Comic book death

Cover to *Uncanny X-Men* #136 (August 1980, art by John Byrne), the penultimate issue of "The Dark Phoenix Saga". Jean Grey would sacrifice herself in the following issue, but Marvel later had the story retconned to allow Jean to appear in the new *X-Factor* series.

In the comic book fan community, the apparent death and subsequent return of a long-running character is often called a comic book death. A comic book death is generally not taken seriously by readers and is rarely permanent or meaningful other than for story or thematic purposes. The term is usually not applied to characters who have the ability to return from the dead as an established power or ability, such as Solomon Grundy or Ra's al Ghul.