Barry Allen: Why Exactly Isn’t He Still Dead?

He looks like he’s tripping over his own feet in that pose.

Crisis on Infinite Earths probably didn’t kill off anywhere near as many characters as its reputation.  But reputations are kinda screwy that way anyway, considering how many people are probably unaware how any “squeal like a pig” scenes make up so little of the movie Deliverance.  But there were really only two deaths in that story that really matter as far as DC was concerned.  Three if you count Prince Ra-Man, and nobody does.  One was Supergirl.  The other was the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen.  Both of those characters stayed pretty dead for a while, but Barry’s was actually remembered by the general public, or at least by his superhero peers.

The funny thing was, Barry dying may have been the best thing to ever happen to the character.

Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #8: The Spectre

Beware the pale man in a cape and a pair of briefs!

This ongoing series of mine has focused largely on forgotten or little-used heroes.  Today’s entry is nothing like that, since the Spectre has been a DC staple since his creation in 1940.

He’s just been a markedly different sort of character any time he appears anywhere.  At least with someone like Superman, you know what the guy is and where he stands.  With the Spectre, he’s more or less what the story needs.  He really is a deus ex machina, sometimes rather literally.

The Outright Screwy History Of The Maid Of Might

All looks Supergirl has had.

Gabbing Geek, like any online publication worth its salt, has editorial discussions.  Watson was wondering how a story on longest-dead characters would go, specifically ones that stayed dead or had actual emotional impacts on the reader, especially if they died during an “event”.

Shortest death:  probably Hal Jordan as Paralax in Zero Hour…back the very next month in the pages of Green Lantern.  Longest may be Captain Mar-Vel, still dead and staying that way.

But that idea sounds like it would require too much research, so instead I’m gonna talk about Supergirl.