A Super-Brief Note Or Two On Marvel’s Latest Character Death

There are around 400 news articles that pop up searching "Fantastic Four" through Google News, so on a sort-of slow news day with the too-dry-for-cable State Of The Union Address on the docket I think Marvel's publicity team should be pretty happy with what the story wrung out of the increasingly geek-friendly mainstream press. A lot of the articles were even aware of the dubious permanency that has come to define super-hero deaths and their employment -- that aspect of the plot point is discussed openly here with writer Jonathan Hickman. I think Marvel might also be encouraged by the interest in the story as a story, the fact that the Fantastic Four comics right now are pretty good examples of serial work in that genre. Twelve-year-old me would have liked them a lot, although I think he might have been frustrated by some of the art. David Uzumeri's close reading of the recent series with this plot point as its focus reveals the multiple ways in which Hickman can bring the character back and make it a story about bringing such characters back. (If nothing else, there's a character with the power to shift realities sleeping a few doors down from where the deceased lay his head.) I still believe the takeaway may be that Marvel has helped create a market that limits the reward that used to be due better-than-usual work, and that drastic ways to goose interest and sales in such titles may be the only tools left to them if they want to move more copies.
 
posted 6:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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