Death in Comics - Rex Morgan

Most comics -- even the adventure strips -- hold their characters in stasis. That is, they seemingly remain the same age year after year. New characters are introduced and old characters disappear. Mainly they retire offstage.

Aging and death are rare occurrences in the daily comic strip. Perhaps because it's such a rarity, each artist/writer seems to handle it differently (see: Death in Comics). In this case, Rex Morgan artist and writer Terry Beatty chose an understated approach.

Milton Avery has been a long-running supporting character in the strip. The British industrialist was first a patient of Dr. Morgan. Readers saw the romance with Milton and Heather (originally the Morgan's nanny) begin back in 2004, and eventually lead to marriage. And readers watched the slow mental decline of Avery as dementia set in.

This quiet sequence from April 2018 seems a fitting way to end this character's story. Usually, when there's a death of a character, it's a dramatic plot point - like the death of Raven in "Terry and the Pirates." But this time it's only after Avery dies that the plot point is revealed.