I think "dead parents" is ok when it relates to the plot, or it's commonplace in the culture.
For example, in my comic Naor, my main character has a dead parent, but it is ultimately related to the plot. It wasn't drawn for drama. Another one has both parents dead, this one was done because I needed him to have a REASON he does what he does, a reason mentally and psychologically that he does what he does. Another is common one is disease. When two cultures meet for the first time, neither group is exposed to diseases from the others, and there is a high chance of outbreaks. People weren't that... hygiene conscious in 1891 either. I mean, I wonder if people would rather I erase the logic and just let everyone live instead of killing off a lot of people for a logical reason?
So in my own comic, I have tried to be logical with all the deaths I have, some are children and some are adults. I do agree that using it for drama is stupid. But sometimes, it makes logical sense and helps with drama at the same time. XD When it comes to using death as a motivator, I think it's fair. A LOT of people who have experienced a lot of death in the family and those close to them can agree it can be very motivating and alter your life. This includes myself since my father was military and his unit was ambushed. He lost almost his whole group and his two best friends. I can tell you it changed him a LOT and motivated him to work harder and be better and faster and more efficient and good at his job.
Then again, not everyone reacts to a lot of death the same way. When my friends died when my dad's unit was ambushed, I didn't react like he did. I lost friends, yes, some I was close to, but my dad took it personally and became a very different person afterwards. So again, I think death and a character changing/being motivated afterwards isn't a bad thing.
Do you expect them to NOT change? I have a character who ends up killing someone, an innocent no less. This person is a medic, a doctor and in a way was forced to kill this person. He's a doctor and should be saving people, not killing them. This causes him to reflect on what he does (a soldier /medic) and it affects him the rest of the story. He filters everything through this one event and motivates him to save everyone possible due to his guilt. It is sterotypical, but it's how I would react and probably other people too. Another character reacts so poorly to a death it starts driving him insane. Some of my characters are indifferent to death and it hardly affects them.
So I guess my comic focuses on death and all it's aspects. How people react in various ways, how it happens or the reasons why. Death is central to my comic, without it, I have no plot. u_u You cannot please everyone and if I went by all these cliches in the comments, I'd have no story left.
On the topic of parents is the "Long lost parent card". I hate that one so much. HTTYD really ruined the second movie for me by playing it. u_u
I also very much dislike the chosen one thing. That drives me crazy!
Ok, about the killing off characters in general. I'll admit I do this, however all the times I kill of a character, I have a purpose. It's not for drama. It's got a reason. I agree that too many writers kill off characters for drama, and this is a shame. It's made it so that anytime any character is killed off, most readers roll their eyes so far back, they come around again. Death is never taken seriously anymore.
In my comic, death isn't an end. It's simply a part of life and not all characters disappear after death. Some just change their form or "role" for lack of a better word. However their death was needed for the sake of the plot and other characters. For one, my comic is a MURDER mystery, my comic is about death and death and more death. But that doesn't mean all deaths are frivolous. I think using it in terms of a plot device is useful to, and I think that's how it needs to be used.
It's used to affect the readers more than the characters and that's why it's become a joke now. u_u
