The entertainment world and comics community awakened to the sad news of the untimely departure of Heath Ledger last night (Newsarama report). Ledger was an actor and personality of exceptional distinction, forsaking the glitter and financial reward that his brilliant acting ability could provide, for a precision in his choice of roles that was only matched by the integrity he exuded with every big screen appearance he made.

More than simply a good actor, Heath Ledger exemplified the notion of individualistic heroism with the choices he made in the course of his own career and with the path he walked in his own life.

Though he rose to fame with his Oscar nominated role in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger's relevance to the comics community soared with the recent release of teasers for the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight, where his portrayal of The Joker, undaunted by and transcending the classic Jack Nicholson performance, was placed front & center of the marketing campaign. The report in Variety of the actor's death cites a Dark Knight campaign insider's remark: "The Joker character is dealing with chaos and life and death and a lot of dark themes... Everyone is going to interpret every line out of his mouth in a different way now."

Reactions from across the comics web community testify to the admiration and regard that comics fans garner for the man and the actor, and for this outstanding personality and talent that have touched and graced the core of the comics mythology. The comics industry salutes you, Heath Ledger, and mourns your departure from amongst us as we mourn our very own.

Between Heath and J'Onn...

It is difficult for me to ignore the timing of the death of Heath Ledger, coming at the peak of the campaign here to petition DC Comics to avert a possible decision to kill the Martian Manhunter in the upcoming Final Crisis. Both issues center on the death of loved heroes and both of them hold profound implications for DC Comics and the comics community.

Although Heath Ledger has completed the post production work for The Dark Knight and his role of The Joker is recorded for posterity and is not expected to affect the film's production, there exists little doubt that his death will influence the marketing thrust of the film, which until now has focused on his portrayal. Death, in our real world is an undesired and mourned outcome of our lives, and in the case before us, there exists a finality to it which will certainly avert a successful and well deserved focus on Ledger's Joker portrayal for promotion and marketing of the Batman movie.

While on the other hand, the same corporate enterprise that's so deeply affected by the death of Heath Ledger, and which now mourns his departure and bows its head in obedience to a moral inability to exploit his role in advancing the sales of the film... the same corporate enterprise is arguably exploiting the death of its own heroes today, in order to somewhat cynically tug at their readership's devotion to their characters, for the expressed purpose of increasing the sales of their comic books.

Certainly a greater moral paradox than this one falling upon the laps of DC Comics today should be difficult to imagine.

While we make the distinction between real people who live and die in our world, and between the fictional characters of the comics universe, who also live and die in theirs, what remains indisputable about the comics mythology lies primarily in the actual relevance it holds to our own real world.

Why else would the greatest selling projects in the history of the comics be those which have touched most on this relevance to reality? Why else is it that comics readers around the world, as seen in the campaign and petition to save J'Onn J'Onzz, expect a certain measure of seriousness and sincerity in the editorial approach to comics storytelling, and have repeatedly shown that they hold the stature of these heroes with the greatest regard, as if they were living and performing in our own real world?

I turn again to Paul Levitz, Dan Didio and the entire family of DC Comics editors, with a plea to learn from the profound lesson which the untimely departure of Heath Ledger teaches us about the promotion and marketing of our real-life heroes... and to apply the same measure of insight to the plans that DC Comics is making for the promotion and marketing of its fictional heroes. The heroes that are loved and heartfelt by comics lovers as themselves being quite real in their relevance to our own world.

The heroes that have also become well rooted in our hearts, and in the hearts of comics fandom worldwide.

Sign the Petition to Save J'Onn J'Onzz
Click here to leave a comment and sign the Petition
and get banners to help promote the campaign.

Click here to download and distribute the
Save J'Onn and the Superheores
PRESS RELEASE

Click here for the
Save J'Onn J'Onzz
ARCHIVES