Line #1 ComicBook/ResurrectionMan


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7	Urban legend tells of a drifter wandering the side roads and back streets of the USA, a man who ''can't'' stay dead. A Resurrection Man.
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9	The legend is true. His name is Mitchell Shelley, and he's wandering the Earth, trying to do good by others where he can. Every time he dies, he comes back with a new superpower.
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11	Mitch was originally the star of his own Creator/DCComics ongoing back in the [[TheNineties 1990s]], created and written by Creator/DanAbnett and Creator/AndyLanning (later known for ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Nova\|2007}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2008}}''). His first appearance was actually ''Resurrection Man'' vol. 1 #1 (May, 1997). The series lasted for 27 issues, from May 1997 to August 1999. Focusing on his search to discover the truth about himself and his powers.
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13	Since the end of his original series, Mitchell has had guest appearances in various titles. He returned to the spotlight in a new series by Abnett/Lanning as part of DC's ComicBook/{{New 52}} relaunch in September 2011. The [[ComicBook/ResurrectionMan2011 new series]] only lasted for 13 issues, ending with a [[EpisodeZeroTheBeginning Zero Issue]] where Mitch learned his origin.
14
15	!!Notable appearances of Resurrection Man
16	[[folder:Comic Books]]
17	* ''Resurrection Man'' Vol 1 (1997-1999)
18	* ''ComicBook/{{Resurrection Man\|2011}}'' Vol 2 (2011-2012)
19	[[/folder]]
20
21	----
22	!!''Resurrection Man'' provides examples of:
23	* AdaptiveAbility: Whenever Mitch is killed by something, he is reborn immune to the way he died. In fact, when he was killed by extreme pain, [[GenderBender he came back as a woman]], because women are [[ScienceMarchesOn supposedly]] more resistant to pain.
24	* AmnesiacDissonance: Turned out Mitch wasn't a very nice guy in his pre-Resurrection Man life, a corrupt lawyer deep in mob business. He seems to have been better in previous incarnations.
25	* AndYouWereThere: In the storyline "Cape Fear", Mitch has an induced hallucination in which he's a "proper" superhero. All his enemies are reinvented as costumed supervillains: his murderous ex-wife Paula becomes The Widowmaker; Mr Fancy becomes the Joker-like Fancy Pants; the Body Doubles become the two-headed Body Double, and Hooker becomes the monstrous Bonehead. Kim Rebecki, meanwhile, is cast in the LovesMyAlterEgo role.
26	* ArchEnemy: The Body Doubles are Mitch's most frequently reoccurring foes. Also, ComicBook/VandalSavage, as he and Mitch have constantly clashed in the long span of their lives, up until the [[ComicBook/DCOneMillion 853rd Century]].
27	* TheAtoner: A touch of this after he finds out who he used to be.
28	* BackFromTheDead: Again, and again, and again...
29	* BadassLongcoat: Mitch usually wears a brown longcoat.
30	* BodySurf: The Rider.
31	* BornAgainImmortality: It was eventually revealed that Mitch had had this before he got his nanotech based ResurrectiveImmortality, leading to the Forgotten Heroes thinking he was the new incarnation of the Immortal Man.
32	* TheCameo: Two panels of Abnett and Lanning's Creator/{{Elseworlds}} oneshot ''ComicBook/TheSupermanMonster'', feature an (unnamed) ''actual'' resurrection man (i.e. a [[GraveRobbing grave robber]]), with Mitch's shoulder-length hair and broad-brimmed hat.
33	* TheCape: Pretty much, even though he normally doesn't wear one.
34	* CivvieSpandex: Typically doesn't wear a costume, favoring a black hat, black coat, black shirt and whatever trousers he can grab.
35	* DeathActivatedSuperPower: Mitch Shelley has the ability to come back to life with a new power when he's killed.
36	* DeathByOriginStory: Mitch Shelley's power involves him dying and then being resurrected by nanotechnology with a new super power, usually related to the manner of his death.
37	* DiscardAndDraw: Mitch Shelley has this in addition to well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin resurrecting]]. Every time he returns he has a different power of wildly varying usefulness For example take: Resurrected with: [[MindOverMatter Quantum telekinesis]], including sensory expansion on a near-cosmic scale , flight, molecular disintegration of targets, also includes an undefined resistance to 'reality warp'. Now compare that with: Resurrected with: [[GenderBender Is a woman.]] The [[BlessedWithSuck "catch"]] being that the power he gains would've prevented his previous death. Ex: he drowns, he can breathe water (or doesn't need to breathe all) when he revives.
38	* TheDrifter: Mitch spends his time as a drifter, trying to remember who he was and what happened to him.
39	* ElectronicEyes: When the Forgotten Heroes make a guest appearance, Silver Age spelunker Cave Carson has a cybernetic eye, a high-tech version of EyepatchAfterTimeskip which is never explained.
40	* EvilCounterpart: Hooker, initially.
41	* ExiledFromContinuity: An aversion in Mitch's first ongoing (when the Vertigo embargo was still in force), as [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 the Dreaming's]] Cain and Abel show up in one issue.[[note]] Possibly because both are characters from older series that Gaiman integrated into his book instead of characters of his own creation.[[/note]]
42	* FirstEpisodeResurrection: Subverted. Mitch's resurrection abilities were already in place by the time we first met him.
43	* FutureBadass: In ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'', Mitch's future self has gone from a relative nobody with famously unreliable powers into one of the strongest heroes of the 853rd Century. Not only has he developed tons of experience and prestige, but he's completely mastered his powers to resurrect immediately and gain the powers he needs, which he even exploits by poisoning himself for an instant whenever he wants to switch powers.
44	* GenderBender: Mitch spends a couple of issues resurrecting as a woman, after being tortured to death several times (with each time being more painful than the last). His persecutor has the theory that, as a woman, Mitch's pain tolerance is higher, allowing him to bypass a gate that normally emitted so much pain it caused him to pass out (opinions differ as to the amount of TruthInTelevision therein).
45	-->'''Mr. Bland:''' Women have appreciably higher pain thresholds than men. If Shelley reconfigures from each termination in a form suited to "protect" him from that method of death, then a female version would make sense.
46	* GhostMemory: Mitch used to get flashes of his previous incarnations when he was little (and again when possessed by the Rider).
47	* ImAHumanitarian: Hooker.
48	* ImmortalLifeIsCheap: Mitch Shelley gets this a lot, naturally. One issue has a confused ComicBook/{{Batman}} trying to figure out why the same guy keeps getting murdered by Gotham City criminals. A crossover with ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'' sees Hitman repeatedly shooting him over and over until he gets a useful power. In the [[ComicBook/DCOneMillion 853rd century]], even Resurrection Man himself gets in on the act, wearing a gauntlet that lets him commit instant suicide.
49	* InnerMonologue
50	* LovelyAngels: The Body Doubles, a pair of bounty hunters.
51	* MeaningfulName:
52	** In Mitch's very first issue, the town where he discovers his powers, and decides how he's going to use them, is called Crucible.
53	** Appropriately for a man who can come BackFromTheDead, Mitch has the same surname as ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' author Creator/MaryShelley.
54	* MissingMom: Mitch's mother died when he was young.
55	* MistakenIdentity: Mitch, and the Forgotten Heroes, conclude he's the long-lost Immortal Man. As it turns out, he's not.
56	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Mitch Shelley's powers are ''literally'' dictated by the plot; anytime he dies, he'll come back immediately possessing some power that would have allowed him to survive what killed him. Drop him off a cliff, now he can fly, shoot him, now he's bulletproof, etc.
57	* NighInvulnerability: Every time Mitch Shelley dies, he comes back to life with a new superpower. [[spoiler:When combined with nanotech regeneration, it gets interesting.]] It ''may'' be possible to kill Mitch permanently. No one's succeeded.
58	* PermaStubble: Mitch.
59	* PlausibleDeniability: In one issue, Mitch Shelley confronts a bunch of mobsters and crooked cops while appearing in a monster-like form. One of the witnesses was later confined to a mental institution for reporting what she saw.
60	* PlayingWithSyringes: "The Lab" is a secret private weapons contractor developing SuperSerum for the US government, going into war zones and using wounded American personnel as guinea pigs. Their concoctions created the [[NighInvulnerable Body Doubles]], [[{{Immortality}} Director Hooker]], and [[spoiler:[[ResurrectiveImmortality Mitch Shelley]], but not the way Shelley wanted]].
61	* QuestForIdentity: The series follows Mitch in quest to find out who he was.
62	* RasputinianDeath: Occasionally gets this from people trying to make sure he stays dead. It never works.
63	** In a {{Crossover}} with ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'', Tommy Monaghan kills Mitch over and over and over again until he comes back with a power useful to their situation.
64	* RealityWarper: Mr Skism.
65	* ResurrectiveImmortality: Mitch Shelley has this power, coming back to life each time he's killed, apparently thanks to [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotechnology]]. Mitch's soul has been around at least since AncientEgypt (and he finds an image of ComicBook/VandalSavage's origin familiar...). In ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'', Mitch survives until the 853rd century.
66	** It becomes a plot point in the [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 2008]] storyline ''ComicBook/WayOfTheWorld'' when ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} thinks Resurrection Man's power might be used to save a boy who's dying from cancer.
67	* StockSuperheroDayJobs: Mitch Shelley used to be a lawyer on the take from the mob.
68	* SuperheroEpisode: The "Cape Fear" storyline started with Mitch in a virtual world created by his subconscious, in which he was a Silver Age caped superhero, and all the people who had tried to kill him were costumed supervillains. He was still wearing the costume from this scenario when ComicBook/{{Superman}} invited him to join the ComicBook/{{Justice League\|OfAmerica}}. He eventually decided it wasn't for him.
69	* SuperpowerLottery: Anything from creating holographic butterflies, to shapeshifting, to pyrokinesis, to astral projection - typically, the circumstances of his death will shape the power (e.g. getting blown up in a nuclear explosion turned him into a living shadow).
70	** One issue had Hitman repeatedly shoot Mitch in the head for multiple lotteries, until he finally got a power that Hitman decided was good enough.
71	* TheSlowPath: In the ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' CrisisCrossover, various Justice League members exchange places with their [[LegacyCharacter successors]] in the 853rd century. However, due to his abilities, Resurrection Man is already there.
72	* TwoFirstNames: Mitchell Shelley. On an interesting note, the name he goes by depends on his current gender.
73	* WalkingTheEarth: Mitch walks the earth as a drifter trying to find out who he is.
74	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mitch certainly believes this, having died more times than he can count and being hounded by all manner of supernatural horrors that want to make sure he stays dead. Even worse is in ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' that he's destined to live at least until the 853 century!

Context ComicBook / ResurrectionMan