The current Cap’n America thread made me think of this. Has there ever been an instance in (specifically superhero) comics wherein a major or at least well liked character was killed off and not brought back in some way shape or form?
Deadman count?
Just kidding. Offhand, I think the Golden Age Superman and Batman are still dead…
I meant though that Alterna-whoever doesn’t exist either. The character is just dead, no alternative universes, timelines, no younger person taking on the mantle etc.
I haven’t read Batman in years so I’m not sure if he’s been brought back from the dead. I think the second Robin (Jason Todd I think his name was) is still dead.
Edit: Oh, I just read in Wikipedia that Jason Todd was brought back to life. Sorry.
Private “Junior” Juniper a member of Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandoes was killed in issue 4 of the series.
Issue 4 saw the first appearance of Pamela Hawley, a nurse who would date Sgt Fury. She got killed in issue #18.
I haven’t followed Marvel for over a decade, and closely for over two, so I may be off-base here, but as of about 1990, the most exemplary comic-book death was Captain Stacy’s in Amazing Spider-Man.
Topped by Gwen’s death, IMHO.
Rexsplode from Invincible is dead and gone, and he went out heroically.
I think Rita Farr of the Doom Patrol holds the record for staying dead. They let her rest in peace for 36 years, but finally couldn’t resist bringing her back.
She might lose to Bucky for that. He was dead 1968-2005 (37 years).
Rats. I knew I should have specified “in the DC universe”!
They brought him back to life. Really.
Uncle Ben?
Rorschach? 
Several characters in Doonesbury have died.
No. He went into the rice business.
But he wasn’t brought back to life, only converted.
DC: Hopefully, Maxwell Lord will stay dead (July 2010)
Dammit, he was brought back earlier this year.
In the Blackest Night series, nearly all dead superheroes have been resurrected. I dunno how many will stay dead.
Ferro Lad is still dead.
I think Braniac is theoretically dead, but his mind lives on in a robot construct.
In Marvel, the list is long:
Spiderman: Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacey and her father
Captain America: ~200 or so villains killed by Scourge
X-Men: Thunderbird, Pheonix (hopefully), Mimic
Civil War: Some minor heroes
In both universes, generational (Black Panther’s ancestors) or time-period (WW2, Old West) heroes are presumed dead, but a few (Unknown Soldier) have been retconned at some point to have supernatural powers that made them immortal.
(People in manga who die stay dead, but of course those are the creation of individual authors rather than an ongoing storyline overseen by a business.)
Mimic? He’s one of the Dark X-Men.