No one ever really seems to die in comics for good--except maybe Bucky, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd. Sometimes the explanations for how someone returns from the dead are done very well and are very "believable" in comic book terms. Sometimes the whole thing is just too lame for words.

What are your votes for the best comic book ressurrection (something done well in terms of plot, story and characters) and the worst comic book ressurection (something done so poorly you want to shoot the writer)?

My vote for "Best" is the Death of Superman story from the early 1990s. Sure it was a marketing ploy and you knew he was coming back the whole time. But it was well-plotted and the explanation for Superman's return from the beyond fit into the events of the story quite well.

My vote for "Worst" is Jean Gray's original return from the dead, where we learned that it was a double (created by the Phoenix force, if I remember correctly) that has REALLY died. Jean Gray's death at the end of the Dark Phoenix saga was one of the best comic stories of all time--all about self-sacrifice and responsibility. The whole "it wasn't really her" bit could not help but come across as cheap.

Who else has a vote here?

Well, I just learned how they explained Colossus' resurrection, so I'm voting for that as the worse.

As for the best, I guess I'll go with Hal Jordan, but personally I'm very much for 'dead means dead'. Don't kill a character unless you intend for them to STAY dead.

How did they bring Colossus back?

Don't be so sure about Jason Todd!

Elektra is the worst, besides the TERRIBLE way they brought her back, the character is a human wasteland. Now we are tormented with books and clix. I can't think of anything worse to happen to a comic book line than what her resurrection did to Daredevils stories. UGH!

Best? I'm going with the Death of Supes storyline. I liked the way they (and we all knew they would) brought back the last son of Krypton.

FoxInStocks, in my opinion the Colossus resurrection was done much better than some people seem to be saying. In my opinion, it was the best resurrection I've seen.

Some of the worst for me:
- Betty Banner/Ross... oh wait, she wasn't dead, just in a coma. Oh wait, now they are hinting she was dead but resurrected. And now she's using the name Ross again and a super spy with a different face who is in love with Doc Samson and berates Bruce. Please just make her a robot and end the suffering.

- Phoenix's first return. Lead to some good stories but kinda killed a great one.

- Superman. Announcing he'd be back in a few months before his death issue came out killed this one for me. And that mullet was just stupid. His fight with Doomsday was good but they should have killed Doomsday. Allowing him to live lead to some really bad storylines.

I just finished reading "JSA: The Return of Hawkman" and felt that his resurrection was handled very well. Same thing with the current "Green Lantern: Rebirth" - another cool come-back story written by Geoff Johns.

On the other hand, Magneto's return was ridiculous. I can't agree that Superman's return was handled well, though the storyline had some promise at the beginning. I still can't get my head around the fact that they brought back the Green Goblin, either. Great villain character - don't get me wrong - but what poor scripting. They have brought back Phoenix so many times that by now it's a running joke about when she's next going to get killed. But the very worst one is that they finally let Aunt May die and they HAD to bring her back, the poor old woman.

I'd actually forgotten that they had "killed" Aunt May. It was a pretty good story to, with a legitimately touching scene where she reveals that she had secretly know Peter was Spider Man for years.

If I remember correctly, the "Aunt May" who died turned out to be a double. It was a bit on the lame side.

I may be a little biased but I like the way they killed Mar-Vell.


Giving him Cancer from a fight that he had a while back with a character who isn't really known for his presence as a threat was a pretty good idea and when you read it you where like "What? No! But it does make sense"


I think the only problem I had with it was that I think I read or heard some where before that he was supposed to be immune or at least resistant to most radiations. It was probably a small blurb in a bad story but still. Also the way they brought a bunch of the Marvel masterminds together to try and cure him was pretty cool. It would have been lame if at the last second they got it and saved him.


As for resurrection… I would have to say Bucky! Bucky is the best one yet, why you ask? Cause he’s still dead!

I am also a fan of, if you are going to kill them do it right don’t half ### it and bring them back. You wanna make a clone or a sibling or child fine but don’t bring back the same character.

I love what is being done to Hal Jordan in Rebirth, even though I like Kyle more. The worst will be if Jason Todd is not actually dead. We saw his broken, bleeding body in Batman's arms. After the big deal to kill him off and to then have him come back to life is really cheap. It makes all the agonizing that Batman has gone through over his death seem pretty stupid.

Worst Death, Superman. Why did they have to create a new enemy to kill Superman. For me, if Lex Luthor would have done it, it would have been one of the gretest story ever.
Every time something important happens to Superman, DC always has to create a new character to explain it, just like in KC with Magog.

Best Ressurection, Invisibler Woman in Earth X, Having Alicia Master create her a body out of the flesh of Reed Richards.

Worst death .... Lot of competition here. Lets start it off with the most recent. Hawkeye. Instead of Ditching the exploding Quiver (something that has ALWAYS been a threat when you carry explosives) He Flies away and explodes. Besides T-bolts writer letting us know in advance he won't stay dead makes the whole thing blahhh

Best ressurection. I think Hal is going to take it. But that stories not finished yet, so I'm going to go with Green Arrow. Most of the writing sucks lately, but that was a very cool IN CONTINUITY way to legitimatly bring back the dead.

In Marvel Universe the End when Thanos died at the end, I thought that was one of the most fitting ends I have ever read for a character.

The return of Colossus may sound hokey when someone tells you about it and it even sounds hokey when I think about it. Nevertheless, when I read it, it was great, I didn't know it was comming and when it did, it just worked. I suggest reading it if you have not already done so, it was a very good story arc.

As far as terrible deaths, I am fairly sure that Bendis killed off Carnage two issues ago in New Avengers. If that is the case, that death was kind of carpy.

How did they bring Colossus back?

The xmen were investagating a lab that was testing muntants for a "cure" for their muntation. And shadowcat found colussus being one of the test subjects (astonishing xmen 1-5)

I'll sum up worst and best in one:

Jack of Hearts who for lame reasons was resurrected for the Disassembled story arc, only to be blown up within the same issue.

Take that for whatever it's worth. The character was lame anyway, IMHO.