The Human Torch has been dead for a few months now, but due
to the monthly nature of comics we’re still dealing with his death in the pages
of Fantastic Four / Future Foundation and Amazing Spider-Man. Most of the time
in comics when a character dies we keep moving forward and there’s little to no
time spent dealing with the characters death. When Batman “died” I can barely
recall a tear shed for him even from his closest friends. With Johnny’s death
it’s been different as there has been not one, but two issues dealing with
grief and mourning.
The first of the books came in the last issue of Fantastic
Four # 588 which are essentially two stories in one. The first story has no
dialog with the exception of a recording from Johnny and yet it is very
powerful. If you do not feel the emotions on the page and understand the love
and care for this property and character then you will never understand the
writing of Jonathan Hickman. I don’t think there’s been a characters death that’s
had more meaning nor been handled in such a way. Hickman shows the reader
through the actions of the main characters what this persons death actually
means for them. There is a powerful scene with Reed confronting Annihilus via a
negative zone viewer. Reed is screaming his heart out at him and the villain just holds up the remains of Johnny’s suit and smiles. It’s so chilling and so
damn evil that it made Annihilus scary for the first time in long while. The
second story is a heartfelt story between Spider-Man and Franklin as they both
talk about their Uncle’s death which was equally good and full of the same amount of emotions.
The second book is Amazing Spider-Man # 657 written by Dan
Slott. This story is more light hearted than the other, but still full of
touching moments. At first glance it’s just a three story flashback in which
each person takes a turn going around and remembering an adventure with Johnny
that included Spider-Man. Each story is funny and light-hearted and just
classic Human Torch and Spider-Man shenanigans. The heart of the story is when
Johnny’s recording is played in full for the first time. Johnny basically asks
them to give Spider-Man his spot on the team since it was the best thing he had
to leave anyone. Then he sticks his hand out for everyone to put there’s on top
of his; after they’ve all put a hand in Johnny simply says, “Gotcha.” Boy did
he.
A lot of deaths in comics are just marketing ploys in order
to sell more issues and get the mainstream to visit a comic store and really
you can’t fault the business for trying to stay in business. But there’s something
very different about this death. The lead up to it, the way it happened. Sure
it’s a big deal to stop an Annihilus wave from entering the dimension, but it
was the only storyline that hadn’t been developed up until that point. It was a
surprise and one that Marvel tried to ruin; yet even they couldn’t stop Johnny’s death
from having meaning.
So was Johnny’s death worth it? Did it have any really
meaning or was it all marketing? Is he even dead forever or destined to return
like so many others? Some of the answers to those questions are up to the
readers to decide. Personally for me, it had meaning and value. I also chose to
believe that he’s dead and gone for as long as Hickman is steering the ship.
Future Foundation seems to be a step in the right direction for the Marvel
first family and gives them a new dynamic and setting to tell future stories
for the once stagnant franchise. In the end the only thing to say is… R.I.P.
Johnny.