In the wake of the Pushcomicsforward movement there have been a lot of questions about what that means and how to accomplish it.  While there are indeed many facets behind how to make comics a thriving medium, there are no definite answers.  In terms of the big two publishers though, there is at least one concept which could be forever scrapped without much loss to the continuity of comics, and that is to do away with death as a gimmick.  There used to be a saying in comics that the only two characters that stay dead in comics are Jason Todd and Bucky Barnes, but in recent years not only have both returned from the dead, but both have been extremely popular in their new versions.  The popular saying thus changed to Uncle Ben being the only one that can stay dead, but even an alternate universe version of him recently showed up in Spider-Verse.

The problem with using death as a plot device is that it is often not really relevant to the overall story, at least not in the sense that it should be.  That is to say that if death is going to be used, that it should not simply be introduced as a gimmick to elicit sales (the death of Superman) or a gimmick to play at the heartstrings of its readers (the multiple deaths of Jean Grey.)  Of course death exists in the comic world as it does in the real world, but for the focus on death as an action for main characters, the secondary impact of their actions are often overlooked.  This was highlighted in the movie Man of Steel as Superman and Zod laid waste to Metropolis, which likely would result in the deaths of millions.  The movies showed a more realistic view of what the carnage would be like for these characters, and really even minor uses of powers would have unforeseen repercussions.  For instance, how do heroes without radios avoid airplanes when flying?  There are complex rules for that in the real world, but the idea of a hero hitting a plane is never addressed in comics.

It is thus the case that in one case death is ignored, and in another that it is trivialized, but there is a much bigger result of death.  With death as such a major cop-out for writers, something which is added for a little bit of extra drama, the crosshairs are often placed not on established characters, but rather on newer ones.  Thus while pushcomicsforward looks to the future of how to evolve the medium, one of the inherent problems of the minor characters at the big two is they need to find some way to survive in universe in order to still become relevant.  It is a good start that Alan Scott is written as gay and Wally West is black, but the difference is less profound if they become unpopular and then show up later on panel just to be wiped away on some company wide crossover.  Death should therefore be used universally the same, with no resurrection, no clones or any other gimmick to bring back beloved characters.  Instead let them live, and work for better characters and better stories.