Originally published February 15, 2002, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1474
I’d never been to a viewing.
You know: A viewing. Where the body of the recently deceased lies in a coffin while people gather, one at a time, and stare. It always seemed grotesque to me, an exercise in morbidity. Why gather in large numbers to stare at a shell? The body… the body isn’t the person. Whatever it was that made up the person, whether you believe that its purely biological neurons, personality traits hardwired into DNA, or a soul… whatever it is, it’s gone. To me it would be like appreciating a fine wine by gazing at an empty bottle. The whole notion just kind of creeped me out. It probably doesn’t help that I’m a regular viewer of HBO’s Six Feet Under where they show corpses being prepared for viewings while the ghost of the deceased chats with the morticians.
And there’s always people looking around saying, “(The deceased) would have liked that,” be it the flower arrangements or the suit chosen to be dressed in or the number of mourners showing up. Except I always think that what the deceased would really have liked is to not die, and everything else is just beside the point.
I’m sorry. I know it sounds like I’m making light of a topic that’s all too serious. I do that; I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable talking about something.
Like the death of John Buscema.
• 
Recent Comments