Sorting Algorithm of Deadness/Comic Books

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Sorting Algorithm of Deadness

Using the scientifically Infallible power of the Sorting Algorithm of Deadness, who do you think is the next in line for being brought back from the great Bus in the sky?

To use the Algorithm, simply add the Column's "Death Value", and divide by the number of applicable rows.


Relative deadness factor Deader Than Dead Maybe Back Later Be Back Soon Death? What's That?
Death Value 4 3 2 1
Cause of death Irony, Bridge Drop, Overkill, Stuffed in The Fridge, Ret-Gone Redemption, Sacrifice, Bus Crash, Mortal Wound Reveal No One Could Survive That, just plain killed in battle Jumping
Audience Expectation Anyone Can Die, Kill'Em All Killed Off for Real, Tonight Someone Dies Disney Death Back from the Dead, Death Is Cheap, Nobody Can Die
Body Found? Dead and Buried
Only Bits And Pieces		 At The Morgue Never Found, Frozen, Petrified Left for Dead
Reaction Montage, Bond One-Liner He's Dead, Jim It's Personal Faux Death
Last Words Crap, Killed Mid-Sentence, Carry on men, His Name Is-- Catch Phrase, Famous Last Words, Final Speech, Obi-Wan Moment "Fly, you fools!" "Piece of cake" "My Death Is Just the Beginning"
Characterization Red Shirt, Loved One, Mauve Shirt Recurring Character, C-List Fodder Regular Protagonist, Archvillain
When did they die? 10+ years ago, Series Finale 5–10 years ago Same year Same arc
"Died" and come back? Not yet Died once, but got better Twice I've lost count

If the character hasn't died yet (but seems likely to), see Sorting Algorithm of Mortality. All of this is trumped by the First Law of Resurrection.

Currently, Shirley from Code Geass and the real Caulder from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin have scored 4, the highest possible. The latter is more notable by having 4 in every category instead of getting the CLAMP bonus that the former got. No characters have got the lowest possible score of 1 yet, but Davros and The Master are joint leaders in the death defying derby at 1.75, even beating South Park's Kenny.

Baseline Example: The death of Superman.

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice, so he's not coming back from that too quickly, or the sacrifice will be cheapened. 3.
  • Genre: It's a comic book, so Death Is Cheap. 1.
  • The Body: Deader Than Dead, a Pietà Plagiarism too for supes sake! So no chance of Faking the Dead. 4.
  • Reaction: Really Dead Montage, uh-oh. 4.
  • Characterization: Protagonist. 1.
  • When did he die: Same year, so 2.
  • Come Back?: This was a first, so 4.
  • Average: So add it up... we get a pretty high score, 19! Since it's not a videogame, divide by 7, and we get... 19/7 = 2.7, meaning supes isn't coming back for at least a few months, maybe even years. In actuality the Death Of Superman happened in January 1993 and he came back some time before May 1994.

Baseline Example for high scores: Uncle Ben.

  • Cause: Bridge drop, shot by mugger: 4
  • Genre: It's a comic book. 1.
  • The Body: Long since buried: 4
  • Reaction: Montage, significant grief: 4.
  • Last words: "With great power comes great responsibility." Famous Last Words: 3
  • Characterization: Loved One: 4
  • When did he die: Decades ago: 4
  • Come Back?: Never: 4
  • Average: 4. A famous comic book saying goes "nobody stays dead in comice except for Uncle Ben." The saying used to be, "nobody stays dead in comics except Bucky and Jason Todd...and then 2006 happed.


Now let's make a prediction with the recent death of Batman in Final Crisis.

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice, give or take. 3.
  • Genre: Comic book, so Death Is Cheap. 1.
  • The Body: Dead and buried, but it's a little more complicated. Still, it's a 4.
  • Reaction: He's Dead Clark, plus "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" probably counts as a Really Dead Montage. 3.5.
  • Last Words: "Try Me." 3.
  • Characterization: It's The Goddamn Batman, people. 1.
  • When did he die: Same year, so 2.
  • Come Back?: This would be the first time, so 4.
  • Average: 21.5/8= 2.7. A semi-high score, and DC seems to be sticking to this one for a while. Still, he'll definitely be back, likely before the end of 2010 at the latest. CORRECT!


Note: This sub-page is for Comic Books examples only. Please ensure that you put new examples in the correct Sorting Algorithm of Deadness sub-page.

Captain America (comics)

  • Cause: Dropped a Bridge on Him via assassination shot to the head. 4.
  • Genre: Comic book, and Marvel has a higher resurrection rate to boot, so Death Is Cheap. 1.
  • The Body: Again, Deader Than Dead, not lost. 4.
  • Reaction: He's Dead, Jim, some Really Dead Montage. 3.5.
    • Not quite true - Jeph Loeb's Fallen Son is an extended five-issue montage about the Marvel heroes dealing with Cap's death.
  • Characterization: Protagonist, so that helps. 1.
  • When did he die: Same year, so 2.
  • Average: 15.5/6, We have a pretty high score here too, 2.58, but there's still deader. Odds are he returns in a year or two. (I mean, Bucky just came back, if he can do it, how hard can it be for Cap?). If you acknowledge Fallen Son as a montage, it increases to 16/6 or 2.67. Adding the fact that he's died (or at least been frozen in the Arctic for decades) gives 19/7 or 2.71.
  • If TPTB are telling the truth, he'll be coming back in July 2 1/2 years after his death
    • Well, the BBC has confirmed the 5 issue series where Captain America comes back is on July 1. Making it April 2007 to July 2009, so 26 months, pushing just past 2 years compared to Superman's 17 months. Hmm, the algorithm could perhaps be fine tuned...
  • As of Captain America: Reborn (July '09) Cap was never dead in the first place. "The gun used on him instead transported him to a fixed position in space and time."
Gertrude Yorkes from Runaways:
  • Cause: Stabbed by Geoffrey Wilder while saving Chase: Heroic Sacrifice: 3 .
  • Genre: Marvel Comics: Death Is Cheap: 1.
  • Body: Buried under the Hollywood sign: 4.
  • Reaction: It's Personal for Chase: 2.
  • Last words: Cut-off-mid-sentence-final-speech: 3.
  • Characterization: Regular or protagonist... To be conservative, 2.
  • When: Two years ago: 2.
  • Died and come back: On the way back? 3.
  • Average: 21/8 = 2.6. She's actually back.

In the pages of Green Lantern Corps, the death of Kyle Rayner

  • Cause: Truly spectacular sacrifice to a.) contain a Power Battery gone nuclear, b.) destroy the Black construct that was draining the Central Power Battery, and c.) wipe out all the Black Lanterns. 3.
  • Genre: Death Is Cheap medium, Anyone Can Die story arc. Let's average to a 2.5.
  • Body: He's right there. His ring even declared him dead. 4.
  • Reaction: Yet to be seen, but solicitations indicate a Roaring Rampage of Revenge on Guy Gardner's part. 2
  • Last Words: Final Speech. 3
  • Role: Protagonist. 1
  • When: Just last issue. 1
  • Come back before: Not from anything quite this bad. 3
  • Average: 19.5/8 = 2.44. Pretty high for someone who's on the cover of an issue two months from now.

I must give this a try, with a fairly recent example, Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat (or Ariel or Sprite, girl had a lot of crappy hero-ing names) of the X-Men, last seen saving Earth from a Giant Bullet.

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice/No One Could Survive That - 2.5 (it's on the line, people!)
  • Genre: C'mon. it's X-men. 'Nuff Said - 1
  • Body Found: Left for Dead - 1 She's on a bullet plunging through intergalactic space, probably merged with it.
  • Reaction: He's Dead, Jim - 3
  • Last Words: "Give me strength." a solid 2 - 2
  • Characterization: Regular/Main - 1.5 but she was the Main Character of the Whedon arc in which she was offed.
  • When: Same Year - 2
  • Come Back: - 3 Well she's been ghosted once but she she came back, and this is freaking X-Men.
  • 16/8 = 2 That's an impressive score from the Girl from Deerfield. So Not Dead. Especially when you figure in her massive 1.81 Mortality Score Jean Grey and Captain America are deader than her.

In Ultimatum, the death of Peter:

  • Cause of Death: Heroic Sacrifice. 3.
  • Genre: ...This is really hard to call. Ultimate Marvel started out as a 3, except in X-Men where it was 2 and then very freaking 1. And the Crisis Crossover which it was a tie-in for is a Wham! Episode advertised as Anyone Can Die, but who knows if they'll stick to that. Um, let's leave this one out and move on.
  • Body Found: It seems to have been Never Found the Body. 3.
  • Reaction: 4. Okay, a montage hasn't happened yet, but solicits indicate it will.
  • Characterization: 1.
  • When: There's going to be a Time Skip after Ultimatum is over, so 2.
  • Come back: Not yet. 4.
  • 3 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 4 / 6 = 2.83. Probably coming back after a little bit, which is good considering what a bad idea it is.

Justice League: Cry for Justice Lian Harper

Laurensolivius from Asterix and the Cauldron

  • Cause of death: Sentenced to be thrown to the lions. No One Could Survive That - 2
  • Genre: Killed Off for Real, but death is rare - 2.5?
  • Last known words: Telling Asterix and Obelix that he's excited over being "booked" for a "performance" - 3
  • Characterization: Red Shirt - 4
  • When: Asterix and the Cauldron came out in 1969 - 4
  • Died and come back: No - 4
  • Result: 19.5/3.25

Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler, from the X-Men comics.

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Sorting_Algorithm_of_Deadness/Comic_Books?oldid=1485951"