Yeah. Any time there’s a slow day for ‘celebrity death news and/or the local general obit page looks undernourished, he can go out and MAKE the news happen.
CIDUBill, that’s because you’re doing it wrong. First you have to get them to open up and tell you about their lives. Make them think you’ll be sympathetic and let them go. THEN you kill them, and you have lots of material for the obit.
And then you report: “His last words were ‘Why, Idiot Bill Bickel, why? Is it not enough that you give everyone the REAL Bill’s email address? Why do you have to kill me as well?”
The nice thing about writing obituaries when you’re Death is you can get them submitted earlier than anyone else, since you know about them ahead of time…
From that inerrant promulgator of facts, wikipedia:
In some mythologies, the Grim Reaper causes the victim’s death by coming to collect them. In turn, people in some stories try to hold on to life by avoiding Death’s visit, or by fending Death off with bribery or tricks.
Andréa: I guess it depends on what you mean by “kill.” I don’t know of stories in which Death personally makes a decision about who should die. However, in many stories it does seem like Death does need to do something to cause the death to actually happen (if the process was automated, the universe wouldn’t even need a personified Death). And as Arthur says, sometimes people are able to hold off Death somehow, showing that Death needs to successfully complete come action for the person to die. Just last week I read a short story where a chicken got an extra day of life because just as Death was about to take him, Death remembered some urgent errands he had to take care of.
Susan, I figure it’s comics necessity. We need to be able to read what the editor is reading, and we need to see that he’s the editor. Least bad is to have the desk sign facing the wrong way.
I don’t know these characters.
But if you have to tell people you’re saying something in a non-threatening and purely collegial way, it’s because you have a history of telling people things in a threatening and/or non-collegial way, or at least that’s the way it got reported to HR.
“We need to be able to read what the editor is reading, and we need to see that he’s the editor. Least bad is to have the desk sign facing the wrong way.”
Maybe he just has a desk sign that says “Editor in chief” on both sides.
[Am I the only one wondering why the “Editor in Chief” sign is facing the editor?]
Probably the same sort of convenience that has stage actors or animated characters facing more or less towards the audience in dialog scenes rather than showing the backs of their heads.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Obit writer.
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Yeah. Any time there’s a slow day for ‘celebrity death news and/or the local general obit page looks undernourished, he can go out and MAKE the news happen.
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HR director? It IS a newspaper he’s looking to work at…
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He’s there for work, but he’s not looking for a job. That there is an example of the dying print media…
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@billytheskink, Nice! And much funnier than the original.
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Sure, but why does killing people qualify you to write obituaries?
I’ve written many articles about serial killers, and none of the murders I’ve actually committed helped me at all.
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CIDUBill, that’s because you’re doing it wrong. First you have to get them to open up and tell you about their lives. Make them think you’ll be sympathetic and let them go. THEN you kill them, and you have lots of material for the obit.
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Uh, theoretically, of course. I wouldn’t actually know.
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@Arthur — yep; that’s why Dexter had such a successful journalism career.
Note — I haven’t actually seen and/or read Dexter.
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“Sure, but why does killing people qualify you to write obituaries?”
You know what they were doing right up before they died, and other writers don’t.
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Arthur: we all know you outsource your killings by mesmerizing other people to do them for you with your “Swedish Children’s Book”…
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But . . . DEATH doesn’t actually KILL; s/he/it just takes the souls away . . .
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larK, thanks for the laugh.
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And then you report: “His last words were ‘Why, Idiot Bill Bickel, why? Is it not enough that you give everyone the REAL Bill’s email address? Why do you have to kill me as well?”
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The nice thing about writing obituaries when you’re Death is you can get them submitted earlier than anyone else, since you know about them ahead of time…
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He’s being hired to kill stories (e.g. exposes about major advertisers)
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Andréa, doesn’t that really depend on which mythos you’re following?
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Very good point, James.
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I know of no mythos in which DEATH actually KILLS a living thing.
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From that inerrant promulgator of facts, wikipedia:
In some mythologies, the Grim Reaper causes the victim’s death by coming to collect them. In turn, people in some stories try to hold on to life by avoiding Death’s visit, or by fending Death off with bribery or tricks.
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Am I the only one wondering why the “Editor in Chief” sign is facing the editor?
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He has come to get the list of who to pick up?
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Andréa: I guess it depends on what you mean by “kill.” I don’t know of stories in which Death personally makes a decision about who should die. However, in many stories it does seem like Death does need to do something to cause the death to actually happen (if the process was automated, the universe wouldn’t even need a personified Death). And as Arthur says, sometimes people are able to hold off Death somehow, showing that Death needs to successfully complete come action for the person to die. Just last week I read a short story where a chicken got an extra day of life because just as Death was about to take him, Death remembered some urgent errands he had to take care of.
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Susan, I figure it’s comics necessity. We need to be able to read what the editor is reading, and we need to see that he’s the editor. Least bad is to have the desk sign facing the wrong way.
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I don’t know these characters.
But if you have to tell people you’re saying something in a non-threatening and purely collegial way, it’s because you have a history of telling people things in a threatening and/or non-collegial way, or at least that’s the way it got reported to HR.
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“We need to be able to read what the editor is reading, and we need to see that he’s the editor. Least bad is to have the desk sign facing the wrong way.”
Maybe he just has a desk sign that says “Editor in chief” on both sides.
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The Editor in Chief sign is actually Death’s. He carries it around to remind people who has the final word.
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Wouldn’t DEATH be the editor, then?
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@Andrea. Yes, DEATH is the editor, who eventually snips each of us out of future chapters.
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[Am I the only one wondering why the “Editor in Chief” sign is facing the editor?]
Probably the same sort of convenience that has stage actors or animated characters facing more or less towards the audience in dialog scenes rather than showing the backs of their heads.
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Andrea “I know of no mythos in which DEATH actually KILLS a living thing.”
“Maskerade” by Terry Pratchett page 48…..
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“I know of no mythos in which DEATH actually KILLS a living thing.”
Comung quickly to mind: “Death Takes a Holiday,” “On Borrowed Time,” and that TZ episode with the street vendor.
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