Wissenschaft has never died throughout the run of this book; he came perilously close, but Thu-Lynn revived him. Then he stole 90% of Thu-Lynn’s power, which allowed him to survive the rail gun overload on the zeppelin. He did not walk away unscathed, however, but you don’t know that yet. A good hint is how his complexion is graying out and he’s becoming more like Thu-Lynn, and his unkempt hair. Rest assured, we are coming to end of the Buchanan/Wissenschaft vendetta, and the Karmic paybacks are going to be unbelievably ugly.

Now, I’m not going to say yet whether Greg Buchanan died or somehow survived–You’ll know all within the next couple of weeks–and whether he (died?) was in vain or not. Whichever it is, Greg’s price is steep and permanent.

But, Wissenschaft did not come through unharmed. The divine energy he stole saved him from incineration on the zeppelin, but the cost he is paying is high. Really, you are at the end of long epic of hate and vengeance, so I can’t say more, and don’t want to ruin the surprises by spoiling details yet.

“death escaped without struggle is meaningless. Sacrifice is cheapened if you can get up from it.” Amen! I’ve been writing stories in the vein since I saw Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan, where victory is won at the loss of Spock. That movie had a huge effect on me! This is one of the reasons that our characters get bloodied up, and often severely injured, even permanently. I do not believe in violence without terrible consequences! (I got that from Terry Moore.)

What you are speaking of, “Sacrifice is cheapened if you can get up from it,” is a staple of mainstream superhero comics, and it’s called the “Illusion of Change.” You won’t get that with this comic. Change is change, and it’s real, not a literary trick.

Weissenchaft has been ‘killed’ before. And now we find out that he survived a crashing blimp full of bombs, somehow? Apparently completely uninjured? How was his sacrifice of Thu-lynn in the tunnels to regain his life NOT an act of selfishness if it wasn’t wasted in his attack on the city? More appropriately, where’s the karmic payback for such hubris?

And consider the literary aspect. The Saturns, both the original Saturnus and Underhall, indirectly caused vendettas and attacks on Spire City, and their deaths (whether they took a villain out with them or not) changed the playing field in the city, even going so far as to cause a demonic incursion. How is Greg dying off meaningful if the man he died to kill is completely unharmed?

Unless he’s not dead, which returns me to my original point: death escaped without struggle is meaningless. Sacrifice is cheapened if you can get up from it.