Is <Character_Name> Dead? A handy guide.

[blatto]

Behold, Over the Hedge (http://www.comics.com/comics/hedge/archive/hedge-20070711.html) can tell you!

[the_tick_rules]

huh, what do ya mean?

[Kurald Galain]

I think he's promoting his fave webcomic? That is sooo wrong! This comic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0481.html) is so much better (and incidentally also tells you who is dead)!

[Indon]

I can't follow most interesting links due to my work filter, but Over the Hedge is most definitely not just a webcomic.

[Noctesis]

I was sorta worried when Redcloak hit Hinjo with a Disintegrate, but I instantly knew he wasn't stone-cold dead when he didn't have Xs for eyes...

Its sorta a law for the OOTS universe, now, huh?

[Ariko]

It always has been, actually.

[TheAlmightyOne]

Except when Belkar stabbed the hobbo in the eye after Elans song 'Oh buddy Roy' where the hobbo only had 1 x and a knife.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I prefer this metric (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness?from=Main.SortingMatrix OfDeadness).

For example, Roy's apparent death was a Sacrifice (Attempted)/Death is Cheap Genre/Only Mostly Dead/Deader than Dead body/He's Dead Jim/Protagonist. Averaged out, this places him smack in the middle of the chart, between "back next episode" and "back next season." I'm going to say this means "back next story arc" in the context of the comics.

Let's also look at Miko, for comparison. Wow, there've been a fair number of named character deaths in this storyarc, haven't there?

Death By Irony/Death is Cheap/Plotline Death (as an NPC, she's eligible for these)/Deader than Dead/Montage (sorta)/Regular. So, on a scale of 1-4, she's at 1 and 5/6. Things do not bode well for Miko, although she could be Back Next Season if Rich is reaching for an antagonist.

EDIT: But as for clinical death, yes, yes, the X's will tell you.