I’ve decided to try not spoiler things for the latest issue of Avengers Vs. X-Men, but you’ve probably already heard about the death of one of the founding fathers of the Marvel Universe.  As it always does, the conversational cycle has again come around to the chestnut about comic book deaths being meaningless, nobody ever staying dead, and blah blah blah fishcakes that we’ve all heard dozens of times over.  Given that the first hero to die in comics (The Comet, for those keeping score) was resurrected just a few years later, I’m somewhat amused to see the inevitable bewilderment about comic death as a sales stunt.  My own recent comic book inventory included copies of Captain America 25, Superman 75, Crisis On Infinite Earths 7 & 8 and other such thanotic foolishness, and I’ll go on record right now as stating that this issue will probably be the top seller for the month, thanks to the mainstream press and the speculator mentality.

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, for some reason, with an inexplicable British accent) is fire, is life incarnate, is Tuck everlasting with a side of sweet potato fries and a lovely asparagus gastrique, asking:  Don’t we, as the consumers, bear just as much responsibility for the proliferation of these kind of stunts as the creators do?