24 Covers Featuring an Inevitable Waterfall Imperiling Our Favorite Comic Characters
Doesn’t matter if it’s a river, stream, creek, brook or estuary: if you’re swimming, rafting, or paddling in it, sooner or later you’re going to find yourself heading for a waterfall.
No, there’s no point in protesting the hydrological impossibility of a waterfall in that specific area; if you’re in the water, sooner or later you’re going over that edge. That’s a guarantee you can take to the (river) bank.
Why waterfalls? For starters, they’re a natural hazard that can work in any time period. They can also be found pretty much anywhere there’s running water, so they’re an easily recognizable hazard to most readers. There’s also the time factor in the sense that, much like other slow-moving death traps like the Buzzsaw of Death or the Swinging Pendulum of Doom, there’s time for the victim to be saved by the hero before it’s too late.
As well, waterfalls can work with any genre: if you’re in a comedy book, you might be about to go over a waterfall and wondering why everyone on shore is waving at you, while characters in a superhero/war/Western/adventure title are more likely to be aware of their imminent plummet and working hard to avoid that sudden stop at the bottom.
Aware or unaware, it doesn’t make much difference; if you’re in a comic and you’re traveling on a river, you might as well pack a parachute underneath that life jacket… because there’s only direction you’re heading, and it ain’t “up.”
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