There have been two somewhat controversial and/or newsworthy events recently in the comic industry: The death of Hawkeye in Avengers #502 and the resurrection of Colussus in Astonishing X-Men #4. On one hand, there's a lot of people upset or saddened by Hawkeye's death. He was a popular character among Avengers readers (or so I'm told, as I don't read The Avengers) so many weren't happy to see him go, especially as part of yet another revamp/overhaul that many felt wasn't needed. On the other hand, X-Men readers were mostly elated when Joss Whedon brought fan-favorite Colossus back from the dead. It was one of the rare cases where resurrecting a dead character didn't feel cheap or gimmicky, so his return was welcomed.
But these two events illustrate two sides of a coin that is, for me, one of the great creative failings of the industry right now. Not that it's a recent problem either, it's taken decades of abuse to bring things to the state it's at now. You see, in the mainstream comic book world, death in no more serious an affliction than the common cold. Characters die all the time, and (with rare exception) they eventually return, every single time.
When Hawkeye died, many Avengers reader were (understandably) upset. They enjoy reading this characters exploits and adventures, and now he's been taken away (even if only for a little while.) Inevitably though, they take solace in the knowledge that the character will (some day) return. For some, myself included, this cheapens the impact and emotion of the event. At best, what could (and should) have been a powerful, heavy event comes off (no matter how well written) as just another gimmick to tack on some extra sales and/or bring in some new readers. At worst, it comes across (when not so well written) as a cheap attempt to impart emotion and drama into an otherwise boring or uninteresting story.
With this first case, I don't read Avengers, so I can't really give any personal impressions on the story or characters. I, frankly, don't care one way or the other about Hawkeye. The second example is a bit different, I'm a long time X-Men reader (it was one of the first comics I collected and read on a regular basis as a young child) so the events held some meaning for me.
When Colossus died, it was a well-written piece. Such a serious topic should be handled delicately and respectfully, and it was. Thing is, when all was said and done, I felt no real emotion over the loss. All I could think was "Well, that was interesting, but he'll be back." This was a character I'd be reading for about 20 years at this point, his loss should have meant something to me, but I felt nothing. Death is meaningless, the character will be brought back.
The same happened with his return. Joss Whedon penned a wonderful, powerful tale of his return, but still I felt nothing. My first reaction was "Wow, took them long enough." That's about as far as the emotions went. The return of a dead character feels more like the punch-line to a too-long joke any more, and that's a shame.