Issue #12: Comics for the Week of 3/19/08 Let's Kill All of the Super Heroes and Let God Sort Them Out!

This week I only have one title on my pull list:
Invincible #49 (Image)

Since this is a week between paychecks I will have to wait until next week to read this anxiously awaited title.

Let's Kill All of the Super Heroes and Let God Sort Them Out!

Last week while I was glancing though Superman #674 I happened to notice a full page DC house ad for Batman that I missed when I first read the issue. When I first read a comic book I flip through and ignore the ad pages so that I can get to the next page of story. (I don't mind ads in comics. Working in the newspaper industry, I'm well aware how advertising in comic books help keep the cover price down.) At the top of the Alex Ross painting of Batman, with his cape spread and his body below the bat symbol on his chest in shadow, was a blood red strip with the words Batman R.I.P. over it, and a bat symbol with blood dripping on it.
My first thought was, "Oh, good grief. Not again!" But then I thought, well, if Bruce Wayne / Batman was killed off and resurrected by one of Ras Al Ghul's Lazarus pits, that would make a good story. Batman has been brainwashed and physically broken, so this is all that's left.
But I also thought how often comic book companies kill, and unkill, super heroes. This particular plot device long ago lost its punch as a "new" plot twist to juice up a title.
Also, with current story lines and mini-series, super heroes have been dragged through the mud. If super heroes were a reality it would be a great time to be a super villain. Some super heroes brainwash others or war against each other. With super heroes like these, who needs villains.
I don't mind these plots individually, but taken together, it seems a trend to tearr down super heroes to sell stories, with no end in sight. It wouldn't seem so bad if there was an end in sight, where heroes work through their differences to build themselves back up again.
Super heroes are a little like baseball. You can't kill it, no matter how hard the industry tries.
With characters that have such a long and rich history such as Batman, is there nothing left for writers and editors to bring to the character, except to kill him off and put someone else in the costume? Are editors not finding writers anymore who have an original, fresh angle to bring to the character?
I still believe that no matter how old a comic book character is, or how many stories have been told, there is always something new that can be brought to the character. It's just a matter of editors finding the writers and artists who can bring fresh blood to comic book heroes.