Kraven’s Last Hunt VS Death of Jean DeWolff

[Jman27]

I do agree the fridging hurts The Death of Jean DeWolff. That said, it opens with details of Jean deWolff's life that I don't think Peter ever knew about - if you tell a story that fridges a character I suppose that's how you do it.

is fridging a term to describe any women death in comic?

[Daibhidh]

is fridging a term to describe any women death in comic?

Fridging is when a woman is killed in a way that has nothing to do with her character arc or agency but is part of a male character's emotional arc. It's problematic because it implies that the male character's emotional journey is more important or interesting than the female character would be alive.

So the Death of Gwen Stacy would have been fridging, except that it happened before fridging was a thing and George Stacy had already died so it's arguable that the unfortunate implications are absent. The Death of Phoenix is I think maybe not fridging because Jean has as least as much of a character arc in it as Scott or the other X-men. That said, both of them have set precedents for fridging in the hands of lesser writers. The Death of Kamala Khan on the other hand is a textbook example.

[Tuck]

I do agree the fridging hurts The Death of Jean DeWolff. That said, it opens with details of Jean deWolff's life that I don't think Peter ever knew about - if you tell a story that fridges a character I suppose that's how you do it.

Is it really a fridging then?

[HypnoHustler]

The term “fridging” bothers me because it never applies to male characters. It assumes misogyny or at least sexism on the writer’s part when usually at best they were trying to tell a compelling story (Death of Gwen Stacy, Death of Jean DeWolff) and at worst they were just guilty of going for shock value or a bump in sales (Alex DeWitt, Kamala Khan). Now if you write a comic you can’t kill off a female character without getting “cancelled” or at least severely criticized? Seems very limiting.

Sorry to go a bit off topic.

[The_Sneezing_Stormtrooper]

Death of Jean DeWolff is a great story but Kraven's Last Hunt is one of the best of all time and a must read.

[Chubistian]

Love both stories, but I think the end of DoJD ain't as strong as the rest of the story. KLH is amazing from beginning to end

[Garlador]

The term “fridging” bothers me because it never applies to male characters. It assumes misogyny or at least sexism on the writer’s part when usually at best they were trying to tell a compelling story (Death of Gwen Stacy, Death of Jean DeWolff) and at worst they were just guilty of going for shock value or a bump in sales (Alex DeWitt, Kamala Khan). Now if you write a comic you can’t kill off a female character without getting “cancelled” or at least severely criticized? Seems very limiting.

Sorry to go a bit off topic.

This is a loaded topic, but in general Gail Simone’s original article was calling out that it was disproportionally applied to women compared to men. Jason Todd getting killed, for instance, basically is a “fridging” for a male hero as much as Batgirl’s paralysis and assault, both reducing them to elevate and “motivate” the main male hero. But this was a problem that significantly more women experienced in the medium than male characters overall, and the balance isn’t remotely equal still.

There’s a reason there was less outrage when Harley Quinn recently died and came back to life compared to Kamala. Both were equally brief, but how one was handled compared to the other is a strong lesson in optics, intent, motivation, and respectful handling. Kamala’s basically did… everything… wrong in handling it.