In the comic book fan community, the apparent death and subsequent return of a long-running character is often called a comic-book death. While death is a serious subject, a comic-book death is generally not taken seriously in the real world and is rarely permanent or meaningful other than for story or thematic purposes. Commenting on the impact and role of comic book character deaths, writer Geoff Johns said: Death in superhero comics is cyclical in its nature, and that's for a lot of reasons, whether they are story reasons, copyright reasons, or fan reasons.