Why does DC like killing off characters so much?

[brandnewfan]

Wally West
Roy Harper
Damian Wayne
Bart Allen
Conner Kent

The list goes on and on and on and on. Nearly every character created has been killed one time or another. Some have been killed more than once. Why? Can’t creators and editorial craft good stories without having to kill somebody? Why does that seem to be their main go-to when they have a big story to tell? Just give us a big story without sticking to anybody. Because when you kill off characters, you’re killing off interest in your brand by the fans of that character.

I’m quickly losing interest in DC.

[HAN9000]

Damian was killed because his creator Morrison didn’t want other writers use him.
Bart Allen was killed because Didio wanted him to replace Wally, hold the place for Barry until they brought Barry back. Obviously that failed and Bart’s book sold so bad. So they had no other ways but to kill him and bring back Wally.

[MajorHoy]

Damian was killed because his creator Morrison didn’t want other writers use him.

Not exactly correct.

Morrison had a long-term story in mind that ended with Damian's death.
And his killing off Damian was no guarantee that other writers wouldn't use him; Morrison didn't own the character, and he would have known damn well that other writers could easily bring Damian back to life whenever they (or DC) wanted to.

[byrd156]

Not exactly correct.

Morrison had a long-term story in mind that ended with Damian's death.
And his killing off Damian was no guarantee that other writers wouldn't use him; Morrison didn't own the character, and he would have known damn well that other writers could easily bring Damian back to life whenever they (or DC) wanted to.

I really wish Morrison got to keep Damian's death. I generally hate character death but if it was the creator's intention then I think it's more than okay.

[goldenknight2018]

because of not enough popular like wally and other b-list heroes, only two biggest most popular heroes are Superman and Batman.
comics once was the best seller from 1940s to late 1960s until sales were drops and into 1970s to 1980s comics get more drops.

for the reason why dc change the origin and history of Superman three time to try to raise high sales from 1986 to 2003 to 2009.

so, dc revamps Superman does not help raise high sales at all. sadly, today Superman not as popular as he was in the ‘40s to the ‘70s

isn't dc own fault characters were not as popular as Batman, even comics were poor sales. so, don't blame dc for what happens. some people don't like buying comics.

[dietrich]

Damian was killed because his creator Morrison didn’t want other writers use him.
Bart Allen was killed because Didio wanted him to replace Wally, hold the place for Barry until they brought Barry back. Obviously that failed and Bart’s book sold so bad. So they had no other ways but to kill him and bring back Wally.

Why did they kill Damian a 2nd time then?

For the record Damian was killed the first time because Morrison didn't want to force other writers to deal with a status quo they might not want to so he decided to leave the place how he found it.,

Morrison specifically mentioned that he knew Scott liked a lone Batman. He explained that he knew Scott wanted to write a batman that was at a different point in his life so he [Morrison] didn't want to saddle him [scott] with a kid he'd be forced to write. nothing to do with not wanting other writers to use him.

[Güicho]

Damian was killed because his creator Morrison didn’t want other writers use him.

Sort of, he didn't want to saddle Batman with a kid and baggage, that later writers would inadvertently start aging, then have to write around and eventually have to kill, so he just did it himself.

[Güicho]

Speaking of funerals..?

As per the march...

Why do some images have Captain Marvel and Beastboy holding the casket, then the same scene (drawing) has Batman and Robin instead?
(also LOL Atom jumped on-board!)

[phantom1592]

Speaking of funerals..?

As per the march...

Why do some images have Captain Marvel and Beastboy holding the casket, then the same scene (drawing) has Batman and Robin instead?
(also LOL Atom jumped on-board!)

Interesting.... I've never seen the Captain Marvel one. And why Beast Boy?? He would have ZERO reason for being there. Robin is questionable but as an A-list pillar of DC, it makes sense even if the specific Robin had little connection with Superman... but Beast Boy?!?


I can only assume that it's a promotional image that had Batman in there... but it doesn't make sense for the character to really be walking down a street like that, so someone did some photoshop magic. The poses area all the same.

[Rincewind]

Speaking of funerals..?

As per the march...

Why do some images have Captain Marvel and Beastboy holding the casket, then the same scene (drawing) has Batman and Robin instead?
(also LOL Atom jumped on-board!)

The top image most likely came from the comic.

The other 2 images were most likely just promotional pieces. There are too many continuity and story reasons that they wouldn't appear in an actual comic.
1. Blue Beetle was in a coma at the time of the funeral
2. Bloodwynd and Martian Manhunter are both shown. At the time MM was disguised as Bloodwynd, while the real Bloodwynd was trapped.
3. Booster Gold's suit was destroyed by Doomsday.
4. Characters like Dream and Darkseid are shown, though it is very unlikely they would be present.

[The Darknight Detective]

Why? Because it sells comics, that's why. Any other reason, real or imagined, doesn't even come close to that.

When killing off a character, either for a brief time or longer, starts hurting the Big 2, then you won't see it any more. Simple as that.

[Tazirai]

The issue DC has it that with CERTAIN characters, they recognize how dangerous Superpowers would really be in reality. But also DC tries new characters, and the failed ones die, often.

[Restingvoice]

because they're freaking lazy and people actually buy books featuring character death. It worked with Superman and Jason because it was their first, I have no idea why people keep buying it now when we know they're gonna be back in a year.

[Güicho]

Cause of the 90's Dark-Age/Tinfoil-Age/Shock & Awe era, it's what sold the most creating the Speculator market boon: People not buying for characters, but for events, and particularly around "Death-Events".

Mid 80's Bronze Age ended with Crisis (death of Allen) 1985, and the Bronze-Age "Relevancy" taken to it's dramatic end - Watchmen, Dark Knight, where comics were now commentary on Superhero themselves, vs. Vigilantism.

What followed was the Dark Age or Shock & Awe age, the most shallow aping of those ^ books, with none of the "Relevance".
Instead replaced by banal, shallow, cynical glorification of violence, mindlessly aping those two books with eXtreme deaths! And events.
Death of Todd (complete with torture, a gruesome 1-(1900 #money generating number, so the "fans" could participate, and vote in the Death), Death of Superman (where it was solidified as a money generating Event), Breaking Batman, blowing up Green Arrow so Conner can take over, crippling Batgirl, Insane Jordan Killing the Corps etc... drove the industry and the creation of the speculator or tinfoil-age, as speculators started buying for supposed "key-issues" meaning anything with shocking crippling, character heal-turns, deaths, and events, they bought multiple of copies of.







Pitched marketed and sold as "Key-Issues" = "in this issue _____ is Crippled, goes Insane, Dies! ...etc! " The character or their history didn't mater, what mattered was now any mindless shocking violent, easy hook, which they bought in droves.
As long as the same people still buzz and buy into the same crap, they will continue try to market to that same mentality, whenever they can.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

A mix of cleaning house and an easy way to get high stakes.