The Brain Trust #11: Risen from the Grave

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Eric Sunde: To answer your questions, Hil - No, No, and I hope they can help the legacies. It's weird, really. On one hand, we have a Golden Age of comics writing going on right now, with amazing storytelling and great dialogue, and on the other, we have characters rising from the dead and plotlines from 10-20 year old comics being resurrected to tell stories. You would think talented writers would be able to come up with bigger ideas than this. When Jason Todd "appeared" on the last page of Batman #617, my initial reaction was one of excitement, thinking, "This is so cool!". Robin, back from the dead, has been behind this all along, and was going to fight Batman. (It also shows the power of a great Jim Lee splash page.) Then, a few days later, I was reading the Death in the Family issues that I had dug out of boxes, and remembered what it was like reading those issues in the first place. I remembered how glad I was that they killed Jason Todd, since he wasn't ever really Robin. Robin isn't supposed to kill (as it was implied he did in an issue), and the character never showed growth. He was pouty, whiny, and really quite annoying. When Joker blew him up, it not only allowed DC to get a new Robin in place eventually, but it also gave Batman another emotional wound to deal with. By the time the next issue came out, I wanted Batman to put him down, and thankfully it got resolved in its own way. When the reveal came in #638, I was really disappointed. For one, it wasn't as fresh of an idea, since it hadn't even been 2 years yet since the first "resurrection". And for another, it doesn't seem necessary in any way. Why now? Why was it forbidden for so long, and then suddenly, it is a great idea, and this character is now going to be a part of Infinite Crisis? The same thing goes for Bucky. I saw this coming a mile away, and hoped that wouldn't be the reveal. I hoped Brubaker wouldn't be as obvious as spending an entire arc showing us flashbacks about what a badass Bucky is, and then reveal him to be alive and a villain and the end. And, like I mentioned last week, in an interview at Newsarama, Brubaker mentioned the close timing between his and Winick's story in Batman as... "Really just synchronicity. In fact, if we'd gotten our book out on time, the Batman issue with Jason's reveal and ours would've hit the stands the very same day." I guess that is my problem with it all. We have some ridiculously talented, Eisner-award winning writers, and the "earthshattering" stories they come up with is bringing sidekicks (who both exploded) back from the dead, and in similar fashion. I have seen much better story elements from both Brubaker and Winick, and expected more from them. I am still collecting both series, but I am disappointed in the direction both have taken for the moment. Captain America is as good as I can ever remember, and I was enjoying Winick's take on Batman until this point. One moment doesn't get me to drop a series, but I am concerned about how this will all turn out. At this point, I am figuring DC will bring back Barry Allen as part of Infinite Crisis. And thanks, Jesse, you now have me frightened that the return of Uncle Ben is coming in House of M. Taki Soma: They bring everyone else back, so why not these 2 characters? It used to bother me, but I keep thinking that perhaps it's because it's now a cliché; No one stays dead in comics. But I think it now has a sound, respectful understanding about the universe of comics. We all know it, and no one is all that bothered by it. If nothing else, it brings up boiling debate with us all, who are mortal and are always in awe of the immortal, bigger-than-life heroes who will only live in the pages of comics and movies. Robert Chang: Legacy schmegacy. All I care about is whether or not it was a good story. If you want to bring back a character because the story calls for it, then go for it. I haven't read the resurrections of the two characters in quesion, so I can't really comment on their specific circumstances, but the bigger the character and the more dramatic the death, the better the story has to be to justify bringing the back. I mean, you could kill Speedball and bring him back from the grave 5 times in a month and I don't think anyone would bat an eye, but if you want to resurrect Uncle Ben, you'd better have the kind of story that people will be talking about for the next 30 years. Bottom line: it's all about the story. Secondary bottom line: kill Speedball.

Edward Priddy: I haven't read either of these two resurrection stories, and the odds are that I won't now. I've flipped through them and have a friend who has been pushing Bru's Cap as the best ever, but Bucky and Jason coming back just doesn't sit well with me. Colossus coming back? Fine. Jean Grey for the 50th time? Ok. Hawkeye returning? Excellent. Bucky and Jason Todd? Ugh. I remember the ads with the 1-800 number to kill or save Jason. I remember the media attention, the hype, and the immediate collectability of the issue when he kicked it. DC has played to that emotional loss for years. Marvel has long done the same thing with Bucky's death at the hands of Baron Zemo. Its brought up every few years to remind us of how the perfect Captain can screw up from time to time. Now they're back. Sigh. I really just don't care. If this is the best that Marvel and DC can do for shock value than I guess they are becoming more like Hollywood. Devoid of any original ideas. I mean seriously a sidekick returns from the dead but this time........he's evil! How many of you want to bet that Uncle Ben is alive and well in the House of M universe. Maybe that's one of those lasting repercussions that Bendis! keeps talking about. Ben returns. Heck there are solicits telling of Aunt May's Avengers Tower romance. Maybe its not Jarvis. Maybe its Ben return from the grave. Then we'll have 3 out of the 4 unreturnable characters back. Hmmm.. there is a Crisis coming. Maybe Barry will return and seal the deal. I just don't care.

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