YMMV / Mort the Dead Teenager

• Adorkable: Mort is considered by some fans to be this.
• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Some have claimed that the series doesn’t have an moral, or that there’s a Spoof Aesop that’s more negative than it should be. Others have stated that the moral is to live your youth vicariously and have as much fun as you can before you become an adult and succumb to the working world.
• Awesome Art: Hallgren really knew how to evoke a mood in many of the scenes, from the hilariously gory movie haunting to the club performance, every page is filled with tiny details and grungy Scenery Porn.
  • The page in issue 3 where Mort and Teen Death pull into Rock ‘n Roll Purgatory was SO WELL-LIKED by Hallgren that he even signed it!
• Creepy Awesome: Mort, due to his bizarre abilities such as his removable head and the movie theater stunt.
• Cult Classic: At one point it was considered this, but the following had lost steam after the movie was shelved, leading to a drought in fan activity.
• Escapist Character: Mort is considered so by one of the original producers of the movie adaptation.^note  The producer also noted that the plot is very much in the vein of Beetlejuice, considering the two protagonists, the Maitlands, are dead as well. Perhaps he could be suggesting that in the same way they had died, that it could also be considered escapist for a teenager of Lydia’s age to go through what the Maitlands had done.
• Fair for Its Day: With all the hype surrounding Beetlejuice and coming-of-age dark comedies of that era (such as My Boyfriend's Back and Night Life), most consider it to be Marvel jumping on a storytelling style fad and that it could never be made today with the 90s attitude the series had. Plus all the stigma surrounding teenage death and how most portrayals of it aren’t comedies nowadays.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Those who are unfamiliar with the comic might assume Mort to be a zombie, but this is not the case. Even diehard Marvelites get this wrong!
• Hard-to-Adapt Work: The comic ran for 4 issues in the early 90s, and while has been optioned for a movie with production seemingly having started at two points,^note And BOTH productions seemingly cancelled for reasons beyond the control of those who made it! no footage or materials have surfaced, effectively making anything movie-related lost media, and with no results to go off of, we may never see what Mort may look like as a film.
• So Bad, It's Good: Marvel fans who are unfamiliar with the work may consider the series this, due to dated aspects like the 90s ‘tude and art style not being similar to any other comic from that era.
• So Short, It Rocks: With only 4 issues under its belt and no other content aside from an entry in the Handbook, Mort does have its place as an oddball little series that has its shining moments of cool in a good chunk of its art and storytelling.
• Unexpected Character: Mort appearing in the Official Expanded Marvel Handbook, many of those who picked up the issue he was in were confused about him, while fans were surprised that he would even show up at all.^note Sadly that would be Mort’s last appearance in any Marvel comic or published media aside from this blog post advertising the digital release.
• Vindicated by History: More fans of the series have been cropping up in recent years, and have been appreciating the comic more than the people who were around when it first came out. Not to say there weren’t long-time fans who read it in the 90s, but there has been a small uptick in fans over the years.
• The Woobie: Mort qualifies as this. He gets killed in a freak accident at a young age and, after returning to the mortal plane as a ghost, sees that his friends and family didn't really respect him that much.

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