The only Charlton character left in her original form is Nightshade.

The Quality Characters are all gone save for the long ago revamped Ray(Freedom Fighters massacre) if not unrecognizable. (Although the new Uncle Sam Freedom Fighters minis arw quite good)

The JLI is almost all gone and everything that happened in the post Crisis 80s and 90s is being undone.

It seems to me that characters didn’t die as often when I was a kid. When major ones did, there was usually a good reason. Cases in point: Jean Grey in the Phoenix Saga, or Supergirl and Flash in Crisis.

Nowadays, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. J’onn J’ozz went through a major visual overhaul not long ago, complete with new costume, mini-series, and action figure. When all three bombed with fans, DC simply kills him off.
In the 60′s, he once quit the JLA and was not seen again in a prominent DCU role until 1984.

This is how “faded” characters should be treated: Leave ‘em in limbo until someone latches on. Ted Kord might have returned recently only to die again, but it was sort of left up in the air. Again, a window of opportunity for another writer should Jaime Reyes go the way of Connor Hawke. Leave the hero or villain an “out” so the reader will keep reading instead of becoming upset at all the pointless carnage.

In the end, death has become a fad, the latest sales tool used to attract new readers. I believe Vic Sage may be back if Renee Montoya doesn’t sell enough comics as a character. Even Max Lord might return as a good guy if a popular writer convinced editors that he/she could pull it off convincingly.

That said, don’t believe this stuff about Final Crisis being part of “trilogy sequels” to the original 1985 work.

Crisis was Marv Wolfman’s baby, his great attempt at redefining the DCU. Identity Crisis was all about the heroes’ private lives and a grisly exercise in “shock deaths.” Infinite Crisis was DC basically undoing Wolfman’s series right down to the ending. Final Crisis is a follow-up to Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers mini-series, later tweaked to include events such as J’onn’s death and Barry’s return.

Don’t believe the hype, guys.

1. During 52, it seemed clear that Ralph Dibny was going to become the next Dr. Fate. This would have been a great development for that character! Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way.

2. When Jason Todd turned into Red Robin, I was finally happy with his coming back to life. I thought it was a very clever use of the character and helped to further define him. Only for him to toss the costume out issues later. Ugh!

There are more, but too sad to type it out. LOL

I never said I was against growth or change. Somehow, I doubt your definition of “organic” would fit with mine.

Let’s start with one of the most controvertial. Sue Dibny. In the pages of Identity Crisis, Sue Dibny is killed off in the opening chapter, and her back story filled in across the rest of the mini-series. She is treated as the murder victim in an episode of “Murder She Wrote” or “Law and Order.” The problem with this portrayal is that in those shows, the victim is not one of the regular cast. Sue is part of the regular cast of the DCU. She is part of the overall story. And has been for decades. To use her as the murder victim in a story like this is disrepectful of the character, not “organic”. That doesn’t even get to the retroactive flashback about what Dr Light supposedly did to her. That act does not belong in a comic book at all.

How about Superman of Earth 2. I had no problem with Earth 2 merging with Earth 1, and the writers leaving him in limbo, never to be seen again 20+ years ago. It seemed a reasonable and respectful way to end his career and give DC what it needed, one modern day Superman. Bringing him back recently just to have him die a few issues later in Infinite Crisis just felt cheap.

Evolution is how we got the original Titans where they are now. Dick, Donna, Garth, Wally, Roy have grown up. I’ve enjoyed watching that happen. One day DC suddenly realized they no longer had any young teen sidekicks. So they created some. Tim Drake Robin, Superboy, Impulse. These new versions/characters were so popular that fans demanded they be teamed up to replace the then pathetic grouping of unknown characters as the Titans. We got Young Justice. A great light hearted story. But DC decided they “must grow up”. They blurred the ages and mixed them with the Titans of the 80s. Organic? Changing Impulse’s name twice? Making Impulse serious? Neither of these is in his character. Superboy and Impulse are dead. Robin acts like an adult. Funny thing is, DC suddenly no longer has any young teen sidekicks. Looks like DC forgot why they were created.

Lets look at my other argument. Marketing. Certain characters cannot maintain a monthly comic. Hawkman for instance, just had his cancelled again. But DC believes in him, so he’s still around. As I stated, Firestorm and Superboy had solo titles which reached issue 100. That is huge. Impulse’s title ran for 77 issues. It means there is a market for these characters. It is not logical to eliminate a property that can make you money. Which leads me back to the Question. While the gradual onset of cancer may be organic, marketingwise his death makes no sense. I doubt Question could maintian a monthly comic, but a mini-series here, a special there could be profitable. It worked for Lobo for a long time.

Finally, the JSA. DC hasn’t known what to do with the JSA since the first Crisis. They sent the whole team to limbo at one point. Several have died in crossover events since. Now they only have 3 original members left. Yet the concept has been turned into one of DCs best received books. If they had all been killed off previously, we would not have this book.

Anyway, I agree. DC’s really done a number of the Charlton characters over the past few years. You should add Judomaster and Peacemaker to the list of dead characters (both were killed in Infinite Crisis #7, following Ted Kord and before the Question). The only character to remain relatively untouched is Nightshade, although the original Peacemaker has since returned, and apparently there are plans for Captain Atom in the Superman titles down the line.

Have a good day.
John Cage

Everybody dies in the comics, and they always come back…Jason Todd, Bucky, now Barry Allen. As Miry Clay mentioned, just about every member of the classic JLA has been dead at least once.

It’s cliche. At least when Barry died in the Crisis, it had some meaning, but ever since the whole comic-death-as-ongoing-gimmick schtick started (with Superman?) it’s just become trite.

I disagree with DC; I don’t think it’s ‘the way the stories are written’; I think DC’s covering for the fact that they have no editorial direction and rely on stunts. (And I say this as a longtime DC fan.) I think DiDio needs to go, though…I have not actually enjoyed a DC storyline in years. Just my two cents, though.

When you add that to their current run at killing the Titans generation, the shredding of the Charlton characters, and the branding characters as “redundant”, if I were Captain Marvel, and especially members of his family, I’d be extremely neverous.

Bringing Ollie, Hal, and Barry back seems to herald a return to the Silver Age…what a horrible time to kill off J’onn. He’ll be back. But will I care?