Death in Comics and Cartoons.

[Psycho Fox]

Ok in issue #50 of Sonic, Sally Acron was suppose to die and Sonic got blamed for her death. Maybe it is just me but I think that would have been a cool issue but then drooling Sally fan boys got wind of it and partitioned Archie comics and Sega got wind of that and told Archie comics they won't let them kill off Sally so they killed of Dr.Robotnic instead only to have him come back later. In issue #11 of the Sonic Super Special Lupe allows her self to be roboticized to save her family.

So why can Lupe go but not Sally? Well in my opinon it is becouse Lupe is not a main character. The same is with American Cartoons notice how none of the main characters die.

But if you look at non US cartoons you don't see the problem. Take Redwall for example (It is on PBS check your local listings) At lest half a dozen people died including Cluney (main bad guy) which got squished by a giant bell plus Warbeak (also a main character) got killed in the second season.

Another is Watership Down the series yes it starts off very kiddified but it losses that quickly. In the season 3 finnaly Campion(sp?) dies.

So what is it with the US cartoon and comic mainstream industry (yes I know there is underground comic that have death) that main characters rarely can die and stay dead? The only saturday morning cartoon that had death (that I remeber) is Swat Kats but it is off the air now)

[Samhaine]

Optimus Prime died.

Although, they brought him back.

In Beast Wars, characters died and didn't come back. Or, they came back in really messed up ways (Dinobot, Tigerhawk).

Jason Todd died (wasn't the star of the book, but still, he's not comin' back). Bucky died. Barry Allen died - which had a great impact on the DCU.

So, it happens, but people don't die just so that there's death. To kill characters just to add "emotion", (Our Worlds at War, anyone?) that's just pointless. Now, a death coming out of right field, never expecting it, that has feeling.

[Jowy Blight]

Goku and others have died in DB-GT.
Yusuke died two times in Yu Yu Hakusho (He died in the first episode for crying out loud).

I don't really know why U.S. characters don't die, I guess they think everyone likes happy endings.

[Kal-el]

Roy Folker died in the first Robotech saga. He was, to that point in the series, one of the main characters. His death had an effect on numerous characters in the show, but was still done within the context of the series (the price of war is often death, even in animation). The aformentioned death (and subsequent return) of Optimus Prime (maybe some overtones of a Transformers "Messiah"?). The supposed death of Dan Turpin in S:TAS was quite powerful (most likely dead...but could have been teleported to Apokolips by Darkseid). That one was unexpected and added a very personal vibe to the battles with Darkseid. Even the S:TAS episode when everyone belived Clark Kent to be dead ("The Late Mr. Kent"). Death was dealt with in a very safe, yet respectful way in that episode, with even Lois Lane having difficulty dealing with complex emotions.
Even though death isn't dealt with often, especially in US comics and animation, it is something that shouldn't be overdone. We should never get to a point when we are so desensitized to death that even death in animation goes unnoticed. Death in entertainment, and especially that which is done in the realm of heroes, carries great weight and emphasis for not only the characters involved, but for the viewer. It helps to show us how tragic and fragile life really is, even when one is endowed with super abilities.

[Ricochet]

In American comics, main or big supporting characters die to boost readership. When the smoke clears, they are mysteriously brought back. Hey, even Dilbert died once!:D

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by Kal-el
Even though death isn't dealt with often, especially in US comics and animation, it is something that shouldn't be overdone. We should never get to a point when we are so desensitized to death that even death in animation goes unnoticed. Death in entertainment, and especially that which is done in the realm of heroes, carries great weight and emphasis for not only the characters involved, but for the viewer. It helps to show us how tragic and fragile life really is, even when one is endowed with super abilities. Ok yes killing off characters for no good reason is not a good idea but sometime when done right it can give depth. The elder of Redwall Mourned for the death of Cluney even though he was bent on killing them. Turned out they didn't kill Cluney but one of Cluney's lackies thus Cluney was able to launch a suprize attack on Redwall with everyone thinking he was dead an all. See a story came from a death.

What really gets me is if you read books ment for young readers some of it has death and stuff that is rarely seen on TV. Guess it is ok for a character to die in a book but not on a screen.

[DerekPowers]

id guess the main reason no american comic/toon main characters die is because they are the main characters and vital to the success/popularity of the comic/toon. if they died, they couldnt sell it anymore, thats capitalism for you. so they usually die once the comic/toon has ended it run or becomes no longer profitable, like many dc/marvel comic characters, too many to name.

but heres a few, not all main characters and not all american, but hey,

maude died (to boost ratings)

triez in gundam wing died (to enhance the story, which was great)

didnt someone in sesame street die a few years back to teach kids about death??

strange visitor died in owaw, that was a death i think was needed to move the story along

mufasa

hmm, cant think of anymore, but im sure theres some. optimus prime was already mentioned, hmm, oh, dan turpin, theres one. hehe, yeah, no main characters. oh well. peace.

[Joe Tully]

Originally posted by DerekPowers


didnt someone in sesame street die a few years back to teach kids about death??


You're half right. The guy who played Mr. Hooper, who owned the store (it's still called Hooper's store after his death) died in the 80's. The people who ran the show were obviously in a predicament about how to continue the show without him, and decided to write out Mr. Hooper through death, and use the ep. to teach kids about death. I think that I can just barely, vaguely remember this, but my dad watched it with me and I can remember him saying that it was very well done. Sesame Street is in reruns on Noggin on cable so maybe you could see it there. I have the station and have seen Mr. Hooper on it a few times.

To link this to cartoons, the Rowdyruff Boys ep. of PPG has Bubbles smash through a window and apologize to the store owner, "Sorry about your window Mr. Nooper" and he corrects her "It's Cooper! COOOOPER!" This is based on a running gag from Sesame Street where Big Bird could never remember Mr. Hooper's name and always called him something like Cooper or Nooper instead.

[Samhaine]

Also, someone told me over the weekend that they got rid of Bert and Barkley. They said Barkley got hit by a car and that Bert was killed off because of the homosexual overtones of the Bert & Ernie relationship :rolleyes:

Are either of these true?

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by DerekPowers
id guess the main reason no american comic/toon main characters die is because they are the main characters and vital to the success/popularity of the comic/toon. if they died, they couldnt sell it anymore, thats capitalism for you. so they usually die once the comic/toon has ended it run or becomes no longer profitable, like many dc/marvel comic characters, too many to name. OK but when they were going to kill of Sally Acorn the comic was going to go on and the writters had a plan they didn't just throw darts at a bunch of names. But then the higher ups told them they couldn't kill Sally off which threw the comic into disarray since the writters had to scrap the story lines and scramble to create new ones. Thus it is possible from a writters stand point to kill off main characters while keeping the series going

[DR. BELCH]

bloodone:
Also, someone told me over the weekend that they got rid of Bert and Barkley. They said Barkley got hit by a car and that Bert was killed off because of the homosexual overtones of the Bert & Ernie relationship. Are either of these true?
I haven't seen Sesame Street in years, but I did just recieve some SS-based teaching tools (alphbet/number flash cards and educational books) for my niece...and Bert and Ernie are alive and well in them. No Barkely, though (but maybe that's because he's hard to animate).
And in an episode of Get Smart Max "died" while gathering information on a mad bomber who had masterminded several attacks on goverment institutions/landmarks and was scheming to blow up the IRS building. (Surprised that one aired in light of recent events.) Oddly enough there was a dog on the show called Fang who was in real life problemsome and untrainable, and was gradually phased out as time went by--a common practice with difficult actors, as is killing off the character (cf. Shannon Doherty in Charmed.)

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by bloodone
Also, someone told me over the weekend that they got rid of Bert and Barkley. They said Barkley got hit by a car and that Bert was killed off because of the homosexual overtones of the Bert & Ernie relationship :rolleyes:

Are either of these true?

The Barkley thing might be true, but the Bert rumor sounds urban. If they were going to phase out the team I'm pretty sure they would phase them both out.

[Clayface]

Originally posted by Maxie Zeus


The Barkley thing might be true, but the Bert rumor sounds urban. If they were going to phase out the team I'm pretty sure they would phase them both out.


Actually, the Bert thing is true (sort of). I remember seeing that on the news quite a while back - they were indeeed planning on phasing old Bert out (or maybe it was having him move out from living with Ernie). The rumors at the time were that it was because so many parents mistakenly accused Bert and Ernie of being gay, but of course this was denied by the officials. I remember the announcement, and a big uprising from a lot of parents and civil liberties groups, but it sort of dropped off the radar after that. Don't know if they ever went through with it or not.

[RockItShipper]

Wonder how Trunks' marriage is going to be handled when DBGT hits US screens. :D

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

Actually, the only death I have an inkling of is Sally Acorn's. While I would have hated to see her go, I wonder if the stories without her would have been better than some of the stuff they're throwing out...the comic's in that big of a rut. :(

...though I KINDA applaud Sega. For once, it cooperated with Sonic comic fans in the fact they were keeping Sally from dying...even if those comic fans were just a faction. Ah, for more closeness like that...;)

[DerekPowers]

Originally posted by RockItShipper
Wonder how Trunks' marriage is going to be handled when DBGT hits US screens. :D

well, i havent seen any gt eps, do whats so bad about trunk's wedding? is death involved??

[Samhaine]

Also, on DBZ today

It appears as if they killed Piccillo (sp?). So, there's one

[Jowy Blight]

It appears as if they killed Piccillo (sp?). So, there's one

Well............naw, I won't spoil it for you.

[Jowy Blight]

Wonder how Trunks' marriage is going to be handled when DBGT hits US screens.

:D :D :D :D !!!!!!!

[Joe Tully]

Originally posted by bloodone
Also, on DBZ today

[SPOILER]It appears as if they killed Piccillo (sp?). So, there's one[\SPOILER]

Well, I don't have any advanced info, but my guess is they could either try to piece him together (not sure if that would work) or he could regenerate once he's brought back. Or he could be brought back in some other way that is completely unexpected.

[Lachesis]

Lessee. The Magus from Gargoyles comes to mind, several minor Simpsons characters, and about half the cast of Beast Wars.

And I have to mention the Sandman (Vertigo), whose older sister happens to BE Death.

[Samhaine]

Originally posted by Jowy Blight


Well............naw, I won't spoil it for you.
Much appreciated. Even though the series is long over in Japan, my only source is CN (and there's only a few more episodes left for right now....:mad: ), and I like to be surprised by what's going on.