It certainly doesn't help matters that the revolving door has made its way to other mediums. When it comes to killing off characters, it's best to kill off incidental characters who would have a fighting chance of staying dead. Offing them in the most mundane way possible also helps. Though, we've seen with Fett that such a thing matters not. Same with Maul. Obviously, if being bifurcated and tossed down a shaft is survivable, then let's bring back Jango Fett! Decapitation is but a flesh wound! When Heaven has a revolving door, the concept of death in fiction no longer has any meaning. It lacks impact. Instead of dying and staying dead, characters are dead-until-we-bring-them-back, usually with some flimsy excuse for their resurrection, or simply no explanation at all, in the case of Maul. I could go into explicit detail of the organ systems that would have been damaged, if not irreparably, but unless people want me to, I shall refrain. I will say this, though: Spider-crab Maul will be pooping in a bag for the rest of his Force-forsaken life.
Most of the time, but not always! For Marvel Garth Ennis' Punisher Max run is a case in point, similarly dead villains in DC's Jonah Hex do not return, they are simply replaced by living ones that then (mostly) get offed by Hex. Then going further afield, off the top of my mind: Franco-Belgian stories - IR$, Scorpion, Thorgal, XIII 2000AD: Dredd - numerous dead non-returning characters here, ABC Warriors, Stickleback, Nikolai Dante (save for 1 killer exception) Sinister Dexter, Strontium Dog, Zombo Vertigo: 100 Bullets, Scalped, Preacher, The Losers Icon: Criminal, Powers Image: Fell, Chew, Elephantmen Independents - Gravel, Metabarons, Jennifer Blood, Battlefields, Grimjack Brit stuff: Johnny Red, Charley's War, Grandeville I'd add the above list is far from exhaustive and spans numerous genres.# Basically, depart from the superhero genre and its close allies and all bets are off!
Perhaps, however we really can't technically prove that they will never bring them back in the future
By the virtue that the bulk of those stories are creator-owned and have a definite end point - I can! EDIT: If you enjoy comics you ought to check them out, if nothing else it'll be fun.
I'll add to also look at Coop's recommendations, with Invincible being a rare case of a superhero book that rewrites the rulebook for superheroes such as it is.
I'd add Watchmen to the superhero roster as well - yeah, they're going against his wishes and expanding on it at the moment, but whatever else happens, I don't think they'd be so stupid as to bring anyone back to life.
Watchmen's one of those technically brilliant stories that leaves me cold Coop, I can appreciate the artistry involved - and Gibbons does great imagery - but overall, it's not one of those stories I'd class myself as a fan of. But yeah, probably ought to be in the growing list - which'll expand quite a bit if we keep going!
Most of my friends who ask about SW know something of the EU, but the ones who are actaully interested enough to ask, will not realize there is so much involved. Usually goes something like: "So I heard about Han and Leia having kids. Can you elaborate?" "How much time do you have?"
Going even further Saruman even monologued the whole plot for Obi-wan at 1 point (though from his perspective I am still not sure why he would do this) and the jedi still seemed clueless! Its funny you mention juvenile takes, as I have always felt it ironic that the Clone Wars TV show designed for "juveniles" does a more adult, believable and sympathetic take on the whole PT saga than all 3 prequel films.
I read lots of comics in where dead is indeed dead. I was just speaking in general terms. I know not all comics are like that.
This discussion makes me think of Season 1 of Heroes. I thought it was brilliant - a lot of characters died. Then they brought them all back to life in the first episode of Season 2.........talk about a let down.
I only just realized the insane glory of this sentence... if you don't mind I think I'll have to give that (sans context) to my students sometime and ask them to come up with a context where it actually makes sense.
Thanks. There's a general tendency to equate superheroics as the entirety of comics. It's an outlook I tend to object to purely because the medium offers so much more than a single genre or bag of tricks. SW is probably best dubbed pulp SF where villains return from the dead - perhaps on the basis of we didn't see a body, therefore no death, though I know you can have a corpse and still death may not take, twas' an imposter or other illusion!
Though, as a superhero series, some resurrections would be expected - but all? Does seem like overplaying the hand so to speak. My wife loved Heroes, I couldn't get into it at all, I think the problem, unlike my wife, was I was very familiar with the concepts therefore it didn't come across as all that.
