In this day and age, do characters dying in big story arcs or crossovers matter anymore? 
 
Recently a famous mutant bit the dust after much speculation and for someone not really following the comic, Second Coming, it threw me for a loop. Sure this made me want to go see how it happen but the only way they could peak my interest was by killing a character. The same thing seems to happen with every major story and seems the best way to grab peoples attention. The thing is that, we know most, if not all these characters will be coming back from the dead at some point. 
 
Killing a character is almost like putting them on a vacation or just retiring for a while until there is a better pitch for the character down the road. Both Marvel and DC have been known for this and even DC's latest event featured the return of multiple dead characters. 
 
Is there a way to get our attention without having some characters bite the dust?