In Death is not the End, we spotlight the outlandish explanations for comic book characters (mostly super-villains) surviving seeming certain death.

Today, based on a suggestion from my pal Fraser S., we take a look a the half-hearted death and resurrection of the Vulture!

The Vulture is an oddly historic character in the history of Spider-Man. The Vulture was the first costumed supervillain that Spider-Man ever faced (unless you count the Chameleon wearing Spider-Man's own costume, of course) in just the second issue of his ongoing series...

Then the Vulture was the first super-villain to fight Spider-Man a SECOND time! Yes, before bringing Doctor Octopus back, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee first decided to bring the VULTURE back!

And, of course, the Vulture was one of the founding members of the Sinister Six...

However, after John Romita took over art duties on Amazing Spider-Man, Lee and Romita began to fool around a bit with Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery, introducing new villains like the Rhino and the Kingpin and revamping the Vulture. The way they achieved this was in Amazing Spider-Man #48, where we learn that the Vulture is in prison, dying...

He had suffered an accident and since he is on his death bed, he decides to let his only friend in prison, Blackie Drago (what is this guy, right out of a Raymond Chandler novel?), in on where he has hidden his wings...

Of course, Blackie is a jerk and actually planned the whole thing to get close to the Vulture and then have him killed. Note, though, how the Vulture is slowly dying and he closes his eyes...PERHAPS NEVER TO OPEN THEM AGAIN!

They freakin' threw in a PERHAPS right into the guy's death scene!

However, they then treated him as if he was dead. Blackie took over as the new Vulture, now with a new (cool?) helmet...

Obviously, the new Vulture did not exactly fly with readers (intentional pun, suckers!) and so in Amazing Spider-Man #62 (by Lee, Romita and Don Heck), the original Vulture returns...

They specifically say in the caption box that he supposedly died in #48, which, okay, I guess so, but not really...

When Spidey thinks he sees the Vulture, he thinks he must be seeing things, because everyone knows that the first Vulture is dead...

Then the Vulture frees Blackie and Blackie is all, "Tell me how you escaped, dude!"

We eventually learn the truth and it really is just as simple as...HE NEVER ACTUALLY DIED! We never SAW him die and guess what, he didn't die! His anger at Blackie gave him strength and he escaped from prison and nursed himself back to health...

Talk about a half-hearted death AND a half-hearted resurrection!

Thanks for the suggestion, Frasier!

If anyone else has a suggestion for a future Death is not the End, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!