes appeared in 1985.

“”Crisis on Infinite Earths”, written by Marv Wolfman and “”pencilled” by George Perez, is arguably the greatest super hero series and most important comic book series of recent years.

It resulted from DC Comics’ aims to “”simplify” their super hero “”universe” and totally redefine it. This involved, among other things, the destruction of unnecessary characters.

So much occurred in the 12-part series that heroes were killed hastily and remorselessly. Most of them were given little or no fanfare, owing to lack of space. The only exceptions were Supergirl and the Flash.

The cover of “”Crisis” No 7 showed a tearful Superman holding the corpse of his cousin, Supergirl, in his arms. A huge number of their colleagues stood in the background, heads bowed.

Supergirl (real name Kara) died while saving Superman from death and destroying much of the villain’s handiwork. As her friend Batgirl said in her eulogy: “”Let her courage give us courage. Let her love give us love, and let her hope give us hope. Kara is a hero. She will not be forgotten.”

The next issue focused on the death of the Flash, after nearly 30 years of heroics.

Unlike Supergirl, the Flash died with only one witness _ Supergirl’s killer, no less _ after destroying an anti-matter cannon which was aimed at the universe.

Although underplayed, his death scene was almost as powerful as Supergirl’s.

“”He has died fighting for what he believed in,” ran the caption, “”and thus he died, without regret. Though hisdeath is unknown to all but one, he will be mourned. Trust us, he WILL be mourned.”

The Flash was replaced in his bright red costume by his own young sidekick, previously known as Kid Flash, so news isn’t all bad for Boy Wonders.

Thus, Rogue has a great deal of company in the super hero afterlife. Right now, she is probably shaking hands with (and accidentally stealing memories from) the Flash, Robin or the original Green Arrow.

In the super hero business, people do not always stay dead. The classic example is another member of the X-Men, Phoenix, whose death was mourned for years _ before it was revealed that it was an alien entity in disguise who had died. The heroine was alive and well.

There are more than a few heroes who have returned from death. The original Human Torch died, but _ being an android _ was able to return to “”life” under the new, equally heroic identity of the Vision.

A group of misfit heroes called the Doom Patrol allowed themselves to be blown to bits by villains in 1968, but one of them _ a robot _ returned in another body. Many of the others also survived.

Even Rogue, along with the rest of the X-Men, was destroyed about a year ago, only to be brought back to life with the aid of magic.

Despite what one might think, being a super hero is obviously an incredibly safe line of work. Even if you die, you can come back.

However, it seems unlikely that Rogue will be able to do so.

Superman, who has never been killed, and Phoenix, who has, but was reincarnated.

Kazar the Savage, who appears to be in good health.