What one resurrected DC Character would you choose to have stayed dead?

[caj]

Ollie was barely gone.

And at least we got Quiver by Kevin Smith and The Archer's Quest by Brad Metzler out of it. That is, if you liked those stories - which I did very much.

[Dataweaver]

Ollie wasn't “barely gone”; he was gone for five years, just slightly less than the time Hal had been gone. The only character who died and was resurrected who was “barely gone” was Superman; and that's because his return was intended from the moment his death was decided on. I don't count those. Just like John Byrne “killing” Wonder Woman a few years later, which wasn't so much a death as it was a requirement for her to become the Goddess of Truth. Or the deaths of Firestorm, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Hawkgirl in Brightest Day, which was the requirement of turning them into Elementals.

For the purpose of this topic, I'm limiting myself to deaths that at least looked at the time they happened like they'd be permanent. Which was possible in the 90s, when people actually believed that comic book characters could die and stay dead. Quiver broke that seal, and set in motion the revolving door of death that characterized so much of the 00s.

[bat22]

Oliver Queen. Because his return opened the gates to bringing back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, and more generally making “death is a revolving door” a thing.

I don't think Hal's return was beholding to Ollie. He was never really put out to pasture like Barry. Post-Emerald Twilight, he was used as a Darth Vader to Kyle's Luke. Then he got his "heroic sacrifice" in Final Night, Nov-1996. All the while followed by a good number of fans who disliked his treatment and took notice of his favorable continuing appearances, whether flashback (JLA: Year One) or Elseworlds (JLA: The Nail). Even Kyle's one-horse town would bring him back in the Emerald Knights storyline. So Hal's official return in Day of Judgment, Nov-1999, was a treated as a fist-pump or "partway there" revelation for many GL-fans as opposed to many Flash-fans and Barry's return. It was actually Spectre Hal who allowed for Ollie's resurrection.

[John Venus]

I don't think Hal's return was beholding to Ollie. He was never really put out to pasture like Barry. Post-Emerald Twilight, he was used as a Darth Vader to Kyle's Luke. Then he got his "heroic sacrifice" in Final Night, Nov-1996. All the while followed by a good number of fans who disliked his treatment and took notice of his favorable continuing appearances, whether flashback (JLA: Year One) or Elseworlds (JLA: The Nail). Even Kyle's one-horse town would bring him back in the Emerald Knights storyline. So Hal's official return in Day of Judgment, Nov-1999, was a treated as a fist-pump or "partway there" revelation for many GL-fans as opposed to many Flash-fans and Barry's return. It was actually Spectre Hal who allowed for Ollie's resurrection.

Check out Didio's DC Nation essay that came out before Flash Rebirth. He pretty much admitted that his goal from day one was to restore the Silver Age and bring back Barry Allen. He pretty much called Geoff Johns his 'partner in crime'. They started off slow; first by bringing back Oliver Queen which was somewhat successful, later they brought back Hal which was *very* successful and in-between they were restoring other Silver/Bronze characters as well and it all culminated in Flash Rebirth which brought back Barry Allen. Fittingly, the universe literally broke after that.

[Dataweaver]

In fact, Quiver had a scene in it featuring (the ghosts of) Barry and Hal, with one of them telling the other that Oliver was just the first, and it was only a meter of time before the others came back.

[KC]

Most characters have fans and still have stories that can be told with them so I am glad all characters who have died have come back. The only exception for this to me is characters whose deaths are the only reason they exist like the Waynes and Superman's Kryptonian parents.

[Lightning Rider]

I love Barry as one of my favorite characters of all time, but all things considered...probably him. Not just for Wally's sake or the sake of the Flash Family, but for his own. I don't see the essence of Barry captured in a lot of what came after his return. Whereas when he was dead, Waid and others gave us some solid Silver Age-era Barry stories. I probably would have been content with those. I initially wanted Barry to come back as this hyped thing but it just went so badly.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Going to stray off topic a little, but it's not just all the characters who were brought back to life under Didio's reign of terrible.

It's all the characters who were killed off at one point or another, often just to rile up fans, but also just as often because of Didio's often nebulous, goal-post-shifting claims of them being "redundant" or not being sufficiently "unique." Or worse, because they hadn't been used in some time, so they were seemingly dug up of mothballs for no other reason than to kill them off. Or killing off fan-favorites because Didio didn't understand their appeal, or worse, personally disliked them himself (and sometimes going out of his way to respond to fans upset at these deaths in a snarky manner).

It's the characters who were targeted for death because they were part of the ever-changing rosters of teams he didn't care much about, like all the various iterations of Titans or Teen Titans rosters that changed with every new writer or editor assigned to that team who wanted to use both their personal favorites and their own pet new characters. Only for the next new writer or editor to then dump the previous one's roster of characters just so they could introduce THEIR pet new characters. See also many of the characters who were part of the JLI era roster of characters. Sure, the likes of Power Girl or Guy Gardner or even Booster Gold didn't get killed off...but the likes of Blue Beetle, Elongated Man and his wife, and even the Martian Manhunter WERE killed off (some more permanently than others). If THOSE characters could be killed off as cannon fodder for various Crisis events, then what chance did the likes of Rocket Red or even lesser known characters have of not being targeted for needless deaths (which all too often looked like DC "cleaning house")? Hell, I was surprised when Blue Jay made an appearance during Kurt Busiek's run on Superman and DIDN'T die (only to finally get snuffed during HiC).

It's the new characters introduced post-COIE but before Didio took over, some legacy, some brand new, who were targeted for dying in what seemed like a mass culling of characters whose greatest crime was apparently that they were introduced after COIE and not during the Silver and Bronze Ages. Or the characters who were already existing pre-COIE that rose to a greater level of prominence than they had known before COIE, like the Martian Manhunter or the Golden Age Wildcat post-Zero Hour, as if Didio thought they had risen above their station and the only appropriate punishment was death.

I once read a statement that claimed Didio took a long look at the titles being published by DC when he assumed has duties as Executive Editor, and that afterwards he declared that he hated everything that DC was doing. It was probably apocryphal, but taking a look in hindsight at the first half of his time at DC, it sure as hell feels like it was true. At the very least, it sure felt like he was waging war on the DC Comics he inherited. Bringing back his personal favorites from the dead was just one, small, salvo.

[krazijoe]

Oliver Queen. Because his return opened the gates to bringing back Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, and more generally making “death is a revolving door” a thing.

I thought it was done to get Kevin Smith.

[Bruce Wayne]

Check out Didio's DC Nation essay that came out before Flash Rebirth. He pretty much admitted that his goal from day one was to restore the Silver Age and bring back Barry Allen. He pretty much called Geoff Johns his 'partner in crime'. They started off slow; first by bringing back Oliver Queen which was somewhat successful, later they brought back Hal which was *very* successful

Green Arrow had nothing to do with Didio. The entire thing was Bob Schreck (https://comicvine.gamespot.com/green...es/4040-41760/), the editor on the book. Kevin Smith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Schreck), Brad Meltzer and Judd Winnick (https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/behin...ans-second-son) were all his guys. And I have pointed out before here, Schreck was already laying the groundwork for restoring many of the pre-Emerald Twilight elements of GL with Judd Winnick & Joe Kelly and Raab (such as Oa, the Guardians (now babies), Kilowag (as a Dark Lantern)). I think it needs to be understood that people that wanted to get rid of the stain of Emerald Twiight was not just Didio. If it was, HEAT (Hal's Emerald Attack Team) wouldn't exist.

And I'll be blunt, Didio is just not very good with any sort of planning. Countdown and New 52 shows he is utterly incapable of thinking long term since he's inconsistent and always changing his mind. This is the same guy who managed to crash DC's sales with Convergence in the span of two months. I don't think he he had a master plan going back to Green Arrow and it's not believable. I think he simply took advantage of the chaos from things he caused like OYL and Countdown to make sure the Flash book did badly enough that he could justify returning Barry Allen in a later event (Final Crisis). Much like how he used the editorial and creative chaos from IC and OYL to destroy Cassandra Cain.

and in-between they were restoring other Silver/Bronze characters as well and it all culminated in Flash Rebirth which brought back Barry Allen. Fittingly, the universe literally broke after that.

The problem with blaming Johns for restoring Barry is that he was never the prime instigator. It was Grant Morrison not Johns who brought back Barry. Flash Rebirth was an EVS idea. Didio may say that he had Johns help, but ultimately Barry didn't come back in Infinite Crisis, the garbage that was the Bart Allen Flash book was all on Dan as was killing him as part of Countdown aka 52 Done Right and screwing over Waid after he came back is again on him. If anything Johns is very much a junior partner in all of this and even there you can say Morrison and EVS did more.

[Dataweaver]

Who's “EVS”?

[Bruce Wayne]

EVS=Ethan Van Sciver

[Captain Nostalgia]

The ones that should stay dead are the ones that won't make DC any money.

They brought Hal & Ollie back because their resurrections turned into cash cows as both had long prosperous runs.

I can't recall if Dan Garret is still deceased, but if he is, they wouldn't bring him back to take over as Blue Beetle, simply because he wouldn't sell any comic books.

[bat22]

The ones that should stay dead are the ones that won't make DC any money.

They brought Hal & Ollie back because their resurrections turned into cash cows as both had long prosperous runs.

I can't recall if Dan Garret is still deceased, but if he is, they wouldn't bring him back to take over as Blue Beetle, simply because he wouldn't sell any comic books.

The same naysaying has been said of heroes who were killed off or benched like Hal, Ollie, Ted, and Ronnie, usually in favor of some untried, brand-new character. I doubt it with the talent in the Big Two these days, but a good writer, eye-catching artist, and serious promotion could take Danny Boy farther than you think.

[Captain Nostalgia]

The same naysaying has been said of heroes who were killed off or benched like Hal, Ollie, Ted, and Ronnie, usually in favor of some untried, brand-new character. I doubt it with the talent in the Big Two these days, but a good writer, eye-catching artist, and serious promotion could take Danny Boy farther than you think.

You think so? Dan Garrett doesn't heave near the fanbases as the four you've mentioned, but.......as you say with a good writer/artist.....never say never.