Memorial Day is a United States holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, which was first recorded to have been observed by Freedmen (freed enslaved southern blacks) in Charleston, South Carolina in 1865, at the Washington Race Course, to remember the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. Today, what is now known as Memorial Day, commemorates all U.S. Service Members who died while in military service. The recognition of the fallen victims was then enacted under the name Memorial Day by an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War. Over time, it was extended after World War I to honor all Americans who have died in all wars.

Take a moment to remember fallen Americans in past wars. It’s highly likely that you probably are unable to recall any wars other than Iraq I, II, Afghanistan, Vietnam and WW II, so here’s a list for you to think about: American Revolutionary War, Northwest Indian War, Franco-American War, War of 1812, Texas Revolution, Mexican-American War, Navajo Wars, Cayuse War, Apache Wars, American Civil War, World War I, Russian Civil War, World War II, Cold War, Vietnam, Korea, Gulf War.

We decided to do a Superhero Memorial Day, recognizing all the fallen (who’ve stayed fallen) in the comic history.

Blue Beetle

Ted Kord: Teodore Stephen “Ted” Kord is the second Blue Beetle who was originally published by Charlton Comics and later picked up by DC Comics. Ted was created by Steve Ditko and first appeared as a back-up feature in Captain Atom #83 (November 1966). Kord was a genius-level inventor and a gifted athlete who traveled in a beatle-shaped aircraft. Kord did not use any firearms though he had a pistol that shot a blinding flash of light as well as a strong airblast.

In the 80-page special Countdown to Infinite Crisis, (March 2005) Blue Beetle discovers a revived Checkmate organization led by Maxwell Lord, headquartered in a Belgian castle fortress, where Beetle is captured. Lord reveals to Blue Beetle that his intent is to use the organization to ensure that metahumans, including superheroes, will be kept under surveillance and controlled by humans. Lord then gives Beetle an ultimatum to join his organization. When Kord refuses with the reply, “Rot in hell, Max,” Lord murders him with a bullet to the head.

Gwen Stacy

Gwen Stacy was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, she first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #31 (December 1965). A blonde college co-ed, Gwen becomes the first love of Peter Parker (Spider-Man). Both the decision to kill Gwen and the method in which Marvel implemented it remain controversial among fans, but the death became a pivotal point in both Spider-Man’s history and in American comic books in general. Spider-Man writers and fans disagree about who is the character’s “one true love”: Gwen or his subsequent wife Mary Jane Watson, but Gwen was plainly his first love.

In The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June 1973), by writer Gerry Conway and penciller Gil Kane, the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) holds Gwen Stacy captive on a tower of the George Washington Bridge. Spider-Man arrives to fight the Green Goblin, and when the Goblin throws Gwen Stacy off the bridge, Spider-Man catches her by her leg with a string of web. He initially thinks he has saved her, but when he pulls her back onto the bridge, he realizes she has already died. Peter is unsure whether the whiplash made her faint; the Goblin does state that a fall from that height would kill anyone, and in the 1994 graphic novel Marvels, police confirmed this. In shock and anger, Spider-Man nearly kills the Green Goblin in retaliation, but in the end chooses not to do so. The Goblin still seemingly dies when he is impaled by his own goblin glider in an attempt to kill Spider-Man, and Norman Osborn would not return for nearly three hundred issues.

The death of Gwen Stacy had an enormous impact in the world of comic-book fandom. Before her, except possibly as part of an origin story, superheroes simply did not fail so catastrophically; nor did a loved-one of the superhero die so suddenly, without warning, or so violently. Because of this, some fans and historians take the death of Gwen Stacy as one marker of the end of the period they refer to as the Silver Age of Comic Books.* You can read our Memorable Moments regarding the death of Gwen Stacy here.

Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. Uncle Ben first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) and was killed in the very same issue. Although his history as a supporting character was very brief, Uncle Ben is an overshadowing figure in Spider-Man’s life, often appearing in flashbacks. Ben Parker was born in Brooklyn, New York. He trained to be a military police officer. He spent time as a singer in a band. He had known his future wife May Reilly since their high school days, but she in turn was naively interested in a boy who was involved in criminal activities. When he came to her one night and proposed to her on the spot, Ben was there to expose him as a murderer, and to comfort the heart-broken May when the boy was arrested. Their relationship evolved into love, and they enjoyed a happily married life. When Ben’s much younger brother Richard Parker and his wife Mary were killed in a plane crash, Ben and May took in their orphaned son Peter and raised him as their own.

Ben was very protective of Peter, going as far as fighting some of the bullies that tormented young Parker. Peter became friends with Charlie Weiderman in high school, a teen even more unpopular than he was. However, Charlie often provoked the trouble with the other teens. One day, he was chased to the Parker home by a group of bullies, led by Flash Thompson and Ben intervened. Ben told them that if they wanted Charlie, they would have to go through him. Flash tried to, but was surprised by Ben’s army training. As soon as the bullies were gone, he told the boy that he wasn’t welcome at the house or with Peter.

In high school, a radioactive spider bite gave Peter superhuman powers. Creating the costumed identity of Spider-Man for himself, Peter sought first to exploit his newfound powers as a masked wrestler and then as a television star. Coming from a television appearance, Spider-Man saw a burglar being chased by a security guard. The guard called for Spider-Man to stop the thief, but the nascent Spidey refused on the grounds that catching criminals was not his job. The robber got away.

When Peter later returned home, he was informed that his beloved Uncle Ben had been killed by a burglar. Outraged, he donned his Spider-Man costume and captured the man only to realize to his horror that it was the same burglar whom he could have effortlessly captured earlier at the studio. As a result, Peter considered himself morally responsible for Ben’s death and resolved to fight crime as a superhero — realizing that with great power comes great responsibility — and vowing never to let another innocent person come to harm if he could help it.

The burglar, a man called Carradine, had gone to the Parker residence to look for a stash of money that had been hidden in the house years earlier by mobsters (unaware that the money had already been devoured by silverfish). Ben had confronted the burglar, who panicked and shot him. Telling May that he loved her, Ben died in her arms.

May later revealed that she felt responsible for the tragedy, as she and Ben had argued a little while before the burglar arrived. She felt that if they had not had the argument, Ben would not have been where he was when confronting the burglar.

Ben Parker’s death was truly avenged when the burglar, Carradine, returned for the money once more, threatening Aunt May. Carradine died from a heart attack upon beholding his old nemesis Spider-Man once again and learning that Spider-Man and Peter Parker were one and the same person. In the live-action feature films, Uncle Ben is played by Cliff Robertson.

Abin Sur

Abin Sur: Abin Sur first appeared in Showcase #22 (September–October 1959, the same issue where Hal Jordan had first appeared): “SOS Green Lantern”. He was a member of the Green Lantern Corps and is best known as the predecessor of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, whom Abin Sur’s power ring chose as his replacement. In the Post-Infinite Crisis continuity, he was revealed to be a brother-in-law of Sinestro and uncle of his daughter, Soranik Natu. Originally a history professor on the planet Ungara, Abin Sur is appointed Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814 in the mid 1860s. Recruited by the Green Lantern known as Starkaor, he is known to have come to Earth on several occasions. In the American Old West, he teams up with an ancestor of Hal Jordan’s to battle an alien named Traitor (who was responsible for the death of Starkaor). During World War II, he encounters Starman and Bulletman when the three battle an alien being under the control of Mr. Mind. On a later visit, his ring’s power is neutralized by the foe he was tracking. He discovers the unconscious forms of Alan Scott and Jay Garrick, and borrows Scott’s slightly different ring. He used it against his adversary, taking advantage of the ring’s effectiveness against the color yellow. He also visits Earth at some point between the Golden and Silver Ages, when he encountered the Martian Manhunter.

While on patrol, he is attacked and pursued by the being known as Legion while on its way to Oa. Badly injured and with his spaceship seriously damaged, he makes an emergency landing on the nearest habitable planet (Earth). Due to his injuries, Sur was aware that his death was inevitable and he uses his ring to search for a successor. The first possibility was Clark Kent. Since he was not native to earth, he is not chosen. The next candidates were Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. As Jordan was closer, the ring chose him as the most suitable replacement right before Sur’s death. **

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler was created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, he debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). A mutant, Nightcrawler possesses superhuman agility, the ability to teleport, invisibility in deep shadows, and adhesive hands and feet. His physical mutations include blue fur, two-toed and -fingered feet and hands (not including thumbs), yellow eyes, and a prehensile tail. In Nightcrawler’s earlier comic book appearances he is depicted as being a happy-go-lucky practical joker and teaser, and a fan of swashbuckling fiction. A German, Nightcrawler is Catholic and while this is not emphasized as much in his earlier comic book appearances, in later depictions Nightcrawler is more vocal about his faith.

Kurt Wagner was born with certain unusual physical characteristics, but his power of self-teleportation did not emerge until puberty. Margali Szardos, a sorceress and gypsy queen, allegedly found Wagner an hour after his birth, in a small roadside shelter in the Bavarian Alps. She claimed to have found his alleged father, Eric Wagner, dead of a heart attack on the road outside, and Kurt’s mother lying next to the baby dying. However, this claim was later called into question, and it was subsequently proven that Kurt’s mother is the terrorist Mystique, also known as Raven Darkholme, and his father is the demonic warlord Azazel. Mystique revealed that she threw him into a well after a large mob found out about Nightcrawler’s existence, and Azazel admitted that he secretly saved his son from the fall, giving him to his lover and crony, Margali Szardos, to raise him. Margali took the baby to the small Bavarian circus where she worked as a fortuneteller, as a cover for her activities as a sorceress. Wagner was never legally adopted by anyone, but was raised by all the members of the circus, who had no prejudices against mutants. Margali acted as Wagner’s unofficial foster mother.

Wagner grew up happily in the circus, and his two closest friends were Margali’s natural children Stefan and Jimaine. Long before his teleportation power emerged, Wagner had tremendous natural agility, and by his adolescence he had become the circus’ star acrobat and aerial artist. Circus audiences assumed that he was a normal-looking human wearing a devil-like costume.

Years later, the Texas millionaire Arnos Jardine, who ran a large circus based in Florida, heard of the circus for which Wagner worked and bought it. Jardine intended to move its best acts into his American circus; however, he demanded that Wagner be placed in the circus’ freak show. Jardine drugged him to prevent escape but a young mutant child with the ability to sense other mutants helped Kurt escape. Appalled, Wagner left and made his way toward Winzeldorf, Germany, where his foster brother Stefan was. He discovered that Stefan had gone mad and had brutally slain several children. When they were younger, Stefan had made Kurt promise to kill him if he ever took an innocent life. Two nights after leaving the circus, Wagner found Stefan and fought him, hoping to stop his rampage. In the course of the struggle, Wagner unintentionally broke Stefan’s neck.

The villagers of Winzeldorf, who assumed from Kurt’s appearance that he was a demon who was responsible for the child killings, discovered Wagner. They were about to kill him when they were all psychically paralyzed by Professor Charles Xavier, who had come to recruit Wagner into the X-Men. Wagner agreed to join the group, but before they left for America, he and Xavier went to the Bavarian circus so that Wagner could explain to Margali about Stefan’s death. However, Margali was not there. She held Wagner responsible for murdering Stefan, and created a facsimile of the hell from Dante’s Inferno in which to punish him years later. Yet through the use of Doctor Strange’s all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, she learned the truth, and she and Wagner were reconciled. Wagner was also happily reunited with his foster sister Jimaine, who now lives in the United States and changes her name to Amanda Sefton, later becoming Kurt’s girlfriend. Known as Nightcrawler, Wagner became a member of the X-Men.

Nightcrawler flies with Wolverine and the rest of the team to Westchester when Cable and Hope are detected there. When Nightcrawler finds out about X-Force’s lethal methods that have been kept from the rest of the X-Men, he argues with Cyclops. In Chapter Five of the X-Men: Second Coming storyline, Rogue and Nightcrawler fight an enhanced version of Bastion. When Bastion tries to kill Hope, Nightcrawler teleports to her aid, but Bastion detects Nightcrawler’s mutant powers activating and extends his arm into the space in which Nightcrawler will materialize. Nightcrawler rematerializes around Bastion’s arm, fusing with it, and is mortally wounded. With Nightcrawler’s last breath, he teleports the girl to Utopia. As he dies upon their arrival on the island, Nightcrawler tells Hope that he “believes in her.” Bastion reboots its system shortly after, with a three-fingered appearance.

Ben Reilly

Benjamin “Ben” Reilly (Scarlet Spider) first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975). Ben Reilly was the first successful clone of Peter Parker created by the Jackal, as the first clone, Kaine, had suffered from clone degeneration which made him become unstable. Through arcane science, Ben is imprinted with Peter’s memories and in their first encounter believed himself to be the original. After Peter Parker was captured by the Jackal, both Parker and Reilly found themselves in Spider-Man costumes at Shea Stadium, and initially fought each other believing the other was the imposter. When realizing the stakes, they decided to team up in an attempt to save the Gwen Stacy clone and a captured Ned Leeds. In the process, the clone appeared to be killed in the explosion, and Parker, fearful of the consequences of a second body of “Peter Parker” turning up while he was still alive, dropped Reilly’s body in a smokestack. Ben apparently survived and escaped from the smokestack. When he witnessed Parker and Mary Jane Watson in an embrace, decided to embark on a nomadic life as if no one knew his existence. He dubbed himself the alias “Ben Reilly”, using his Uncle Ben’s first name and his Aunt May’s maiden name, Ben Parker and May Reilly respectively. He unnoticeably took some old clothes Parker had intended to donate to charity, and he left New York deeply depressed.

Ultimately, Reilly dies saving the original Spider-Man from the original Green Goblin, revealed to have survived his last fight with Spider-Man. After being severely beaten, Ben intercepts a Goblin Glider before it can impale Peter. As he lays dying, Ben told Peter that Peter was now Spider-Man and would have to carry on for Ben, and for Peter to tell his unborn child of her “Uncle Ben”. After dying, Reilly’s body decomposed rapidly, revealing Trainer’s deceptions and proving that Ben had actually been the clone. This sacrifice, coupled with the concurrent “stillbirth” of his child, led Parker to reclaim the Spider-Man identity, his last words to Ben’s remains being “Rest easy… brother”.

Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel

Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel first appeared in Action Comics #276, May 1961. A native of the planet Cargg, she could split into three identical bodies, as could all Carggites, due to the planet Cargg having three suns. Her costume consisted of a purple dress, orange cape and belt, and black boots. She was the fourth hero to join the Legion of Super-Heroes, and its first non-founder member. Unlike her post-Zero Hour counterpart, Triad, she had brown eyes, not split purple/orange ones. For a long time, she had an unrequited crush on Superboy.

One of her three bodies was killed by Brainiac 5′s killer creation Computo The Conqueror (a rogue computer) early on, and she was thereafter known as Duo Damsel. Her surviving two bodies continued to remember the trauma of experiencing her/their death, with the result that Computo was the one villain whom Duo Damsel was too frightened to confront.

Duo Damsel later donned a unique half orange, half purple costume which could divide with her, leaving one body wearing an orange costume and one wearing a purple costume. The costume was initially designed to aid her in a mission on the planet Pasnic, but the character continued to wear “splitting” costumes such as this throughout most of the original continuity.

Duo Damsel left active Legion service to become a reservist after marrying fellow Legionnaire Bouncing Boy; after this she then appeared only sporadically.

Tomar Re

Tomar Re first appeared in Green Lantern #6. Tomar was a scientist on the planet Xudar before joining the Green Lantern Corps. He became a pivotal member of the Corps, training new members, like Arisia, and serving in the Honor Guard. He investigated reports of abuses of power by Sinestro on Korugar. He was close friends with Abin Sur, Green Lantern of neighboring sector 2814. He was also the first Lantern to meet Sur’s replacement, Hal Jordan, and the two got along equally well. In the Post-Crisis timeline, that friendship is deepened further in that the rookie Jordan met him soon after being recruited. Jordan was brought to him by his power ring to help with his difficulties with handling the weapon and Tomar-Re not only guided the Terran to GLC headquarters for the optional training program, but also provided valuable emotional support during this difficult time.

Tomar’s most famous mission while serving in the Corps dealt with the planet Krypton. Krypton, a planet in sector 2813, was growing increasingly unstable. It was due to explode, caused by internal pressures deep inside the planet’s core. Tomar-Re sought to use a rare compound called stellarium to absorb some of the tectonic pressure, thus saving the Kryptonians. He gathered the compound, and was en route to Krypton when a yellow solar flare blinded him, and forced him to drop the stellarium. He quickly recovered, but discovered he was blind. He gathered what little stellarium he could without his sight, and proceeded towards Krypton. He was closing in when his vision started to clear. The first thing he saw upon his sight returning was Krypton exploding. The Guardians recovered Tomar and brought him back to Oa, where he healed and rested.

The war against the Anti-Monitor would be Tomar’s final fight, as he was killed by the villain known as Goldface. Before his death, Tomar-Re selected Stewart to be his replacement, thus forcing John’s ring to go to Jordan, who had resigned from the Corps, and returning him to the organization (Green Lantern vol. 2, #198).

The Punisher’s family

The Punisher was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974). The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture in his war on crime. Driven by the deaths of his wife and two kids, who were killed by the mob when they witnessed a gangland execution in New York City’s Central Park, the Punisher wages a one-man war on the mob and all criminals in general by using all manner of conventional war weaponry. His family’s killers were the first to be slain.

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994), born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s. He drew various comic strips under different pen names, ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1941, Kirby and writer Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby would create a number of comics for various publishers, often teaming with Simon.

After serving in World War II, Kirby returned to comics and worked in a variety of genres. He contributed to a number of publishers, including Archie Comics and DC Comics, but ultimately found himself at Timely’s 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics, later to be known as Marvel Comics. In the 1960s, Kirby co-created many of Marvel Comics’ major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk, along with writer-editor Stan Lee. Despite the high sales and critical acclaim of the Lee-Kirby titles, Kirby felt treated unfairly, and left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics.

Bob Kane

(October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998) was an American comic book artist and writer, credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman. He was inducted into both the comic book industry’s Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996. He entered the comics field two years later, in 1936, freelancing original material to editor Jerry Iger’s comic book Wow, What A Magazine!, including his first pencil and ink work on the serial Hiram Hick. The following year, Kane began to work at Iger’s subsequent studio, Eisner & Iger, which was one of the first comic book “packagers” that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during its late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age. Among his work there was the funny animal feature “Peter Pupp” (which belied its look with overtones of “mystery and menace”), published in the U.K. comic magazine Wags and later reprinted in Fiction House’s Jumbo comics. Kane also produced work through Eisner & Iger for two of the companies that would later merge to form DC Comics, including the humor features “Ginger Snap” in More Fun Comics, “Oscar the Gumshoe” for Detective Comics, and “Professor Doolittle” for Adventure Comics. For that last title he went on to do his first adventure strip, “Rusty and his Pals”.

Jerry Siegel

Jerry Siegel October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996), who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable of the 20th century. Siegel and Shuster created a bald telepathic villain named “The Superman,” bent on dominating the entire world. He appeared in the short story “The Reign of the Super-Man” from Science Fiction #3, a science fiction fanzine that Siegel published in 1933. The character was not successful. Tossing and turning in bed one night in 1934, he came upon the more familiar version of the character. Siegel and Shuster then began a six-year quest to find a publisher. Titling it The Superman, Siegel and Shuster offered it to Consolidated Book Publishing, who had published a 48-page black-and-white comic book entitled Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48. Although the duo received an encouraging letter, Consolidated never again published comic books. Shuster took this to heart and burned all pages of the story, the cover surviving only because Siegel rescued it from the fire. Siegel and Shuster each compared this character to Slam Bradley, an adventurer the pair had created for Detective Comics #1 (March 1937). In 1938, after that proposal had languished among others at More Fun Comics — published by National Allied Publications, the primary precursor of DC Comics — editor Vin Sullivan chose it as the cover feature for National’s Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The following year, Siegel & Shuster initiated the syndicated Superman comic strip. Siegel also created the ghostly avenger The Spectre during this same period.

In 1946, Siegel and Shuster, nearing the end of their 10-year contract to produce Superman stories, sued National over rights to the characters. In 1947, the team had rejoined editor Sullivan, by now the founder and publisher of the comic-book company Magazine Enterprises; there they created the short-lived comical crime-fighter Funnyman. Siegel went on to become comics art director for publisher Ziff-Davis in the early 1950s, and later returned to DC to write uncredited Superman stories in 1959 under the control of Silver Age Superman editor Mort Weisinger. When he sued DC over the Superman rights again in 1967, his relationship with the hero he had co-created was again severed.

Siegel’s later work would appear in Marvel Comics, where under the pseudonym “Joe Carter” he scripted the “Human Torch” feature in Strange Tales #112-113 (Sept.-Oct. 1963), introducing the teenaged Torch’s high school girlfriend, Doris Evans; and, under his own name, a backup feature starring the X-Men member Angel, which ran in Marvel Tales and Ka-Zar. Siegel wrote as well during this time for Archie Comics, where he created campy versions of existing superheroes in Archie’s Mighty Comics line; Charlton Comics, where he created a few superheroes; and even England’s Lion, where he scripted The Spider. In 1968, he worked for Western Publishing, for which he wrote (along with Carl Barks) stories in the Junior Woodchucks comic book. In 1970s, he worked for Mondadori Editore (at that time the Italian Disney comic book licensee) on its title Topolino, listed in the mastheads of the period as a scriptwriter (“soggettista e sceneggiatore”).

In 1986, Siegel was invited by DC Comics’ editor Julius Schwartz to write an “imaginary” final story for Superman, following Marv Wolfman’s Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series and John Byrne’s The Man of Steel miniseries, which reintroduced Superman. Siegel declined, and the story was instead given to writer Alan Moore, and published in September 1986 in two parts entitled “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” (the story was published in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583).

In 2005, he was posthumously awarded the Bill Finger Award For Excellence in Comic Book Writing. He was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.

Joe Shuster

Joseph “Joe” Shuster (July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992) was a Canadian-born American comic book artist. He was best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

Shuster was involved in a number of legal battles concerning the ownership of the Superman character, eventually gaining recognition for his part in its creation. His comic book career after Superman was relatively unsuccessful, and by the mid-1970s Shuster had left the field completely due to partial blindness.

He and Siegel were inducted into both the comic book industry’s Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2005, the Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association instituted the Joe Shuster Awards, named to honor the Canadian-born artist.

Will Eisner

William Erwin “Will” Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an instructional medium; for his leading role in establishing the graphic novel as a form of literature with his book A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories; and for his educational work about the medium as exemplified by his book Comics and Sequential Art.

The comics community paid tribute to Eisner by creating the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, more commonly known as “the Eisners”, to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium. Eisner enthusiastically participated in the awards ceremony, congratulating each recipient. In 1987, with Carl Barks and Jack Kirby, he was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Notes:

* Gwen Stacy: In the real world, physicist James Kakalios shows in his book The Physics of Superheroes that, consistent with Newton’s laws of motion, the sudden stop would have killed Gwen Stacy. The comic book Civil War: Casualties of War: Captain America/Iron Man (2007) concurred that the proximate cause of death was the sudden stop during a high-velocity fall. An issue of Peter Parker/Spider-Man revisits the issue, and further confirms that Gwen died due to an unforeseen error on Spider-Man’s part: his webbing, at that time, was designed specifically for use by Spider-Man (who had increased strength that allowed him to handle the high-velocity falls that he routinely faced) — but Gwen Stacy’s neck snapped from the sudden jolt.

During a battle with the Sinister Twelve, the Green Goblin captures Mary Jane and takes her to another bridge, throwing her over the side just as he had Gwen; however, this time Peter succeeds in saving MJ by using multiple web-strands, catching Mary Jane by every major joint in the body and thus providing her with enough support to avoid any fatal injuries.

** Abin Sur: During some point in his life, Abin sires a son, Amon Sur, who grew up to become leader of the Black Circle crime syndicate. Amon is angry at his deceased father for abandoning him for the Corps, and decides to take his anger out on all Green Lanterns. Amon is eventually stopped by Hal Jordan’s successor, Kyle Rayner and a second-generation Guardian of the Universe called Lianna. Amon eventually has a confrontation with Hal Jordan himself, who had returned to his position as Green Lantern after being both resurrected and freed from the influence of Parallax. Hal defeats Amon, but Amon received a duplicate of Sinestro’s ring from the Qwardians and vanishes. After Hal finally took Abin’s body home and buried it, a mysterious yellow light appears in the sky after Hal left.

The question was raised of why Abin Sur needed a ship, but in the Green Lantern Origins serial, it is stated that out of paranoia of the prophecy of his destruction, he navigated the cosmos in a ship filled with weapons, not trusting the powers of his ring, as the prophecy stated that his ring would fail him when he needed it most.
Pre-Crisis explanation

In the story “Earth’s First Green Lantern,” Jordan revealed that he wondered that himself and asked his ring to explain.

The ring told the story of how Abin Sur discovered a parasitic energy being species that fed on sentient beings’ “I-factor,” a substance that enabled inventiveness, attacking civilizations and stalling their development. Sur captured them to stop their destruction, but one of their number had escaped and vowed to free his brethren. To do so, he tracked down Sur’s planet and created a disaster to force him to appear to stop it. Since Sur did not mask himself, the being recognized him immediately and followed him to his home. As Sur neglected to charge his ring before going to sleep, he was unable to stop the being from taking control of him.

With the being in control of his body and about to force him to go and free his fellows, Sur tricked the being into thinking that he would not be able to do so because the ring would be low on power after the trip there while in reality the ring’s charge is purely time based. The being decided to have Sur take a ship to the destination, but before leaving, Sur managed to get a hold of his invisible power battery. On the ship, Sur piloted the ship and waited until he moved into a green colored planetary radiation belt which allowed Sur to charge his ring without the being noticing. Thus armed, Sur battled and captured the being. However during the fight, the ship wandered into Earth’s radiation belt. With his ring useless, Sur lost control of the battered ship and crashed. Mortally wounded, Sur sought out his replacement and drew Jordan to him.

According to Jordan, this account prompted him to keep a secret identity as a security precaution and to carefully navigate around Earth’s radiation belts.
Post-Crisis explanation

In Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 (1986), writer Alan Moore answered the question with a story of how the hero once visited Ysmault, a prison planet for an ancient race of demons, the Empire of Tears, vanquished millennia ago by the Oans. He was on a rescue mission and felt he could not wait for instruction from the Guardians.

While there, Abin Sur met a demon named Qull of the Five Inversions, a humanoid with a gaping mouth in his chest and a tongue-shaped head, crucified by three glowing spikes topped with the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps. This unholy messiah predicted the hero would die when his power ring ran out of energy at a critical moment, while he was fighting an opponent or unprotected in hard vacuum. Abin Sur, worried by this prophecy, began using a starship for interstellar voyages, as an additional safeguard.

A decade later, fleeing his enemy, his spaceship collided with a girdle of yellow radiation around Earth that rendered his starship and his power-ring useless within moments. Had he relied on his ring alone, he realized, he might have tested the planet’s magnetosphere before rashly entering it. Thus, while Legion may have wounded him, it could be argued that it was Qull that was actually responsible for Abin Sur’s death, having sown the seeds of doubt in the Green Lantern’s mind.

Info gathered from Wikipedia