No, the Masked Manhunter won't be killed off
It looks like Dan DiDio has been forced to dispel the rumours:
In the NYDN's article, they say:
And the article overlooks how more minor cast members are not as lucky as the major ones: has Jade, the daughter of the Golden Age Green Lantern, been as lucky? Have Elongated Man and Sue Dibny been as lucky? Has Ted Kord been any more so? Far from it. That doesn't mean they won't come back, nor does it mean that Ray Palmer and Jean Loring won't be exonerated/redeemed, but a big problem with lesser heroes suffer from is that their publishers see them as easy targets for that reason, and think that no one will care if they trash them.
Update: The Toronto Star is asking:
Didio tells the New York Daily News, "He's not dead, though he'll definitely be gone for a while.But does that make this any more worthwhile? Nope, and certainly not under his regime as editor.
In the NYDN's article, they say:
Comic book fans have become jaded over the years over as they've watched a who's who of super heroes bite the proverbial speeding bullet - only to return a few months later.Let me see if I have this right: killing off heroes is what gets people to actually buy these books? Wow, is that the wrong way to think. Killing them off is not, and should not be the reason to buy the book.
[...]
"Fans have an unspoken understanding with the publisher," said Matt Brady, a writer for newsarama.com, a comic book news Web site.
"You can take [Batman] off the stage for a while, but you can't put him in the ground."
That hasn't stopped customers from coming into Forbidden Plant, a Manhattan comics store, to buy several copies of the issue on the mistaken assumption Batman is gone forever, store manager Jeff Ayers said.
And the article overlooks how more minor cast members are not as lucky as the major ones: has Jade, the daughter of the Golden Age Green Lantern, been as lucky? Have Elongated Man and Sue Dibny been as lucky? Has Ted Kord been any more so? Far from it. That doesn't mean they won't come back, nor does it mean that Ray Palmer and Jean Loring won't be exonerated/redeemed, but a big problem with lesser heroes suffer from is that their publishers see them as easy targets for that reason, and think that no one will care if they trash them.
Update: The Toronto Star is asking:
But is his death just a marketing ploy, or is it symbolic of a growing trend in the dwindling world of monthly comic books?Believe it or not, it is a ploy by now. As far as trends go, it certainly is when it's foisted on lesser heroes.
Labels: Batman, dc comics, golden calf of death, msm propaganda
