Dead again, (and again and again and so on...)

So huge surprise and spoilers, DC has done it again. That's right kids DC in a bold move to innovate their dramatic plots (i.e. make a quick buck off of sensationalizing a story element that will most likely be retconned, or modified in the story as to have not happened). Yep another "big character" in the DC universe has been killed. And it's real permanent like. You know like when Darkseid fried Batman with his omega beams in final crisis, he never, oh wait. yeah he came back. Well surely when Superman met his end at the hands of Doomsday it was the end of the man of steel but yeah even with 4 replacement superman Kal-El is still flying high as is his cousin killed in Crisis #7 never to return. Same with Flash Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, wait am I detecting a pattern here? (Spoilers ahead!)

So now it's Selena Kyle's turn at the old wheel of mortality. Capped in the head by the Joker, in so many previews, and with no way out, except they have already alluded that someone stole Ms. Kyle's identity so.. yeah. Even without that I have a hard time buying that this is the last we will see of Selena Kyle or the Catwoman identity. But this is the eternal cycle of comic history play up a story for it's shocking twist or for the death of an important character, watch the fans (and peripheral readers) freak out maybe buy a few issues and repeat, with the occasional dumbass believing that this will be a watershed collector's item that they can sell in a few years for some serious cash along with all those episode 1 Jar Jar Binks action figures.

Why go off about this? Why bother? Simple it's what's wrong with the comic industry, especially the big two. The death of a character in a literary work or film works because it normally represents finality. Even though in many cases of classic literature we all know about it ahead of time. Is Mercucio's death in Romeo and Juliet any less tragic because the tale is old enough we all know about it? What about Fredo from the Godfather, or even the character's of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones books? But in those cases they don't come back, Ned Stark's death wasn't some clever ruse to sneak back north and raise an army. Mercucio wasn't actually a clone meaning that the real one can show up in act III to save Romeo from his horrible fate, and the godfather isn't getting retconned to have Fredo dodge the bullet. Yet when A big name in comics die those in the know, know it's only temporary. to quote David Lister "death just isn't the handicap it used to be in the old days." The most memerable and important death I can honestly think of in comics is that of Gwen Stacey.

 Gwen died at the hands of the Green Goblin in Amazing spiderman 121, and why is it so memorable when I don't dare count the times (or care to) that heavy hitters like Doctor Doom, Magneto, or even Superman have died? Why is the girl from spidey's past leave an impression like no other. Simple, it changed the plot of the book, and it has not been reversed. even with the cheap clones of Gwen some writers have used cheaply, Mary Jane became Spiderman's gal, and peter had more emotional baggage due to the trauma. We all know that this is the fate of Emma Stone in the future of the spiderman movies and that' fine because it is part of his story. and a part people will remember more easily than the  spiderclone crap, or one more day for matter.

Nowadays Marvel and DC both try too hard to sensationalize instead of simply telling a story, I mean come on, they even brought back Deadman, a hero who's actual power is being dead.