[DreaM]

So one of my coworkers recently saw the new Spiderman movie and the next day, knowing I am into comics, sent me a link to an article that deems the death of Gwen Stacey as the shift from silver to bronze age comics. And I haven't been able to stop thinking of it. I am so ridiculously excited about something that happened 20 years before I was even born in a book I don't read!

 

I have not and don't intend to read Spiderman, but can you just imagine being a comic reader at the time? Up to that point the hero ALWAYS saved the girl. Not 99% of the time, but ALWAYS! And then one day he couldn't. Can you just imagine the gut-wrenching, comic-ripping feeling of everything you expect being turned on its head! That first glimpse of her dead on the web? Oh my god! I want that so bad!!!!!!

 

I have become obsessed. I want my Gwen Stacey moment. Sure there are shocking things (like alien Robot childbirth), devestating moments (Ben & Billy, Carl getting shot in the face), and interesting layout decisions (Hickman's Nightly News & Pax ROmana, Lemire's Trillium), but nothing that defies all expectation. Maybe I haven't been reading comics long enough...

 

What modern moments even compare?

 

Does anyone have a time when their comics truly made thier heads spin? Made them question and refresh and feel like they are reading for the first time?

[PorkTornado75]

Nice question let me ponder a bit before i respond............. I do feel like we have not really had any moments like the "Gwen" moment in any comic as of late. 

 

One off the bat i would have to point back to another Marvel comic The X-Men with the whole "House of M" story that erased 99% of the mutants in the Marvel universe but that still did not compare to the "Gwen" moment. Will have to think about this one for a bit longer.

[DreaM]

Thanks PT. This is really eating my mind!

 

And the more I think about it, the more I think we will never have such a moment again. Sure we can be shocked, but not in an industry changing kind of way. In this modern, anything goes era, where our superheros are super-flawed and extreme violence is par for the course, where we have as many anitheros as actual heros, where we love our villains as much as our heros, where no one is safe, what can really happen to turn everything on its head?

 

Of all the traditional supers, Xmen is the most appealing to me. I loved the cartoon as a kid and they are the only superhero movies I have watched because of that. I even picked up the first few issues of Wood's run on the Marvel now relaunch. And you just gave me one more reason to check them out.

[DreaM]

And they didn't even have the internets to talk about it all after! Was there a stampede down to the comic shop that night so everyone could deal with it together? Did Marvel get bags and bags and bags of mail? (and do they still have it, because I would love to see people's reactions at the time)? So many things.

[PorkTornado75]

Given you said you like the X-Men i would have to recommend the recent run of Uncanny X-Force`s first arc.

 

Without giving to much away Wolverine builds a secret group of mutants that are working underground and dont have to follow any rules(kill who needs to be killed).

 

The story revolves around the first mission of this new team consisting of Wolverine,Deadpool,Fantomex,Archangel,Psylocke and the ending really makes a think a bit and changes how i felt about a character forever.

 

Pick up the first volume and give it a shot issues 1-6 from 2010, plus Rick Remender wrote it !

[Neganite]

The Joker killed Robin at one point. Cant remember which 'Robin' it was at the moment because its been ages since iv read it and im drunk. But that was pretty cool.

[PorkTornado75]

Jason Todd and the readers voted to have him killed.

[Gravelord]

But then DC brought him back for some reason. I hate character revivals in comics most of time, they diminish the original death's impact and mess with continuity (Batman RIP). However, that was a pretty big death when it first happened, probably could have been considered the DC comics equivalent to Gwen Stacey's death.