Whats the best way to kill a character?

[Symbiotica]

Give Bendis their title.

HA! Beat you to it, Gambit!

ROTFL!!!!

Just let Bendis near it, period, and it dies.

I dunno, I thought "Wanted"s recent death-by-carnivorous-giant-octopus escapade was pretty sweet. [great post by the way, Dread.]

 

[Hyper Venom 2.0]

You could always spend half a year up until your anniversary issue telling people "ONE OF THESE FIVE MAJOR CHARACTERS ARE GOING TO DIE!!!" trying to convince people that there's actually some chance it might be someone other than the underused fan-favorite who you refuse to admit you don't actually legally own, and then underscore the crassness of the entire enterprise by having the other four characters not even have ****-all to do with said anniversary issue.

Shall I assume you're talking about Angela in Spawn#100? Because I'm inclined to agree.

 

[Pyro Man]

I think of Superman and Colossus myself when I think of good deaths (good as in they were done well) I don't even like Hawkeye and I thought his death was stupid. I think that when a charcter dies for some greater cause, like dying to save many more people. I know that leaves it open and its been done alot, but I think the right writers can pull it off. One charcter I think they should kill off (even though its DC) is Wonder Woman. I think shes great and all but I think it would be big to get alot of peoples attention. I'll say one thing I would love to see a character die and stay dead, I think that would make thier death alot more meaningful since death in comics means nothing anymore.

I agree as awesome as colossus is liked the way he died and really wouldnt have minded if he were to stay dead but im ok that hes back. But i really like deaths where the character sacrifices their lives for lives of many others.

 

[stiltman]

I have a bit of a gripe with the whole killing-for-the-sake-of-killing thing too. You know Hawkeye, Vision, Ant-Man, and Thor are all coming back. Hawkeye's "death" was completely hokey to begin with, and since the whole storyline revolved around a warped reality, whether it actually happened or not is in question. And you knew the Thing's "death" in FF was only temporary from the very issue he "died". I suppose there's a sense of shock that the writers are trying to get across, but after 44 years of it, and countless characters killed and ressurrected, the shock has long since worn off.

If they handle the story seriously and a character dies a heroic death or some such, then it shouldn't be touched. Jean Grey, for example, was only ever interesting after she died. A boring character for the most part, but her legacy and the effect of her death on Scott made for better storylines than anything she's been in herself. I think she's dead now(again), but the latest issue of Astonishing X-Men cracks a funny joke about that.

 

[fifthfiend]

Shall I assume you're talking about Angela in Spawn#100?

Could well be, Mr. V, could well be.

As for how....it depends on the character, and that aforementioned story. Again, it should not feel like the story was made SOLELY to cause the death of that character, but that the story was moving, and still moves, independantly of that character, and then that character was merely a casualty of it, like a war movie. All deaths should not be the same, just as all stories should not be the same. So, it's entirely variable.

Again, I'd be inclined to agree, except that when this does happen, it only happens to the disposable side character with minimal marketability. If a writer actually had the guts to do something like this with Captain America or Spider-Man or somebody, it'd be awesome, but aside from that it just ends up seeming hollow and forced.

So far the only character death I ever really enjoyed was in Stormwatch, where Ellis took an entire established team, burned it to the ground, and started a brand-new team with a bunch of guys that had been around for maybe a year. Loeb (Loeb?) gets credit for doing sort of the same thing with the JLA in Obsidian Age, but a lot of it gets taken away because the dead guys all came back like two issues later.

Another good Authority example is Jenny Sparks' death at the end of the millenium. You could argue that it had to happen, but honestly, if it'd been Marvel's character they would have just found some bull**** excuse to have her just keep on living so they could go on selling Union Jack T-shirts and keep everybody who saw Authority: The Movie from getting their poor little heads all confused.

 

[Elijya]

I'm still sticking with the ruptured anal cavity thing

 

[The Navigator]

Here's an interesting way to kill a character: have him sell what makes him powerful on E-bay because he's "sick of it all," give the money to charity, have some upstart drag his name through the mud, and end up SLITTING HIS WRISTS!!

DAMN YOU, MILLAR!!!

 

[The Navigator]

ROTFL!!!!

Just let Bendis near it, period, and it dies.

I dunno, I thought "Wanted"s recent death-by-carnivorous-giant-octopus escapade was pretty sweet. [great post by the way, Dread.]

Yeah....that's why Ultimate Spider-Man is going along smoothly....

 

[fifthfiend]

Here's an interesting way to kill a character: have him sell what makes him powerful on E-bay because he's "sick of it all," give the money to charity, have some upstart drag his name through the mud, and end up SLITTING HIS WRISTS!!

DAMN YOU, MILLAR!!!

When/where did this happen?

 

[Elijya]

yeah, I was confused by taht too. What Character are you saying Millar did taht too?

 

[Anubis]

I think he's talkin about Venom in MK Spider-Man. But maybe he's exagerating a bit.

 

[Symbiotica]

He should have spoilered that, but Rabbit is talking about New "Improved" Venom, and yes that's pretty much what went down, no exaggeration.

The only thing is, part of the symbiote was [almost] auctioned on eBay in the Tsunami Venom title, not in MK-SM. It was sold at a live auction there. I have to admit the Supervillain Auction lit by candles mounted on human skulls was a cute touch.

Even if I do find the idea of Eddie auctioning off what amounts to his best and only friend for cash to be an unrealistic, not to mention somewhat crass, idea. Millar fumbled the ball with this one.

 

[Anubis]

Why did so many go right to the anal rape? Makes you wonder about the state of a fanboy's minds.

 

[Elijya]

mega bump!

 

[Anubis]

I saw that they were gonna get rid of old threads so I went looking though all the ones I started and bumped a few that seemed interesting. I don't make many, but I like having access to them. For old times sake and whatever.

 

[Anubis]

Same as before.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Why is this thread so important to you?

 

[Roughneck]

Say I had to kill Archangel (I would flat out refuse) But, Some evil guy has come in and become a majority share holder of Worthington industries. He is now manipulating the company to do evil things like child prostitution in Europe, etc. His ultimate plan is world domination and it looks likely. A fight breaks out on an airplane and Warren gains the upperhand and knocks the bad guy out. The villain is slowly regaining conciousness and the only sure fire way to stop him is death. Warren grabs control of the plane (the piolet's jumped a while back) And heads for a mountain. Angel then leaps clear of the plane, refusing to give up, and as we see the plane explode into the mountain we also witness Warren plumet to his death as his wings were injured in the fight.

He is a hero cause he saves the world and the death is ironic as his only power is flight and it fails him when he most needs it.

Child Postition in Europe?

The hell was I doing....I still kinda like the whole general idea....but now, three years later I would rething some of this

 

[Anubis]

It's the first thread I bump when I'm bored and theres nobody online to make dik jokes with.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's kinda sad.

Hey, so why do you think they really call him "Mr. Fantastic"?

 

[Anubis]

Because of his Fantastic Posture?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No, it was actually just an arbitrary name someone came up with.

 

[Anubis]

I see. I woulda just called him Rubber dicky.

 

[Roughneck]

he makes bath time lotsa fun

 

[The Geek Vault]

Have them sacrifice themselves to save others.