“Heroes in Crisis” Limited Series by Tom King & Clay Mann to Start in September

[Frontier]

Some new victims have been announced:

spoilers:

Apparently Blue Jay, Lagoon Boy, Citizen Steel, and someone with a GL symbol (though who it is is unknown) join Arsenal and Hotshot in getting killed in the massacre.

end of spoilers

From Comics Beat, reporting from a retailer preview (first 17 pages of the book).

spoilers:

L'Gann and Nate? Darn it .

end of spoilers

[byrd156]

All I can do is laugh, who thinks killing all these people is a good idea?

[Zero Hunter]

Some new victims have been announced:

spoilers:

Apparently Blue Jay, Lagoon Boy, Citizen Steel, and someone with a GL symbol (though who it is is unknown) join Arsenal and Hotshot in getting killed in the massacre.

end of spoilers

From Comics Beat, reporting from a retailer preview (first 17 pages of the book).

OK all you King apologists go on and defend this garbage. This is bordering on Bendis level of death count for shock value.

[phantom1592]

All I can do is laugh, who thinks killing all these people is a good idea?

Maybe if they keep them dead.... So far the only one I'll even kind of, sort of miss is the first announcement. Everything after are Z-listers that haven't been used in decades... and weren't very popular the first time round.

Now I like a few a z-listers myself... but if they want to clean out some clutter now and then.... that's the well to draw from. Much better than killing Batman or any of the Green Lanterns only to resurrect them by the end of the year.

[byrd156]

Maybe if they keep them dead.... So far the only one I'll even kind of, sort of miss is the first announcement. Everything after are Z-listers that haven't been used in decades... and weren't very popular the first time round.

Now I like a few a z-listers myself... but if they want to clean out some clutter now and then.... that's the well to draw from. Much better than killing Batman or any of the Green Lanterns only to resurrect them by the end of the year.

There's no way they'll stay dead, it doesn't matter how big or small you are anymore. Sure the smaller you are the longer it will take for you to get back, you'll probably be replaced by new versions a couple times and have a few redesigns but you'll be back eventually. Modern comics are just cycles now with an audience that has grow up with that cycle so we see it over and over.

[Agent Z]

Maybe if they keep them dead.... So far the only one I'll even kind of, sort of miss is the first announcement. Everything after are Z-listers that haven't been used in decades... and weren't very popular the first time round.

Now I like a few a z-listers myself... but if they want to clean out some clutter now and then.... that's the well to draw from. Much better than killing Batman or any of the Green Lanterns only to resurrect them by the end of the year.

Except killing of a bunch of z listers has no impact because they weren't very popular in the first place. At best, the audience will just be apathetic to such a blatantly cheap and lazy move.

Of course, there's the third option of not slaughtering characters wholesale in these types of stories.

[phantom1592]

OK all you King apologists go on and defend this garbage. This is bordering on Bendis level of death count for shock value.

No apologies here. I still think this will suck.

There's no way they'll stay dead, it doesn't matter how big or small you are anymore. Sure the smaller you are the longer it will take for you to get back, you'll probably be replaced by new versions a couple times and have a few redesigns but you'll be back eventually. Modern comics are just cycles now with an audience that has grow up with that cycle so we see it over and over.

they might... When have spoilers:

Lagoon Boy, Blue Jay or Citizen Steel

end of spoilers been seen? Have they even had a Nu52 appearance? Some I don't think I've seen since Infinite Crisis and that was just background shots. I think it'd be more likely to see someone 'take up their mantles' than to see them actually come back.

Except killing of a bunch of z listers has no impact because they weren't very popular in the first place. At best, the audience will just be apathetic to such a blatantly cheap and lazy move.

Of course, there's the third option of not slaughtering characters wholesale in these types of stories.

True. I'll be surprised if anyone cares about ANY of these deaths. Still there is SOME kind of emotional connection to someone you recognize even if they hasn't been in a book in a decade... vs. someone in a generic costume who was created and killed just for that story...

I don't see it being much of a ripple... but it could have been worse.

[SiegePerilous02]

Unless murder mystery premises are going to be banned from mainstream comics altogether, and there's no reason why they should be, some characters are gonna get killed off. It's unavoidable. Making up new characters to kill them off wouldn't get a reaction, and the A-listers would be guaranteed to come back almost as soon as the story was over. So it's the D-listers and below languishing in limbo draw the short straw. Such is their lot in life, a lot of these characters were unlikely to be used again anyway. And death won't prevent them from being used if for some reason a desire for new material springs up.

[Kaijudo]

Unless murder mystery premises are going to be banned from mainstream comics altogether, and there's no reason why they should be, some characters are gonna get killed off. It's unavoidable. Making up new characters to kill them off wouldn't get a reaction, and the A-listers would be guaranteed to come back almost as soon as the story was over. So it's the D-listers and below languishing in limbo draw the short straw. Such is their lot in life, a lot of these characters were unlikely to be used again anyway. And death won't prevent them from being used if for some reason a desire for new material springs up.

Agreed. And we have no idea how the deaths will be handled, as despite so many people talking about what a disaster the book is, nobody has actually, like, read it. But if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say these deaths will be more meaningful and resonate more than the garbage cannon-fodder take that befell so many characters in Infinite Crisis, all in service to just show how tough Superboy Prime was.

[docmidnite]

I’ve been apathetic to event killings since CoIE. Actually by Armageddon 2001 I was done with shock value deaths and shock value gimmicks (like turning heroes into villains) That’s why I mostly gave up on comic books after I turned 13 for years until DC brought back John Stewart thanks to the JLU cartoon.

Well, that and I started getting into sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, etc. once I started high school. Underage clubs and raves were quite the thing when I was a kid, so were all of the reggae/soca/calypso dancehalls, illegal warehouses, and keg parties. But that’s all beside the point.

I can’t think of one DC event where no one was killed.

[Frontier]

Unless murder mystery premises are going to be banned from mainstream comics altogether, and there's no reason why they should be, some characters are gonna get killed off. It's unavoidable. Making up new characters to kill them off wouldn't get a reaction, and the A-listers would be guaranteed to come back almost as soon as the story was over. So it's the D-listers and below languishing in limbo draw the short straw. Such is their lot in life, a lot of these characters were unlikely to be used again anyway. And death won't prevent them from being used if for some reason a desire for new material springs up.

I don't see people declaring that murder mysteries should be banned from comics, but people being tired of killing off characters for shock-value.

spoilers:

And Steel could've totally been used in the JSA again, since he was on Johns' roster later during his run. Ditto with Lagoon Boy as a member of the Aqua-Family.

end of spoilers

[docmidnite]

I also know from past experience, that for every shock value death that people initially hate, there is also going to be a generation that loves it. Look at the mid-90’s for example.

[married guy]

I've ordered the first issue just out of pure morbid curiosity.
I have a horrible feeling no character involved in this book is going to come out of it better off.
I REALLY hope I'm wrong.

[married guy]

To be honest, I'd rather they die than become a murderer. It's easier to bring someone back from the grave than undo an entire period of their history in comics. If the rumors are true about a certain speedster, he would have been better off dead and he's my favorite of them all.

As probably the nuttiest Wally West there is on this continent, I'm gutted say I agree with you.
There is absolutely no coming back for the character if they take him down this route and I'm not interested in reading a repentant murderer Wally serving penance with the Suicide Squad (which I currently find pretty bloody awful).

[LordUltimus]

I can’t think of one DC event where no one was killed.

Does the Technis Imperative count?