Does the Death in 'Fantastic Four' #587 Matter?

As comic book fans, we’ve become so embittered by the conventions of the medium that we sometimes lose sight of the story. I’m referring to the death of a character in comic books.

It doesn’t matter does it? The Flash came back. Green Lantern too. Superman, Captain America, and Batman were all killed and brought back before too long. We’ve also seen the return of characters whose deaths were so important that they seemed to define those closest too them: “Bucky” Barnes and Jason Todd.

So death doesn’t really matter does it?

Well, yeah, sometimes it kinda does. Today The Fantastic Four #587 was released and it featured the death of one of the team’s founding members: the Human Torch. For comic book readers, death has become a necessary staple to remind us that the stakes are always high in these stories, and it isn’t realistic that everyone is going to come back from battle. More importantly, as a dramatic device, death can be used to remind us how important and precious life is and of the value of love and friendship.

As a kid I started reading when John Byrne took over the book after leaving Uncanny X-Men and the run was legendary. Since then The Fantastic Four has been helmed by some of the biggest writers and artists in the industry with the intention of breathing something fresh into the First Family of the Marvel Universe. One of the constants on the title would be the long-lasting friendship between Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm. While the two always had one another’s backs until the end, the two shared a realistic friendship of constants jabs and good-natured ribbing.

I was struck at how touched I was in this issue as Johnny pushes Ben out of the way and chooses to sacrifice himself to protect the world. Ben looks his best friend one last time and Johnny says “You don’t wish it any more than I do.” Johnny succeeds in preventing what would have been a devastating attack on Earth by Annihilus and his soldiers.

Did the death of Johnny Storm matter? Yes. Not because its story serves as the penultimate chapter of this long running series. The death mattered because it fit into the story and the loss—the great loss—of a friend and uncle was conveyed beautifully in those last pages. Writer Jonathan Hickman and Steve Epting have produced an exceptionally memorable story.

You can say, “Awww… who cares? He’s just going to come back eventually.”

Yeah. Probably. But why let that take away from the tragedy of the story that unfolded in The Fantastic Four #587? Take the story for what it is. The sacrifice of one of comicdom’s more beloved characters to save a world and protect his family. Look again at the last page with a shattered Ben Grimm sitting against a wall as he comforts Johnny’s niece and nephew.

This mattered.