C means Cannon Fodder

It's tough to be a superhero these days. Particularly if you're a 'B' or 'C' Lister. This means you're not one of the big boys (and few girls) who bring in the big bucks for the comic book companies. Recent and upcoming events in the major comic book universes have so far had the alarming penchant for killing off their supporting or not-so-main heroes seemingly for shock value purposes.
I have the bad luck of liking books that feature such kinds of heroes. Take DC's Batgirl, which got cancelled, perhaps not in small part to the events of the current "Infinite Crisis" event. Yeah, Cassandra Cain's still alive but her future is as yet uncertain. In Marvel, it's even worse. In the latest issue of New Avengers, the Canadian super team Alpha Flight is apparently killed OFF PANEL. They don't even get the decency of a real cool final battle or death scene. What an ignoble end to a team that has been around almost as long as I have been into comics.
The New Warriors also seem to be headed for cannon fodder status, as they are apparently the ones who will be involved in the event that will directly cause the upcoming Civil War mini-series in Marvel. I particularly find the way the Warriors have been treated recently as distasteful to the extreme- they've been around as a group since the 90s, and haven't been given decent writing or art which could have made them a more viable team. I hope that they don't go the way of Alpha Flight though- if anything, the preview of Civil War makes me curious, so at least that aspect of the gimmick works. Sucks though if Namorita dies... Grrr.

Bah. Lousy DC and Marvel. At least I myself would NEVER kill off a character just for a cheap gimmick or to sell comics...



Okay, maybe not really NEVER but not often...