Thank God Wolverine is Dying

Man. Did you hear? Marvel is killing off Wolverine in the comics. One of their most profitable characters -- one the most popular superheroes in the genre -- is going away (for like a year or so maybe). This shouldn't surprise anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of comics. They kill off popular characters all the time for those sweet, sweet sales only to bring them back in another event for more of those sweet, sweet sales. They've done it to Superman, Batman, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Ultimate Spider-Man, Jean Grey, Jean Grey, Jean Grey, Charles Xavier, The Human Torch, Thor, Kitty Pryde, Hal Jordan, Jason Todd, Supergirl, and more. So Wolverine's death was just a matter of time. Some won't care, some will decry the move through choked tears, but let me tell you why it's a good thing.

We Need a Shake-up

Whenever someone on the X-Men dies, there's a turbulent mourning period filled with emotional snapping, name calling, alliance changing, and restructuring. For the most part, the changes made stick around for a long while after the initial death. You had a new team come in after Jean's death, you had Cyclops become the main leadership focus after the first of Xavier's deaths, you had Emma Frost join, you had another team shift after Kitty "died", and you had a major splintering of the X-Folks after Xavier's most recent death. I think this is a good thing. In fact, I think this is one of the reasons these books have gone so strong for so long. Change is good. Change allows readers to jump on board. Change keeps things new and fresh. Change makes things exciting. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="327"] A GOOD THING, JEAN![/caption] Wolverine's death -- taking place over a miniseries called Death of Wolverine inside and event called Three Months to Die -- is going to be pretty much the same as usual and, for someone like me, kinda boring. The real exciting part comes after. The fallout. That's where the interesting stuff goes down. And we need that. The Battle for the Atom event went mostly unnoticed in the wake of Infinity. Bringing the first class of X-Men to the future injected some life into the X-Books, but it didn't last very long before people kind of went against it. We need more fallout, more change. The power structure at Wolverine's school is going to go into flux. Wolverine is on nearly every team in the Marvel U (even Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) so they'll all be effected by this in one way or another. Again, change is good.

He's Turned into Some Kind of Crutch

Whenever DC is worried about something not being able to sell they slap Batman on it (see: pretty much anything DC has done). Marvel behaves in a similar fashion with Wolverine. Along with Spider-Man, he's the famous guy who goes on the new team, or is on the poster for all the events, or is shown getting his ass handed to by the new Big Villain to show powerful he is. Even the X-Men movies play out like Wolverine and the X-Men. Not to mention the TV show Wolverine and the X-Men. So while he's taking a breather on the Death Bench, Marvel has to get creative to fill the void. Hopefully. They could opt to just throw different versions of Wolverine at us only to have the original Wolverine come back, having been in a Death-Like Healing Coma the whole time. Superman. Maybe Daken joins the X-Men (cool) or X-23 has to step up to replace her... clone-stock... dad... template... version. Or maybe they invent a new character. Or reinvent an old one. However they do it, they're going to have to do something new. And that's always a good thing, even if it ultimately fails to work out.

Either This Or He Gets His Healing Factor Back

In the comics Wolverine has been without a healing factor for maybe less than a year. Since no character is allowed to grow old with friends and family, two options presented themselves. He either had to get his healing factor back or die. Personally, I think it's better this way. Wolverine's healing factor got to the point where he could regenerate from a single living cell. Where's the danger then? That's boring. Plus, it takes away from how much of a "badass" and "skilled warrior" you are when you can't be killed or permanently injured. You're less of a wise master combatant and more of living, indestructible blender. [caption id="attachment_51749" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Puree[/caption] SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. My reasons for why I'm glad Wolverine is dying. Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below.