No good superhero stays dead.

I love comics. I really do. I believe as a medium "sequential art" has an almost unsurpassed ability to display both information, emotion and ideas with no limit on imagination or ingenuity. That said, almost all of comics is dominated by two companies: DC and Marvel. And the overwhelming majority of their output is part of one genre: superhero comics. And I like superheros. I do. But there are issues with the genre. Case in point: death. Superheroes die, and they have an annoying habit of coming back to life. If you're going to kill someone off, at least let them stay dead. It really stretches suspension of disbelief to the breaking point and beyond. Anyway, here are some thoughts on specific people.

Superman

Who He Is: Probably the most iconic and recognizable super hero of all time.

Death: Beaten to death by newly created villain Doomsday. The world mourns, people crap money buying comics.

Time Spent Dead: About a year.

Resurrection: As Superman is basically a solar battery, judicious application of Kryptonian technology is able to recharge him to life, albeit without most of his power. He later gets his powers back while fighting against Cyborg Superman near the end of the storyline. The Death and Return of Superman story is sort of the classic example of a big marketing gimmick. The same storyline that killed him off in the beginning brought him back at the end.

A number of characters were introduced, however, that are still with us: Steel, Superboy, Doomsday and Cyborg Superman.

Rating: I'd give it a C-. It has had a lasting impact, creating a number of new characters, (which comics sorely needs) both heroes and villains. At the end of the day, it was basically a massive marketing ploy.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Who He Is: A staple of the DCU, a Justice League member, with hundreds of issues of his own various titles under his belt.

Death: After his home city of Coast City was completely destroyed by Cyborg Superman during the Death of Superman saga, Hal kinda lost his marbles for a while. Determined to undo the murder of 7 million people by any means necessary, he betrays the Green Lantern Corps in an attempt to obtain enough power to rewrite history. Becomes super villian known as Parralax and kills various Green Lanterns and Guardians of the Universe in his new found mania. Later, in a moment of self sacrifice, dies to save the Earth from a creature (a Sun-Eater) that was, as you might imagine from the name, eating the Sun.

Time Spent Dead: Hard to explain. (Basically three years) (But also eight years)

Resurrection: After dying, Hal was chosen to become the new Spectre, a supernatural spirit of vengeance. So, at this point Hal as a person is still dead, but we can consider him alive as he is still an active character. About five years after this, it was retconned that Hal had not gone insane per-se, but had been possessed by an entity known as Parallax. After being purged of this entity Hal is freed from The Spectre and returns to life. Through a second series of retcons we find out that the Green Lanterns he killed are, like, still alive and stuff. And then he rescues them, thereby resolving him of a great deal of moral responsibility. Batman seems to be the only one that remembers Hal trying to blow up the Universe.

Rating: This one is really absurd, even by comic book standards. Well intentioned, but completely all over the place. Johns continued presence in the Green Lantern Universe is great, though, once he got this out of his system. I'll give it a C for good intentions.

Superboy

Who he was: A clone of Superman and Lex Luthor created during the Death of Superman saga. Bounced around in his own series for a while, went through a number of costume changes before settling into the Titans.

Death: Killed by Superboy Prime during the Infinite Crisis storyline. Died a hero fighting against impossible odds. The kind of death Superheroes envy.

Time Spent Dead: Four years

Resurrection: Superheroes from the future, the Legion of Super-Heroes, are locked in a struggle against Superboy Prime, who is basically unstoppable. At this point he has survived a release of energy equivalent to the Big Bang and an explosion capable of destroying the entire Milky Way galaxy. They send one of their number back in time, who then retrieves Superboy's body and places him in the same chamber that was able to recharge Superman back to life. Back in the future, after being recharged for 1,000 years, Superboy pops back up and keeps on fighting Superboy Prime. After Superboy Prime is (finally?) defeated, Superboy Regular is then sent back in time to a year after he died.

Rating: Considering the same author killed him, and then later brought him back, the phrase "cheap stunt" comes to mind. And time travel is kind of the ultimate escape hatch for a comic book writer. I'll give it another C-.

Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)

Who he was: A staple of the DCU, he kinda fluctuated in purpose. His first big break was as a costar of Green Lantern. He later joined the "grim and gritty" trend with his own Mature Audiences ongoing series. Green Arrow transitioned away from that and become more of a standard superhero. One of the most socially conscious characters in mainstream comics, he routinely rails against "fat cats" and "The Man."

Death: Blown up by a group of eco-terrorists while aboard an airplane.

Time Spent dead: About six years.

Resurrection: Hoo boy...His old friend Hal Jordan, who had gone insane and become almost God like in power, before sacrificing himself to save the Earth, resurrected Green Arrow. To make things more complicated, he did not bring him back to life from when he died, but from an earlier time in his life when they were both at the height of their friendship. He then later had to re-unite with his soul to become a whole person, and is now a mainstay of the DCU.

Rating: Preposterous levels are very high. It was, however, very well written by Kevin Smith. The time he spent dead showed it wasn't just a cheap stunt. I'll give Green Arrow's resurrection a B.

The Spoiler (Stephanie Brown)

Who She Was: A sort of C-grade Batman supporting character. Her big claim to fame was that she was Robin's (Tim Drake) girlfriend.

Death: Murdered by Black Mask, a twisted, sadistic, nihilist gangster.

Time spent dead: about four years (sort of)

Resurrection: Pulled the whole "I wasn't really dead" trick. She was nursed back to health by a friend, cruelly let all her former loved ones believe she was dead for reasons best known to herself. She just recently premiered as the new Batgirl. Oddly, she had been seen as a ghost during the time period she was thought to be dead.

Rating: Considering how much of a minor character she was, bringing her back seems rather pointless in comparison for just creating a new character to fill whatever her role as the new Batgirl is going to be. D.

Jason Todd (aka Red Hood, aka Robin 2 aka "Batman")

Who he was: After the first Robin grew up and became Nightwing, Jason Todd become the new Robin. He was a fairly unpopular character, and when DC later held a poll to decide whether he would live or die, the fans gave him the thumbs down. This paved the way for the new/popular Robin of Tim Drake.

Death: The Joker beat him to a pulp with a crowbar, and then tied him up and set off a bomb. Batman rushed to the scene only to find Jason's lifeless body.

Resurrection: During the Hush storyline, where all of the A list Batman villains united with new villain Hush to (totally) get rid of Batman once and for all (we swear it will work this time), Batman fights what appears to be an adult Jason Todd. In the next issue we find this was just shape shifting Clayface trying to mess with Batman's head.

It was then retconned that it was Jason Todd the first time, and subsequent encounters were actually Clayface. How did Jason come back? Well, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superboy Prime is trapped in a pocket dimension. Everytime he beats agains the walls of his pocket dimension, ripples cause disturbances and shifts throughout the universe. One of these disturbances brought Jason Todd back to life, albeit without most of his faculties. A quick bath in a Lazarus Pit brought him back to 100%. He then became a villian known as Red Hood, had extra-dimensional adventures, tried to become the new Batman and then became Red Hood again.

Rating: The "Superboy Prime punching reality in the face" trick is now derivesly called a "retcon punch." With good reason, the words "really super fucking lazy writing" come to mind. F.

Bucky

Who he was: Captain America's sidekick. Cap's origin story introducing him to post WW2 comics includes Bucky dying whereupon immidaetely after Cap is frozen in ice for twenty years.

Death: In the final days of WW2, a super secret Nazi unmanned plane carrying explosives is launched from an airfield with both Captain America and Bucky hanging on for the ride. Cap falls off into the Arctic ocean as the plan detonates, killing Bucky.

Time Spent Dead: Almost 40 years

Resurrection: Turns out he wasn't really dead. He was frozen in the ice similar to Cap, where the Russians found him and brainwashed him into a living weapon called the Winter Soldier. As the Winter Soldier, Bucky would perform assassinations and secret missions, and then get frozen between missions, causing him to have aged very little in the intervening years. Cap helps free up his mind from the evil Russians' influence and he becomes the new Captain America when Steve Rogers bites the bullet.

Rating: I'll be honest, I haven't been following this one real closely. But bringing Bucky back seems about as necessary as bringing Uncle Ben back. I'm leaving this one rating-less, but my initial thoughts are not good.