Comic Book Heroics, Fatality, and Firefly by RocketJock

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Comic Book Heroics, Fatality, and Firefly

POSTED BY: ROCKETJOCK
UPDATED: Thursday, October 6, 2005 02:49
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VIEWED: 1517
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Wednesday, October 5, 2005 7:18 PM

There will be spoilers before this posting is done. Be warned.

I grew up with American superhero comics in what is now called the "Silver Age". There were certain rules to comics then; we all knew them:

#1: The Hero never dies.
#2: The Hero never kills.

There were exceptions, of course; but they were rare. In Legion of Super-Heroes Lightning lad died in the line of duty. Later his teammate Star Boy was expelled from the LSH for taking a life in self-defense, a surprisingly adult topic for a kid's book.

But, because it was a kid's book, it wasn't long before Lightning Lad was restored to life, Star Boy was readmited on some pretext, and everyone tried to ignore that either storyline had ever happened. The status quo was safe.

All the comic publishers knew the rules, all of them obeyed them. Marvel Comics spent the sixties breaking plenty of old rules, but the big two weren't among them.

Then, in 1967, an upstart publisher named Tower Comics broke the rules. They killed a hero. His name was Menthor,a member of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. agents, and his death was particularly brutal: He was shot in the back, several times, but still managed to trigger a booby-trap before his fellow heroes could walk into an ambush. The remaining agents then proceeded, with anger and grim tears in their eyes, to herd his murderers into their own deathtrap. In other words, they killed them. It was, after all, war.

I was perhaps ten when I first read that story. I can still feel my eyes growing wide. From that day forward the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. line became very special to me. Because they could die! And more, they could feel the same grief, the same anger, as anyone else.

Which brings me to the passing of Book and Wash. The web has been burning for the last few days with cries of anguish and loss. The pain is very real. I feel it myself.

The pain has caused some to claim that their deaths were worthless, useless, gratuitious, unnecessary.

I disagree. I'm proud of both of them. Our heroes weren't just fighting for their own survival this time. All of them -- even Jayne! -- were battling for a cause bigger than themselves. One worth dying for.

If they believed so, then I can do no less. That comic, so many years ago, taught me something about true heroism, and true sacrifice.

Farewell, my friends, and welcome to Valhalla.

"Die trying is the proudest human thing." -- Robert A. Heinlein

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Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:34 AM

KNIBBLET

Don't think your post is being ignored. It's been read 35 times by the time I post this.

I'm going to digest what you said before I post again. I agree with you though, the deaths of our BDH were NOT in vain. They were not pandering to fans and they weren't without consequence or mourning.

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/MN-Firefly/

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Thursday, October 6, 2005 2:49 AM

CELENTARI

Joss on death:

"I like to make things hard on people. And a lot of people get very angry about it. Very angry. Scary angry. But the fact of the matter is, if nothing is at stake then nothing is at stake. I’m not mean. I don’t want to just willy-nilly go around killing people, but I want stories that resonate. If they’d said ‘Don’t kill anybody’ in The Godfather [he leans forward and whispers] it wouldn’t have been that good."

Completely agree.

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