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For all the terrors that comic book characters contend with every month - a perverted justice system, killer-infested dark web, puppet hyper-captialism, etc - death is actually not that much of a worry. More than any other medium (except perhaps soap operas), comics deal with stories in which characters that were formerly dead are back and ready to pose for bold new cover art. If you've ever wondered why, Popverse has an answer for you, straight from one of the most storied editors in the business.

Some context: Marvel's longest editor Tom Brevoort was recently at Baltimore Comic Con, speaking at a panel dedicated to the editorial ship he currently captains, the X-Men. At one point, the resurrection of certain X-characters came up, and one audience member decided to ask about the temporary nature of death in comics. "What was the thing that moved comics to the point where bringing people death isn't taken seriously anymore?" asked the fan.

Brevoort, who has been at Marvel for three decades plus, had an answer.

"As comics became less of a newsstand business," said the longtime House of Ideas editor, "which was sort of a general audience business, and moved into a direct sales market throughout the 80s, and that became a bigger part of the business, the fan audience began driving the bus a little bit more in terms of who you were targeting your stories at - who would react the most." 

It was an early example of fandom changing the way products are created and marketed, an example we see all the time today. But for Brevoort, there were two events in particular that signaled the shift in Death's sustainability in comics history.

"More than anything," he continued, "I think it was the one-two punch of bringing Jean Grey and Elektra back. Once you've done those both of those, and done it because you realize they were super popular characters and there was huge hunger for more material from both of them, nothing is going to sell something better than this character who you couldn't get for the longest time - now you can get her! So that became a thing, but even there, the intention wasn't to go, 'Open the Pearly Gates! Everybody out!'"

Intentions aside, it is famously hard to close a door that has been opened in pop culture, as Brevoort readily admitted.

"But once the gates are open," the editor concluded, "it becomes easier to do again and again and again. You go, 'Oh, Jim Starlin is back; he has a new idea for a new story. Ok, Thanos can come back now.' And on and on and on it goes until you wake up at one point and you go, 'Oh crap. That Marvel Universe handbook Book of the Dead? We don't need that anymore; they're all here!'"

When Brevoort had finished answering, the panel's moderator John Trumbull turned to the audience.

"Look for the Uncle Ben ongoing in 2025," he joked.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.