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  • Mine is Colonel Armbruster from The Incredible Hulk.

    Back in Hulk #163 (IIRC), General Ross was captured by the Russians and shortly thereafter Colonel John D. Ambruster was brought it to lead a task force to rescue him. The rescue was carried off in #167 (my first issue) but Glenn Talbot, the General’s son-in-law, was shot and fell from a high wall during the operation. He and Betty were still newlyweds at the time, and his apparent death was to put a strain on the relationship between father and daughter, but only the characters thought he was dead because in the last panel, one of the soldiers bending over Talbot's body said, "Comrade, this man will LIVE!"

    And that's the last we see of Talbot... for a while. Back in the states, the rest of the supporting cast assumes he is dead and moves on with their lives. Eventually Glen Talbot was shown to escape, and in a couple of issues makes it back to the states, much to everyone's surprise. Meanwhile, Col. Armbruster has assumed a more active role as second in command of the Hulkbuster base, but he doesn't quite trust Talbot. Then President Ford arrives to tour the base just as Armbruster discovers that Talbot was implanted with an undetectable organic bomb in his chest.

    In the climactic scene, Armbruster tackles Talbot just as he is stepping forward to shake Ford's hand, and they both topple over into the holding pen where Bruce Banner is being kept under sedation. The bomb explodes killing both men and the excitement transforms Banner into the Hulk. At the end of the issue, during the autopsy, "Talbot" sheds a set of false fingerprints proving that the real Glen Talbot is still being held captive in Russia, but that's another story for another time.

    Armbruster had been introduced only a couple of issues before I started reading, so from my point of view he was as integral a supporting character as General Ross, Glen Talbot or Betty. I liked that character and was sorry to see him go, but his sacrifice to save the life of the President of the U.S.A. still has meaning and I wouldn't want to see it lessened by bring him back from the dead.

    That’s my meaningful comic book death which stuck. What’s yours?
  • Jim Wilson in Incredible Hulk #420 (August 1994). Jim had been a sidekick to the Hulk in several issues through the '70s, but was written out of the book for a while. In Hulk #388 (December 1991), we learn that Jim was HIV-positive; in #420, he returns to the book. In the opening scenes, he is attacked by a mob and is rescued by the Hulk; a chilling moment is when the Hulk picks him up and asks, "Which one of you dead men hurt my friend?"

    By now, Jim has developed full-blown AIDS, and asks the Hulk for a blood transfusion, knowing that the gamma-irradiated blood would certainly kill the AIDS virus and knowing that Bruce Banner once did so for his cousin, Jennifer Walters. However, the Hulk doesn't want to do it over fear of creating another monster, but he doesn't want to let Jim down, either, and stages a fake transfusion, which fools Jim not at all. Jim later dies.
  • I was thinking about deaths of significant characters, not characters with meaningful deaths. There is a difference. I've never, as far as I can recall, heard of Colonel Armbruster. I do have Incredible Hulk 420, so I do know about Jim Wilson. That's a blessed good issue. The same line that CK quoted is one of my favorite scenes out of around 60,000 comics.

    There are some deaths that are just a "given" in this kind of discussion. Thomas and Martha Wayne. Jor-El and Lara. Ben Parker. Maria Castle and her children, Lisa and Frank Jr.

    How about the Monitor? I don't think the original Monitor is one of the 52 Monitors who recently were revealed to us. The original gave his life so the heroes could have more time to fight the Anti-Monitor.
  • Kelvin, if you (or someone else) hadn’t mentioned Jim Wilson, I would have followed up with him eventually. I started reading Hulk with Incredible Hulk #167 and Marvel Super-Heroes #38 simultaneously; I had one foot planted firmly in both the Silver and Bronze Ages. I remember a letters page debate which raged concerning who was the better sidekick to the Hulk: Rick Jones or Jim Wilson. I never could choose, but although Jim Wilson was a great supporting character, I’d hate to see his death overturned and the character revived.

    And yes, Jeff, I agree there is a difference between deaths of significant characters and characters with meaningful deaths. I’m not really looking for deaths which were the catalysts for heroes’ origins (such as Uncle Ben or the Waynes), but rather meaningful deaths that have stuck, regardless of how well known a main or supporting character is. As examples of meaningful deaths which didn’t stick, I would cite Jason Todd’s (which affected Batman for years following) and Hal Jordan’s (who died saving the entire Earth from the “Final Night”).

    The Anti-Monitor? I dunno… kind “iffy.”

    How about Captain George Stacy?
  • Here's a follow-up question for you to ponder which I'd like to post before I go to lunch.

    Does the reversal of a character's death lessen his or her sacrifice?

    For example, does the revival of Barry Allen somehow "cheapen" his death in CoIE?
  • I'm surprised that someone else remembered Colonel John Armbruster. He was only around for some twenty-odd issues but I, too, enjoyed the introduction of his character, Jeff. At first, it didn't seem like he would be around for more than an issue or two---he was assigned to rescue Lieutenant General Ross from the Soviets, which he accomplished, with the apparent death of Major Talbot. But the storyline took a radical turn when the Pentagon informed both Ross and Armbruster that Armbruster was Ross's relief as the commander of Project; Greenskin.

    To me, this made perfect sense for a number of reasons. First, an O-9 was 'way too senior to be in personal charge of such a project. And second, and more important, LGEN Ross had pretty much worn out his usefulness as a character. A less mercurial commander would be just thing to add some drama to the whole "capture the Hulk" business. I genuinely thought the writers were planning on phasing out Ross, or at least relegating him to a less prominent rôle; so I was stunned when he died saving President Ford's life.

    But as much as I liked him, I would find it one of the bigger cheats to bring COL Armbruster back. People die. Particularly military men die. The caprice, unpleasantness, and finality of death is what gives it its literary impact.

    Perhaps it was because Stan Lee wanted his war-based comics to have more realism than his super-hero titles, but permanent death (a tautology, to be sure) seemed to strike his wartime characters more than others.

    Junior Juniper. Lady Pamela Hawley. Red Hargrove. Lee Baker.

    At least the first two of these were not just significant deaths, but, as Cavalier's thoughts turned, were significant characters who died. Juniper was one of the first regular-appearing characters in a comic to be killed off, and his death marked the beginning of the end of the farcical-romp attitude of the early Sgt. Fury tales.

    And the death of the hero's lady love was almost unheard of. Not only was it a shock when Pam Hawley was killed, but her death held repercussions for Nick Fury throughout his entire fifty-year history.

    Both cases, for the readers, informed them that, at least in Sgt. Fury, no character held a "death-exemption" card and it added to the overall sense of drama. (At least, until Marvel undermined the whole thing by showing the Howlers fighting in Korea in the first Sgt. Fury annual.)
  • I had forgotten that Armbruster was named Ross' replacement, but I'm surprised (and pleased!) that someone else here remembers the short-lived character. I recall that Ross and Armbruster were often at loggerheads over how to handle the Hulk, and I can still hear one particular dialogue exchange in my mind's ear although it has been many years since I last read it. At the end of #171 Hulk has just defeated the Rhino and the Abomination. A reconciliation between Ross and the Hulk seems to be in the air when Armbruster attacks the Hulk from behind an captures him. When Ross demands, "Armbruster! Do you realize what you've done?" Armbruster replies, "My duty, Ross, My patriotic duty. I'VE CAPTURED THE HULK!"

    Another memorable death from that same era, perhaps more touching than meaningful, that of Crakajack Jackson in #182. That one stuck, too. Crackajack even taught Hulk how to scrawl his own name with a stick in the dirt. "H-U-L-K. Hah! Hulk knows Hulk's name!"

    Heh. Maybe the "Golden Age" really is 12.
  • I was going to mention Pamela Hawley, but the Commander beat me to it. She did appear again in a wartime-set sequence in Dr. Strange (of all places) in 1981 or '82, during the Stern-Rogers run on that book. But that doesn't count as a revival from the dead.

    As far as I know, Captain Stacy has never returned. What about Karen Page? It's been about 11 years since Kevin Smith killed her off. I haven't followed Daredevil in years, so I'm not up on happenings in that book.
  • George said:
    IAs far as I know, Captain Stacy has never returned. What about Karen Page? It's been about 11 years since Kevin Smith killed her off. I haven't followed Daredevil in years, so I'm not up on happenings in that book.

    Karen Page remains dead.
  • How about the Swordsman? He was a well-known Silver Age villain with pangs of heroism that blossomed in the Bronze Age. He became another reformed adversary to join the Avengers, bringing his girl-friend, the mysterious Mantis. He was portrayed as one of those guys who just couldn't catch a break but I always liked him as a character. His death really shocked my boyhood mind! His body was briefly re-animated at the end of the Celestial Madonna saga but he was never revived.

    Then there are the Legion trio of Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid and Chemical King. They stayed dead until new versions were created Post-Crisis!
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