History AnyoneCanDie / ComicBooks

** ''UltimateMarvel'' in general. They killed off '''''[[ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan Spider-Man]]''''' and replaced him with a new one.

* As note at the top of the page, Marvel and DC run on anyone can die (flagship characters like SpiderMan, Franchise/{{Superman}}, and Franchise/{{Batman}} die all over the place), but the catch is that DeathIsCheap to extremes.
* While arguably not as bad as Ultimate can be-the main character has yet to die-the main 616 SpiderMan comics can be still be pretty bad about this. Uncle Ben may have been an example of DeathByOriginStory and [[ILetGwenStacyDie Gwen bit the dust to give Peter even more to angst about]], Kraven The Hunter, The Green Goblin, Jean DeWolfe, Captain Stacy, Mary Jane, Aunt May, Madame Webb, [[SpiderWoman Mattie Franklin]], Nick from the Bugle, The Hobbgoblin, Ned Leeds, Ben Reily, Harry Osborn etc. didn't know what hit them. Granted a lot of those guys failed to stay dead, but they managed a lot longer than most. (The exceptions to the long death thing being MJ-whom even the writers thought killing off was a mistake and only did it [[ExecutiveMeddling because they were forced to]] and Aunt May because they needed a cop out at the end of ComicBook/TheCloneSaga regarding the fate of [[SpiderGirl baby May Day]] and the "May's still alive" line being about Anut May instead was the best they could come up with. Mattie, Madame Webb, and the Hobgoblin haven't been dead long enough for us to see if it'll stick).

* A comedic example: Marvel's ''GreatLakesAvengers''. Er, ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}''. Er, ''{{Champions}}''. OK, ''Initiative''. Their big day in the sun, the 4-issue miniseries ''GLA Misassembled'', featured as the gimmick that one member would die each issue. This doesn't count Mr Immortal, of course.

* The deaths come thick and fast in ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'', and surprisingly some A-list characters perish without any more comment than mooks. In ''Convergence #3'' [[spoiler:the pre-ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} Joker]] is killed in as dramatic a fashion as the reader might expect, but only a few pages earlier [[spoiler:the pre-Flashpoint Riddler is blown up with a group of relatively minor Batman villains without any indication he might be more of a 'celebrity' than any of them]].

* To avoid leaving TheTysonZone with the younger readers, the writers of ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' decided to pull this in the 2012 story "[[WhamEpisode The Return of Gustavo Garian]]", where they killed off [[spoiler: Gustavo Garian himself, the ''oldest recurring character'' and the first named character to appear, even introducing Diabolik to the readers]]. After that, we can say the only characters safe from this are Diabolik himself, Eva Kant and Ginko... And we're not sure about the last two: after all, Diabolik is the only recurring character they actually need.

** This got even more extreme in ''TransformersGeneration2'', in which the writers got more freedom, and suddenly even characters who ''did'' have toys on the shelves weren't safe.

* In full effect in ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' since the 2012 story "[[WhamEpisode The Return of Gustavo Garian]]", in which they killed off [[spoiler: Gustavo Garian himself, the ''oldest recurring character'' and the first named character to appear, even introducing Diabolik to the readers]]. After that, we can say the only characters safe from this are Diabolik himself, Eva Kant and Ginko... And we're not sure about the last two.

* In full effect in ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' since the 2012 story "[[WhamEpisode The Return of Gustavo Garian]]", in which they killed off [[spoiler: Gustavo Garian himself, the ''oldest recurring character'' and the first named character to appear, even introducing Diabolik to the readers]].

* ''ComicBook/MorningGlories''.

* Marvel's answer to ComicBook/GreenLantern: ''Quasar'' has died so often that when the mini-series Annihilation was announced in 2006. The first question asked by a fan of the creative team was basically "Does Quasar have any chance of surviving this series??"

* NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' is VERY heavy on character death. Plenty of minor, supporting and even major characters snuff it - sometimes all within a single volume - and that's not counting the times someone happens to receive a FateWorseThanDeath. Gods themselves are established as capable of dying, and it's stated that they WILL die when they have no followers left. Even the Endless themselves can be killed, as explained with the original Despair in ''Endless Nights'', and Morpheus (Dream) ''himself'' dies at the end of Volume 9, 'The Kindly Ones' - his powers and essence restored within Daniel Hall, the new Dream, as the major plot of Volume 10.

* In ''UltimateMarvel,'' there was their mega-crossover ''{{Ultimatum}},'' which basically exists to brutally kill massive numbers of characters for the shock value. The {{Ultimate X-Men}} were hit the hardest, with only five members surviving. How much of it is ComicBookDeath remains to be seen.

* The '80s series ''StrikeforceMorituri'', about an alien invasion being defended against by {{Super Soldier}}s whose powers would inevitably kill them -- and did. Characters were constantly dying and being replaced by new recruits.

* This is a major selling point of ''AvengersArena''. It's also the reason why the series is hated by fans of ''{{Runaways}}'' and ''AvengersAcademy''.

* Commonplace in ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', where usually at least one main character dies per graphic novel. The eighth volume, ''Made To Suffer'', seriously ups the ante by killing off a total of ''ten'' characters (only two of whom are villains) ...over half the cast at that point. The only consolation is that most of them died of head wounds, ensuring they don't have to become zombies... and when ''that's'' the bright side, you know you've got a CrapsackWorld. Oh, and also, their sanctuary is destroyed, kicking them back out into the zombie-infested outside world. Sucks to be them.
** It has not gotten better since the ''Made To Suffer'' compilation came out a few years ago.

** This is inverted in one storyline, in which one of the three leads is predicted to die, but they don't know which one. Each deals with their potentially impending death in their own way, and it's a slow, quiet tale for a series in which characters often get blown up with no advance warning. The issue in which we find out who the doomed character is bears the simple title, "Someone Dies."

* While arguably not as bad as Ultimate can be-the main character has yet to die-the main 616 SpiderMan comics can be still be pretty bad about this. Uncle Ben may have been an example of DeathByOriginStory and [[ILetGwenStacyDie Gwen bit the dust to give Peter even more to angst about]], Kraven The Hunter, The Green Goblin, Jean DeWolfe, Captain Stacy, Mary Jane, Aunt May, Madame Webb, [[SpiderWoman Mattie Franklin]], Nick from the Bugle, The Hobbgoblin, Ned Leeds, Ben Reily, Harry Osborn etc. didn't know what hit them. Granted a lot of those guys failed to stay dead, but they managed a lot longer than most. (The exceptions to the long death thing being MJ-whom even the writers thought killing off was a mistake and only did it [[ExecutiveMeddling because they were forced to]] and Aunt May because they needed a cop out at the end of TheCloneSaga regarding the fate of [[SpiderGirl baby May Day]] and the "May's still alive" line being about Anut May instead was the best they could come up with. Mattie, Madame Webb, and the Hobgoblin haven't been dead long enough for us to see if it'll stick).

* The ''X-Men'' story arc known as ''AgeOfApocalypse'' was especially brutal - starting with Xavier's accidental death before the X-men are founded (prompting a new future, where Magneto founds the team and Apocalypse starts his takeover ''much'' sooner), it becomes one of the darkest Alternate Universes ever. Heroes are villains, villains are heroes, and it becomes a veritable bloodbath by the time all is said and done. Of course, said reality ceased to exist once the X-men successfully SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, but that doesn't make it any less shocking to have seen all those people - mutant and human alike - dropping dead like mayflies...
** And now it's been reestablished and is even grimmer than back in the 90's. Uncanny X-force (Wolverine's death squad) presented us with AgeOfApocalypse Wolverine as the new Apocalypse, armed with a bunch of reinterpreted A-listers as his backing band.

* Geoff John's ''BlackestNight'' didn't pull ANY punches. The final death toll: Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Garth, Ghenna Hewitt, Holly Granger, the second Dr. Polaris (offscreen) and apparently Kyle Rayner. With [[BigBad Nekron]] on the prowl, it is sure to increase exponentially. Though by the end of the series, Hawkman and Kyle had been resurrected. Hawkgirl was brought back as well, but as one of her past selves. In [[WhamEpisode Blackest Night #5]] it got so, so much worse.
** In the followup, ''BrightestDay'', even more of this happens. Hawkgirl and Hawkman die again, [[TheAtom Ryan Choi]] getting a hit on him from Deathstroke's Titan team.

* Commonplace in ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', where usually at least one main character dies per graphic novel. The eighth volume, ''Made To Suffer'', seriously ups the ante by killing off a total of ''nine'' characters (only one of whom is a villain) ...over half the cast at that point. The only consolation is that most of them died of head wounds, ensuring they don't have to become zombies... and when ''that's'' the bright side, you know you've got a CrapsackWorld. Oh, and also, their sanctuary is destroyed, kicking them back out into the zombie-infested outside world. Sucks to be them.

* Standard operating procedure for any comic book summer ''CrisisCrossover'', it's very well-known that as soon as it's Crisis Season, nobody's safe.

* Pretty much standard operating procedure for any comic book summer ''CrisisCrossover'', it's very well-known that as soon as it's Crisis Season, nobody's safe.
* Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's ''[[{{X-Force}} X-Force/X-Statix]]'' took a pretty lethal approach to its cast, killing off all but the two newest members of the titular team in the first issue and continuing to bump off regulars with regularity. It's stated that the team's membership has a very high turnover rate, and that before the series began the entire roster had been killed and replaced several times. The series partially serves to explore the idea that if superheroes were real, most of them wouldn't live very long.

* As note at the top of the page, Marvel and DC run on anyone can die (flagship characters like SpiderMan, SuperMan, and BatMan die all over the place), but the catch is that DeathIsCheap to extremes.

* Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's ''[[{{X-Force}} X-Force/X-Statix]]'' took a pretty lethal approach to its cast, killing off the entire titular team in the first issue and continuing to bump off regulars with regularity. It's stated that the team's membership has a very high turnover rate, and that before the series began the entire roster had been killed and replaced several times. The series partially serves to explore the idea that if superheroes were real, most of them wouldn't live very long.

* Ironically, the ''{{Firefly}}'' comic that makes up the page image is a subversion. During the particular comic above, [[PsychicPowers River]] is [[TheEmpath reading the mind]] of a passenger who the crew is escorting, and discovers the man is a government agent hunting her in particular, and plans to kill the entire crew and capture her. While the rest of the crew are fighting off attacking Reavers, River [[WaifFu deals with]] the ''real'' threat, subverting his intentions.