Previous Post Quote: And by numeral number six, I of course mean Kraven. Did we really need to see him back? And I mean, you can't really do anything with him. The guy killed himself. He pretty much wore out his return ticket then. It's different from bringing back other characters like Norman Osborn or Aunt May, because their deaths did bring their stories to an end, but there essential parts of the ongoing Spider-Man mythos, and the way that, well, at least the way that Norman died allowed for him to come back. But Kraven died INTENTIONALLY, the rest died from a result of something. And Kraven already beat Spider-Man. That was the entire thing with his death. He won. He played out his swan song. Bringing Kraven back was a real waste, because unlike Norman, he's not a pivotal villian. In addition, we have about ten of his kids still around. But if they brought back Kraven after all these years, that gives me hope that they'll soon bring back Macendale, or Miles Warren. It does seem rather pointless to me. There was really only so much you could do with Kraven the Hunter to begin with, and if those things were so important, they could just as easily be done with Vladimir, or Alyosha, or now Ana, or whatever illegitimate child will be discovered next week. I suppose the one advantage is that Kraven is, as you say, the one who has defeated Spider-Man--put him through a considerable trauma, in fact--but I really don't see what that necessarily adds to a Kraven story. Besides, what's Kraven's motivation now? Proving his mettle by defeating Spider-Man seems redundant, and that's really what he was all about. -Comp

His motivation becomes whatever the writer currently on the book makes it out to be really. There have certainly been significantly lamer characters who have had successful series all to themselves simply due to the skills of a solid writer.

As far as returning from death, it is an age old device used in comics from the very beginning. It isn't realistic or reasonable to assume that any character is safe from a return from death. Heck, the old joke used to be that only Bucky and Uncle Ben stay dead in comics. Right or wrong, it is and always has been utilized in the medium. The only thing that has changed in that regards is the "finality" device used in killing characters off. Significantly less ambiguous.

Ned