How odd - comments were off for some reason. Strange. I re-enabled comments! Sorry about that. - BC

Two recent illogical returns of comic book characters made me think about this one, which states that the the quality quotient of a character's return in the eyes of fans seems to be based upon the dividend of the lameness of the character's exit/death and the divisor of the lameness of the character's return.

So long as the lameness of the character's exit is greater than the lameness of the character's return, it seems like fans are pleased.

Read on for two recent (spoiler-filled) examples of this quotient at work!

First off, we have the return of Mockingbird in Secret Invasion #2. Now, the only thing we have been told so far about the Skrulls is that the ONE way you can tell if a Skrull agent is actually a Skrull is that they turn into a Skrull when they die. That's what happened to the Skrull impersonating Elektra, and that's what happened to the Skrull impersonating Spider-Man in Secret Invasion #2.

Okay, so Mockingbird died in Avengers West Coast #100. She did not turn into a Skrull. Therefore, according to the rules, she was not a Skrull, right?

And yet, she apparently was, as the real Mockingbird returned in Secret Invasion #2.

So it really does not follow the internal logic that writer Brian Michael Bendis set out for his own project. And that's pretty silly.

HOWEVER, the death of Mockingbird was terrible. It was one of those "It's a 100th issue - it has a foil cover, someone HAS to die!" type of deals, and her death was, when the team escapes from a confrontation in Hell, Mephisto just blasts her with fire as they escape - and she dies.

Totally hokey, and much worse than her silly return - so Mockingbird's return? It passes!

In this week's issue of Robin, Stephanie Brown, Spoiler, returns to life, as we learn that Leslie Thompkins faked her death. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the original story, and why they felt that they had to lie to Batman, of all people, is not explained, so yeah, not the most logical of returns.

HOWEVER, Spoiler had an even WORSE death than Mockingbird - first she is made out to be a moron for starting War Games, then she is tortured nearly to death by Black Mask, and finally, she is killed by Leslie Thompkins as a lesson to Batman to show him what happens when he brings young people into his war. It was just an awful death.

A lot worse than her illogical return - so Spoiler's return? It passes!!!

And what do you know, in both instances, fans seem to be quite pleased about the return of both characters, whether their returns made much sense or not.