The Bucky Clause

It’s no secret that comic book deaths are rarely ever permanent. Even the unspoken rule that kept Bucky Barnes and Jason Todd from returning for many decades was broken twice within the span of one month in 2005.

Comic books are a unique medium in that characters can have 50 years’ worth of uninterrupted monthly stories with barely any change in the status quo, thus immortalizing the characters and welcoming new readers along the way. The disadvantage, of course, is that major events like deaths and unmaskings are often undone. The success of stories that rewrite history or bring back dead characters depends on many factors and can only be assessed case-by-case. I could honestly write a full post discussing my thoughts on this facet of comics, but for now let’s just say that for every One More Day there’s a Winter Soldier, and that’s perfectly fine by me.