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Welcome back to the Answer of the Week, where Joe and Matt give their answers to the THN Question of the Week along with YOUR audio responses! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a GOOCHER! This week’s question once again comes from BlackScorpionIII: Nebraska lawmakers recently voted to end the death penalty. What do you think about killing in comics? More specifically, what do you think about heroes killing in comics? When is it okay for heroes to kill?
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Great discussion, gang! I didn’t expect the level of agreement that I heard. Really thought I’d be in the minority.
One last item, though: The killing-heroes defenders still fall back on whether a situation is so dire that heroes kill. I reject that. Not because there’s no “grey areas”, but because the situation created was the choice of writers to create.
Writers have often invented flawed characters (-not heroes) to be the killers in those situations. If a writer decides to put Supers, Bats, or Cap Marvel in that position, they’ve made an error. They shouldn’t make situations where those heroes cross the line in the first place. That’s what the anti-heroes or not-yet-knowing-how-to-be-a-heroes come in. (i.e. Punisher, Spider-Doc, etc)
There are two great stories that show us how it’s done.
1. JSA: Black Reign. Here, alleged heroes act for the greater good and in line with the concepts of justice in Kahndaq. Black Adam, Atom Smasher, Brainwave, Eclipso, Nemesis, and Northwind topple a tyrant and restore order. For the greater good, right? The arc is one of many that walk through what happens when we accept killing from heroes.
2. JLA: Antaeus. An idealistic guy wanting to live up to the standards of Supes eventually flies over to a MidEastern “rogue” country to kill their leader and end a war. Even though this is a combat situation where things are done for the greater good, we see this virtuous guy really lose what made him a hero.
I’m not against killing in comics, but heroes don’t kill. These two stories are pretty good templates for establishing redemption storylines and exploring the grey area without having our established heroes pull the trigger. There’s no reason for writers to put Bats, Supes or our other icons in those situations. All it does is use up their heroic capital.