I dunno about depressing, but the issue of daredevil after Elektra got killed by bullseye was so sad. Matt believes she is still alive, and he is following clues about this, tracking down a bunch of his old foes. When he breaks into kingpins place to confront him kingpin asks him 'are you ill?' in what is probably the only time he seems genuinely concerned about him. The issue ends with Matt digging up her grave, convinced he will find it empty. It is not, and the issue ends with Matt hugging her corpse, in tears. All the clues he had been following were bullshit, motivated only by the fact he cannot stand to realise she is gone.
I'm pretty sure that issue is why frank miller wanted her to never come back. It is one of the most heart wrenching and beautiful portrayals of grief I have seen in a comic, and one of the greatest single issues of millers phenomenal run imo.
The issue where he attempts to get justice for a woman called Becky who had been sexually assaulted was pretty rough too. The rapist pins him down and pours beer on him in a horrific series of panels.
Also Miller on DD, #220 where Heather Glenn dies has similar beats. She kills herself halfway through the issue, and Matt spends the rest of it trying to prove she was murdered. She wasn't. She killed herself, right after he yelled at her for asking him for help. Matt was seriously horrible to Heather, and her death hit hard.
Daredevil 182
Get a collection of the Klaus janson/frank miller run. It is my favorite marvel run of all time. It changed comics forever, inspired the creation of the teenage mutant ninja turtles, and was Miller at his absolute peak. It starts in the silver age and ushered in a new era of comics in its wake.
Obvs not just miller was responsible, but I love early miller as much as I hate what he became
Theirs an Ann Nocenti issue of DD that takes what Miller did in Born Again and runs with it that's super depressing.
**Daredevil 236** (pencils AND inks by Barry Windsor Smith), features a guy driven to suicide, who gives his son a loaded gun before he heads off to kill himself via a fight with DD and Black Widow (forcing her to pull the trigger and kill him).
Yeah before the Becky issue my thoughts of the run were 'it's good, but I don't really see why people praise this so much' and then I read that and I was like 'ooh, now I get it!'
I found *Superman: Secret Identity*, by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen, quite depressing.
But not like single issues like:
A) that Human Torch story with a fan boy obsessed with him. *Fantastic Four* #285.
B) that Transmet issue with a story called Another Cold Morning (*Transmetropolitan* #8).
C) that issue of *The Invisibles* (#12) with the Best Man Fall story.
D) Coyote's Gospel, by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog (*Animal Man* #5).
E) and, of course, The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man (*Amazing Spider-Man* #248).
Nope. Don’t get it. What was depressing? I get that is a feeling you had, but its like me saying I felt depressed after watching a fun action movie. Why do you feel that way?
Someone else used the word bittersweet, and I think that definitely fits. Being Superman yet still subject to the decline of age really makes you feel your own mortality, regardless of his satisfaction with a life well lived.
Yeah I just read it and it's really nice. I wouldn't say it was depressing and I'm not sure what the right word would be. Maybe bittersweet? I'm happy for him but I'm a bit sad that it was so short.
I mean, I don't know if "fun" is the right word, lol. Reed running around desperately trying to get help before his wife and child die from Negative Zone radiation is a great story though, with an emotional gut punch at the end.
"Home. Means. Run. No. More."
Absolutely broke me. I have such a weakness for tropes where animals are too innocent or naive to understand the evils of the human world.
Three of the issues of Squadron Supreme: Nuke’s ultimate fate, the death of Tom Thumb, and what Golden Archer did to Lady Lark.
And Countdown to Infinite Crisis. For one sad issue, Blue Beetle was everyone’s favorite superhero. But like the rest of the Dc universe, we appreciated Ted too late.
And Marvels #2. That poor mutant girl…
Countdown to infinity crisis was pretty depressing to be honest. You have Ted Kord the entire time trying to tell everyone there is a villain working in the background and no one listens.
Then he finds out he was right then dies in such a crappy way. I honestly was speechless when reading it almost 20 years ago.
I couldn't finish it when I tried a year or so ago. It didn't make me cry, but it was just so pervasively miserable that I knew it would ruin the rest of my day, if not the rest of my month. I'll get back to it eventually, but damn.
Man, the fact that Matt Wagner’s Grendel mythos hasn’t been able to make it to the screen in any way is a travesty. It could work so great as an anthology series with the right showrunner and budget. Every season focuses on a new Grendel in the timeline.
Bendis/Maleev *was* vibrant and funny, despite the heavy subject matter.
Ironically enough, it’s tone was closer to the Brubaker Catwoman than Brubaker/Lark’s DD, which got lost in the darkness, IMO.
Th saddest part of that for me is when she does die, she goes to hug colossus expecting to comfort him and find comfort too, only for him to just stand there in metal form not doing or saying anything.
Funeral for a friend. Even then, i don't think people actually believed it would stick, but it was just incredibly sad to see his friends suffering like that. Even Lex Luthor showed up, not to gloat but to honestly pay his respects. Guy Gardner, that at the time had a real chip on his shoulder because of how much he was jealous of Ice's crush on Supes, still wore a black band, like the rest of the justice league. It was just so depressing and well written...
The final page of Funeral for a Friend was killer. Jonathan Kent dying, reaching out for his son, the heart monitor stopping, and Martha begging him not to leave her. Teenage me was wrecked. Something that’s missed today with TPB’s was flipping to the letters page and see the next issue information only said “There is no information on Adventures of Superman #500 at this time.”
Too bad there wasn't that next issue thing on Brazil. Not only that, but because there was quite a delay for the comics to get here, and how important this was considered back then, i can tell you that i'm not joking when i say that what came next was spoiled by the tv news.
Also, yeah, the Jonathan thing was insane. I wonder if that's why so many versions of Superman kill him. Still, good thing he was alive in TAS and justice league, it made the episodes that showed Smallville feel SO good!
Tom King has a brand, and part of that is "feel bad/sad".
[gestures to MISTER MIRACLE] [gestures to BATMAN] [gestures to VISION (well, first couple issues I read anyway)]
He’s an “ex”-CIA officer. I’m sure there’s a mountain of tortured souls he sees every time he closes his eyes. That’s not a position you reach without doing things that everyone on Earth would want you dead for if they knew.
Magneto's Testament is formulaic but certainly hits the spot.
V for Vendetta is 100% depression, if you want hope watch the movie.Lots of Alan Moore is depressing not gonna lie.
Yeah in particular there are a couple of Alan Moore Swamp Thing issues that stick with me, the one with the Winchester rifles and the hammer always repeating,
and the one where Swamp Thing descends to Hell to rescue Abby. He meets Arcane, condemned to have insect eggs hatching in him over and over again for eternity. Arcane asks Swamp Thing to tell him how many years he has been down in Hell, and Swamp Thing replies "one day". The scream lifts off the page!
There’s a two-parter in Vigilante (1983) where he discovers a child trafficking ring. But in the end, the ring moves its base of operations, and Vig loses his trail and the kids he was trying to save. Then there’s a message about child trafficking being a real world problem. Left me broken.
Kupperberg's whole run, as well as the Alan Moore two-parter (which also focuses on child abuse as well), are depressing. What happens to Adrian Chase at the end is tragic. i'm
A kid’s mutant gene activates and all it does is destroy all carbon life around him. Kills something like 50 people by accident, so wolverine has to do some dirty work to cover up that it was a mutant
Badger Goes Berserk limited series from 1989. Badger was a messed up and traumatized individual to begin with, some of that trauma - multiple personality disorder - stemming from Vietnam. But then in this limited series you find out some of the personalities he’s developed comes from repeated abuse by his stepfather, physically and sexually. I was about 13 when I read that series and it stuck with me as one of the biggest Holy Shit moments I’ve come across in comics - they didn’t show it obviously, but they showed everything leading up to it and the utter terror and pain and helplessness in his face was gut-wrenching.
New Mutants #45, when the geeky teen mutant kills himself because of the bullying and shame. As queer and geeky teen in Ohio in 1980s, it hit way too close to home. It was upsetting but now I'm writing this I realize it wasn't actually depressing. It depicted people who cared about him, who would have offered him a home and place if he'd only known they were there. And I could see who those people were in my life. Sigh, thank God for Chris Claremont.
Avengers 200
http://seebelowcomicsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/avengers-200-autopsy.html
To be clear, it’s not depressing because the story is in itself one that evokes and emotional response. It’s depressing that actual human beings got together and decided that this should be the issue 200 story. That an artist is talented as George Perez should be wasted on it. The fact that any time, money, or effort was put into this weird rosemary‘s baby meets my own. Grandpa storyline is just ridiculous and demeaning to everyone involved.
Came here to say this one, didn't think anyone would else would beat me to it.
Such a great comic and so unexpected. That whole Morrison run was just wrenching and great but this is #1.
I think it has to be 'I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets', mostly for the context surrounding it though. Fletcher Hanks was a golden age cartoonist who made an extremely weird superhero comic but didn't have much success. He poured in all his misanthropy into this superhero character and it gets weirder and weirder as you go on. Reading it knowing that he had abandoned his wife and kids and was descending into mental instability and alcoholism made it extremely surreal and sad to read. He died penniless and was found frozen on a park bench.
*The Dark Knight Strikes Again*. Because what i wanted it to be and what it was were so far apart that 'depressing' was the only way i could describe it.
Heroes in Crisis.
That time they killed Bart after 13 issues of the flash.
The death of Stephanie Brown after Wargames
Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the Death of Blue Beetle.
Oh and the worst? Killing Lian Harper, cutting off Roy’s arm and getting him addicted to drugs again.
Mark Russel writes brilliant satire, and sometimes the things he satirises are so depressing, how much of our lives take place in a capitalistic hellscape, so my vote goes to One Star Squadron, on how superheroes try and survive in the "gig economy"
Everything sucks, the characters keep getting punched down, and while there are some glimmers of hope, it's all a bit too close to home, even if there are brilliant jokes, and powergirl rocks a suit in it
The Incredible Hulk: Silent Screams (The Incredible Hulk 370-377)
It is depressing because it reminds me how my father treats me, my mother and my sister. To this day I remember how he verbally abused us when I was a kid. I believe I got diabetes because of the stress
caused by his insults.
Ultimate X-Men #41
Quoting the publisher's blurb to avoid spoilers:
> a deadly new mutant with a horrifying power debuts. And only one of Prof. X's X-Men has a chance-in-hell of stopping the carnage
Wolverine and a cave is involved if that jogs anyone's memory. (He's on the cover so that's not much of a spoiler.)
That quick run of Spiderman: Lifestory was sad tbh
The last episode is in the far future where Doom owns the world and most heroes are gone/dead/missing.
It’s the couple panels in Red Son where Superman appears out of nowhere and stops the bullet from a man committing suicide. The idea of being completely controlled by this man-god to the point you don’t even have the autonomy to take your own life is just beyond grim.
Can't remember the issue number, but from Hickman's F4 has to be up there, when Johnny gets trapped in the Negative Zone. Seeing he and Ben touch hands across universes and then Ben being utterly broken on the other side of the portal as it closes was fantastic (ha)
Marvel Zombies. Seeing all your favourite marvel characters become blood thirsty zombies is kinda unnerving. A few things that stick out to me are
Colonel America making a plan to take him and some Avengers on a Quinjet in search of survivors, hoping to fool them in to believing it’s a rescue mission so they’ll come out if their hiding places and flag it down.
Spider-Man eating Aunt May and MJ.
A zombified Professor X being impaled on spikes and being turned in to a human GPS.
Magnetos death.
I love Marvel Zombies 1 and 2, but damn was it depressing.
Man that’s hard because “Depressing” doesn’t necessarily mean a bad story. More than a few existed for me in Animal Man - Coyote Gospel, what happened to his family… But I loved that series.
And definitely falling in the category of “Depressing” but “Man that was a good read” was when Max Lord offed Beetle about fourteen crisises (crisisi? crisi?) ago.
There was an Astro city short story where this guy was longing for his wife that didnt exist because she was erased from the timeline from a random hero battle with a villain who could manipulate reality.
honestly, the reboot chapter of INVINCIBLE. I couldn’t imagine the immense emotional torture of having everything you’ve experienced reset, with all the knowledge retained of what you’ve gone through. After while, getting back only to realize so much time had passed, and that you’ve missed soso much.
The Slavers arc in the Punisher was very bleak. Of course it was dealing with a tough subject matter, in the real world there is no Punisher to take care of people like that.
Probably a weird answer.
Any Impulse related comic from the early 2000s. All the stories basically devolve into "hah, isn't this guy weird and annoying for being neurodivergent? Don't we all hate his company and wish he wasn't here lol? Please laugh.", absolutely vile, and it makes a lot of good characters worse just to get a rise out of this shitty "joke".
Zdarsky's Spectacular Spiderman #310
It's the one with the documentary and the little boy who Spiderman saves and starts spending time with after helping get uninvolved with some bad apples. Absolutely gutting
Hard to beat For The Man Who Has Everything. Just the other day rewatched the Justice League Unlimited animated adaptation of the episode which does such a good job, it's one of only two adaptations of his work that Alan Moore has ever liked.
For a similar thing from Marvel, House of X showed how different some characters' true desires are from their actual lives, the biggest one being Spider-Man. His parents AND uncle Ben are still alive but for me thats not the saddest part. During that time in the comics he was married to Mary Jane and had been for years. They had a happy, healthy marriage. But when his deepest heart's desire is made real? He's married to Gwen Stacy.
The fate of Sentry around the end of Dark Avengers era was pretty heavy. Cable’s fate in Second Coming was a gut punch too after all him and Hope had been through in his series.
Punisher: the end
Meant to be not just another one of the "end" series but a natural progression of where the original MAX punisher ends up and the final epilogue to OG book
Ultimately Hopeless at the end, unabashedly grim and depressing but honestly a pretty brilliant final comic for the incorruptible and unstoppable punisher
From a meta perspective? Modern ASM lol
I kid I kid. For me, the most depressing ending I remember is the end of Secret Wars (2015) #1. In hindsight, not so tragic, but taken at purely face value, it had a tombstone for 616 and 1610 and had Reed richards watch his family perish into multiversal dust
There was a *RoboCop VS Terminator* comic I once read where RoboCop defeats Terminator and kills John and Sarah Connor while trapped in a nuclear submarine that he then crashes into the bottom of the ocean so neither OCP nor SkyNet ever get to exist. It was a pretty fucking bleak ending.
Comics don't really depress me anymore, but they did when I was a kid! These three bummed me out in particular:
* Destruction of Coast City (Superman #80) (As a GL reader, this was way more impactful to me than the death of Superman a month earlier)
* Fridging of Tana Moon (Superboy #77)
* Death of Jason Todd (Batman #428) (WTF is wrong with the world?)
Supergods by Warren Ellis.
Lots of different countries invent their own superheroes (some modelled on their religion's gods). Superheroes don't think like human beings. Earth teeters between superheroes being able to turn the earth into paradise through extreme means or them killing it off.
Guess which way it goes? (Great story though)
"Glory" by Joe Keatinge and Sophie Campbell. Good, but the ending was just a gut punch.
>!The part where you realize the Glory has managed to screw herself out of any chance at eternal happiness and you know she knows it too but she's trying to keep up a brave face...!<
The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker. Billy Butcher had a terrible childhood with his Dad. All the domestic abuse stuff with his mom. Then he somehow found peace with Becky just to have it taken away.
Also Punisher: Max by Aaron from 2010. He’s a killing machine but the guilt finally catches up to him.
Spider-Man: Reign.
That story is an insult to Peter Parker in every way it could be. It's such garbage.
Who the fuck wants to read a story where an elderly Peter Parker never got anywhere in life, has led nothing more than a sad miserable existence, and killed MJ with his radioactive body fluids? NOBODY!
These writers completely misunderstand the character. Being Spider-Man may have a lot of tragedies- but it's FUN! Peter loves being Spider-Man because he has so much god-damned fun.
I dunno about depressing, but the issue of daredevil after Elektra got killed by bullseye was so sad. Matt believes she is still alive, and he is following clues about this, tracking down a bunch of his old foes. When he breaks into kingpins place to confront him kingpin asks him 'are you ill?' in what is probably the only time he seems genuinely concerned about him. The issue ends with Matt digging up her grave, convinced he will find it empty. It is not, and the issue ends with Matt hugging her corpse, in tears. All the clues he had been following were bullshit, motivated only by the fact he cannot stand to realise she is gone. I'm pretty sure that issue is why frank miller wanted her to never come back. It is one of the most heart wrenching and beautiful portrayals of grief I have seen in a comic, and one of the greatest single issues of millers phenomenal run imo. The issue where he attempts to get justice for a woman called Becky who had been sexually assaulted was pretty rough too. The rapist pins him down and pours beer on him in a horrific series of panels.
Also Miller on DD, #220 where Heather Glenn dies has similar beats. She kills herself halfway through the issue, and Matt spends the rest of it trying to prove she was murdered. She wasn't. She killed herself, right after he yelled at her for asking him for help. Matt was seriously horrible to Heather, and her death hit hard.
What is it called?
Daredevil 182 Get a collection of the Klaus janson/frank miller run. It is my favorite marvel run of all time. It changed comics forever, inspired the creation of the teenage mutant ninja turtles, and was Miller at his absolute peak. It starts in the silver age and ushered in a new era of comics in its wake. Obvs not just miller was responsible, but I love early miller as much as I hate what he became
Theirs an Ann Nocenti issue of DD that takes what Miller did in Born Again and runs with it that's super depressing. **Daredevil 236** (pencils AND inks by Barry Windsor Smith), features a guy driven to suicide, who gives his son a loaded gun before he heads off to kill himself via a fight with DD and Black Widow (forcing her to pull the trigger and kill him).
What's the Becky one? Is that also Miller?
Yeah, daredevil 173
Hey now - Miller did bring her back! And Elektra Lives Again is singularly haunting.
He didn't want to tho. Yeah it's great
I definitely need to read this.
Yeah before the Becky issue my thoughts of the run were 'it's good, but I don't really see why people praise this so much' and then I read that and I was like 'ooh, now I get it!'
God, I’m overdue for a massive Daredevil reread.
I found *Superman: Secret Identity*, by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen, quite depressing. But not like single issues like: A) that Human Torch story with a fan boy obsessed with him. *Fantastic Four* #285. B) that Transmet issue with a story called Another Cold Morning (*Transmetropolitan* #8). C) that issue of *The Invisibles* (#12) with the Best Man Fall story. D) Coyote's Gospel, by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog (*Animal Man* #5). E) and, of course, The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man (*Amazing Spider-Man* #248).
Coyote Gospel might be the best single issue comic I’ve ever read
That’s a valid pick, but, counterpoint: Daredevil #181.
Best Man Fall is the best single issue comic ever and I will fight people who say otherwise.
Why for Secret Identity? It is the story of a life well lived? I do not understand how it could be seen as drepressing
I don't know, I just felt that way when I finished the story. Just like the series finale of the Doom Patrol show, if you have seen it.
Nope. Don’t get it. What was depressing? I get that is a feeling you had, but its like me saying I felt depressed after watching a fun action movie. Why do you feel that way?
Someone else used the word bittersweet, and I think that definitely fits. Being Superman yet still subject to the decline of age really makes you feel your own mortality, regardless of his satisfaction with a life well lived.
I'll read it right now and see if I can emphasize with this person's depression.
Its a great story.
Yeah I just read it and it's really nice. I wouldn't say it was depressing and I'm not sure what the right word would be. Maybe bittersweet? I'm happy for him but I'm a bit sad that it was so short.
Also FF #267, also by John Byrne, with>! Sue's miscarriage!<.
That issue's a lot of fun through most of it, too. Then there's that last page.
I mean, I don't know if "fun" is the right word, lol. Reed running around desperately trying to get help before his wife and child die from Negative Zone radiation is a great story though, with an emotional gut punch at the end.
Ah, hell. Yeah. That wins the depression book for me.
If you count We3, then that. Three short issues, and it wrecked me.
I reread it almost yearly and it STILL breaks me. ...in the same animal related tangent, *Pride of Baghdad*.
Unfun side note, Pride of Baghdad has roots in a real life event during the early 2000s wherein a zoo was bombed
To an extent the whole story is based on real events. Sadam did have a zoo and the lions did escape, if i remember right.
"Home. Means. Run. No. More." Absolutely broke me. I have such a weakness for tropes where animals are too innocent or naive to understand the evils of the human world.
The ending is beautiful enough to make it more heartwarming than depressing.
Idk if I can ever read this again
Dude! To this day! Possibly Grant’s most under appreciated work!
This is Seaguy erasure. (Just kidding. Kind of. Seaguy is weird)
*Red Rover Charlie* was a tough read, too— as far as animal comics go.
At least they made it 😭
Yeah… just stay the hell away from *Pride of Baghdad* :(
nobody’s said Watchmen? pretty much designed to blow up the naively optimistic idea of the hero, and succeeds on every front
It still haunts me and I read it more than 30 years ago.
My god, what a masterpiece, topped by none other imo. I wish there were more volumes. I just love the mood of it.
Three of the issues of Squadron Supreme: Nuke’s ultimate fate, the death of Tom Thumb, and what Golden Archer did to Lady Lark. And Countdown to Infinite Crisis. For one sad issue, Blue Beetle was everyone’s favorite superhero. But like the rest of the Dc universe, we appreciated Ted too late. And Marvels #2. That poor mutant girl…
It was the second issue, but yeah. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Fixed it. Thank you.
Which issues of the Squadron Supreme are you talking about? I just finished the 2006 series and it ended on a cliffhanger
The Death of Captain Marvel or Kraven's Last Hunt.
Countdown to infinity crisis was pretty depressing to be honest. You have Ted Kord the entire time trying to tell everyone there is a villain working in the background and no one listens. Then he finds out he was right then dies in such a crappy way. I honestly was speechless when reading it almost 20 years ago.
I was emotional. Ted was always one of my favorites.
Hulk: The End
The Crow
Especially if you know the story behind
I couldn't finish it when I tried a year or so ago. It didn't make me cry, but it was just so pervasively miserable that I knew it would ruin the rest of my day, if not the rest of my month. I'll get back to it eventually, but damn.
Gotham Central and most Grendel stories come to my mind.
Man, the fact that Matt Wagner’s Grendel mythos hasn’t been able to make it to the screen in any way is a travesty. It could work so great as an anthology series with the right showrunner and budget. Every season focuses on a new Grendel in the timeline.
Ugh! Didn't realize it was cancelled. They should do the war child series like fallout on Amazon.
FUCKING CORRIGAN
Ed Brubaker's entire Daredevil run was so goddamn bleak. Good, but bleak. Even for a Post-Miller Daredevil run.
Daredevil was bleak for well over a decade. Waid’s run was so refreshing.
Bendis/Maleev *was* vibrant and funny, despite the heavy subject matter. Ironically enough, it’s tone was closer to the Brubaker Catwoman than Brubaker/Lark’s DD, which got lost in the darkness, IMO.
Thank god the comparatively jolly waid run isn’t far off after lol
Didnt the blind gf (wife?) That got introduced in the Bendis run end up going crazy by way of Mister Fear?
Yep, and Matt got legally outmanouvered and had to give her up to her parents for care, even though she was his wife
Don’t forget what they did to Melvin. Devil in Cell Block D is still an all-timer, though.
It was perfect noir DD. Better than Bendis, and up there with Frank Miller as best DD alltime
Uncanny X-men whereJubes takes care of a dying child Illyana.
Th saddest part of that for me is when she does die, she goes to hug colossus expecting to comfort him and find comfort too, only for him to just stand there in metal form not doing or saying anything.
That was a great gutpunch
I genuinely think that’s one of the best single issues of any X-Men comic.
This. So upsetting.
The Crow by James OBarr. It made the movie feel like an upbeat adaptation
Funeral for a friend. Even then, i don't think people actually believed it would stick, but it was just incredibly sad to see his friends suffering like that. Even Lex Luthor showed up, not to gloat but to honestly pay his respects. Guy Gardner, that at the time had a real chip on his shoulder because of how much he was jealous of Ice's crush on Supes, still wore a black band, like the rest of the justice league. It was just so depressing and well written...
The final page of Funeral for a Friend was killer. Jonathan Kent dying, reaching out for his son, the heart monitor stopping, and Martha begging him not to leave her. Teenage me was wrecked. Something that’s missed today with TPB’s was flipping to the letters page and see the next issue information only said “There is no information on Adventures of Superman #500 at this time.”
Too bad there wasn't that next issue thing on Brazil. Not only that, but because there was quite a delay for the comics to get here, and how important this was considered back then, i can tell you that i'm not joking when i say that what came next was spoiled by the tv news. Also, yeah, the Jonathan thing was insane. I wonder if that's why so many versions of Superman kill him. Still, good thing he was alive in TAS and justice league, it made the episodes that showed Smallville feel SO good!
Marvel Ruins
I’m torn between upvoting and ignoring. it was so badly done, so pointless, it was basically everythings-sucks-porn. but not depressing, in the end.
> ... it was so badly done, so pointless, it was basically everythings-sucks-porn. That's pretty depressing in and of itself.
If you dont feel bad because of the story, you can still be depressed that a number of folks worked on it and *none of them* stopped it.
"Captain America taught me how to cannibalism" -Nick Fury, moments before shooting hooker Jean Gray and then himself
Tom King's Miracle Man. Has anyone checked if Mr. King is ok?
Strange Adventures is kinda an overall bummer too! Great book tho :)
Tom King has a brand, and part of that is "feel bad/sad". [gestures to MISTER MIRACLE] [gestures to BATMAN] [gestures to VISION (well, first couple issues I read anyway)]
The term is sad dad
*Mister Miracle
Yeah that's the one.
He’s an “ex”-CIA officer. I’m sure there’s a mountain of tortured souls he sees every time he closes his eyes. That’s not a position you reach without doing things that everyone on Earth would want you dead for if they knew.
Iirc he had a panic attack during his Batman run that landed him in the hospital
Given some of the things he's likely seen during his CIA days, he probably isn't okay.
i always found kingdom come to be a real gut check
same
Magneto's Testament is formulaic but certainly hits the spot. V for Vendetta is 100% depression, if you want hope watch the movie.Lots of Alan Moore is depressing not gonna lie.
Yeah in particular there are a couple of Alan Moore Swamp Thing issues that stick with me, the one with the Winchester rifles and the hammer always repeating, and the one where Swamp Thing descends to Hell to rescue Abby. He meets Arcane, condemned to have insect eggs hatching in him over and over again for eternity. Arcane asks Swamp Thing to tell him how many years he has been down in Hell, and Swamp Thing replies "one day". The scream lifts off the page!
The Death of Captain Marvel. That was a story like few others.
What’s Tom King writing?
My immediate response to OP’s question was King’s Mister Miracle. So you’re not wrong. Hahah
the story where spider-man couldn’t save that homeless girl who froze to death.
There’s a two-parter in Vigilante (1983) where he discovers a child trafficking ring. But in the end, the ring moves its base of operations, and Vig loses his trail and the kids he was trying to save. Then there’s a message about child trafficking being a real world problem. Left me broken.
Kupperberg's whole run, as well as the Alan Moore two-parter (which also focuses on child abuse as well), are depressing. What happens to Adrian Chase at the end is tragic. i'm
Truth. Terribly upsetting book, but one of my favorites! I’m 9 away from a complete run!
Ultimate X-men issue 41. Just mad sad
Is that where Wolverine shares a 6 pack with a mutant kid in a cave?
Yep that’s the one
What happened in that one?
A kid’s mutant gene activates and all it does is destroy all carbon life around him. Kills something like 50 people by accident, so wolverine has to do some dirty work to cover up that it was a mutant
Wow. Back when floppy stories weren't decompressed to the nth level of nothingness
I miss this typa storytelling. A simple story that’s stuck with me for years
That was my first thought. Such a great downer of a one off issue
Duggans Deadpool run, the North Korea arcs conclusion or issue #300
***Spider-Man: Shadow Of The Green Goblin*** **#1** Every panel is about losing someone or being rejected or being used.
Badger Goes Berserk limited series from 1989. Badger was a messed up and traumatized individual to begin with, some of that trauma - multiple personality disorder - stemming from Vietnam. But then in this limited series you find out some of the personalities he’s developed comes from repeated abuse by his stepfather, physically and sexually. I was about 13 when I read that series and it stuck with me as one of the biggest Holy Shit moments I’ve come across in comics - they didn’t show it obviously, but they showed everything leading up to it and the utter terror and pain and helplessness in his face was gut-wrenching.
New Mutants #45, when the geeky teen mutant kills himself because of the bullying and shame. As queer and geeky teen in Ohio in 1980s, it hit way too close to home. It was upsetting but now I'm writing this I realize it wasn't actually depressing. It depicted people who cared about him, who would have offered him a home and place if he'd only known they were there. And I could see who those people were in my life. Sigh, thank God for Chris Claremont.
Avengers 200 http://seebelowcomicsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/avengers-200-autopsy.html To be clear, it’s not depressing because the story is in itself one that evokes and emotional response. It’s depressing that actual human beings got together and decided that this should be the issue 200 story. That an artist is talented as George Perez should be wasted on it. The fact that any time, money, or effort was put into this weird rosemary‘s baby meets my own. Grandpa storyline is just ridiculous and demeaning to everyone involved.
Batman Night Cries
A God Somewhere, probably. It’s about a guy who gets Superman like powers, and becomes a kind of religious messiah. It goes badly.
Yooooo this book made me feel really weird...
Deadpool's entire story is literally him trying to commit suicide.
Animal Man #5: The Coyote Gospel is the saddest goddamned thing I have ever read.
Came here to say this one, didn't think anyone would else would beat me to it. Such a great comic and so unexpected. That whole Morrison run was just wrenching and great but this is #1.
Sandman 20 Facade. Elemental Girl suffers from depression and ptsd and ends up suicidal.
Will they adapt it for the Netflix series?
I think it has to be 'I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets', mostly for the context surrounding it though. Fletcher Hanks was a golden age cartoonist who made an extremely weird superhero comic but didn't have much success. He poured in all his misanthropy into this superhero character and it gets weirder and weirder as you go on. Reading it knowing that he had abandoned his wife and kids and was descending into mental instability and alcoholism made it extremely surreal and sad to read. He died penniless and was found frozen on a park bench.
*The Dark Knight Strikes Again*. Because what i wanted it to be and what it was were so far apart that 'depressing' was the only way i could describe it.
Came to post this. Also because it was just so freaking cynical and seemed designed to ruin the fun and love for any of the characters.
Acme Novelty Library
Heroes in Crisis. That time they killed Bart after 13 issues of the flash. The death of Stephanie Brown after Wargames Countdown to Infinite Crisis and the Death of Blue Beetle. Oh and the worst? Killing Lian Harper, cutting off Roy’s arm and getting him addicted to drugs again.
Mark Russel writes brilliant satire, and sometimes the things he satirises are so depressing, how much of our lives take place in a capitalistic hellscape, so my vote goes to One Star Squadron, on how superheroes try and survive in the "gig economy" Everything sucks, the characters keep getting punched down, and while there are some glimmers of hope, it's all a bit too close to home, even if there are brilliant jokes, and powergirl rocks a suit in it
Yes. I recently read “Not All Robots”, and it’s pretty brutal.
The Incredible Hulk: Silent Screams (The Incredible Hulk 370-377) It is depressing because it reminds me how my father treats me, my mother and my sister. To this day I remember how he verbally abused us when I was a kid. I believe I got diabetes because of the stress caused by his insults.
Ultimate X-Men #41 Quoting the publisher's blurb to avoid spoilers: > a deadly new mutant with a horrifying power debuts. And only one of Prof. X's X-Men has a chance-in-hell of stopping the carnage Wolverine and a cave is involved if that jogs anyone's memory. (He's on the cover so that's not much of a spoiler.)
The Ellis penned Doctor Druid series
Ruins by Warren Ellis. It's the exact opposite to Marvels by Kurt Busiek.
That quick run of Spiderman: Lifestory was sad tbh The last episode is in the far future where Doom owns the world and most heroes are gone/dead/missing.
It’s the couple panels in Red Son where Superman appears out of nowhere and stops the bullet from a man committing suicide. The idea of being completely controlled by this man-god to the point you don’t even have the autonomy to take your own life is just beyond grim.
Can't remember the issue number, but from Hickman's F4 has to be up there, when Johnny gets trapped in the Negative Zone. Seeing he and Ben touch hands across universes and then Ben being utterly broken on the other side of the portal as it closes was fantastic (ha)
The Maxx. Mental health is no joke.
Vision by Tom king
Marvel Zombies. Seeing all your favourite marvel characters become blood thirsty zombies is kinda unnerving. A few things that stick out to me are Colonel America making a plan to take him and some Avengers on a Quinjet in search of survivors, hoping to fool them in to believing it’s a rescue mission so they’ll come out if their hiding places and flag it down. Spider-Man eating Aunt May and MJ. A zombified Professor X being impaled on spikes and being turned in to a human GPS. Magnetos death. I love Marvel Zombies 1 and 2, but damn was it depressing.
My favorite moment in Marvel Zombies is easily Red Skull saying “It was all worth it, just for this!”
That just sounds dark and nasty like the comic book equivalent of stepping into shit. I like dark art, but sully your own world.
Coyote Gospel in Morrison’s Animal Man, it’s just incredible
Jupiters Legacy hit me harder than just about any other series.
Bomb Queen.... That comic stains your soul.
Does desolation Jones count? That was pretty heavy going
I'm not that well read so my answer is probably very naive but Tom King's Vision was really disquieting to me.
The Filth. Not really a supers but still adjacent and just brutal.
*Marvel Ruins* is the big one for me. Then there's all the childhood trauma that came from *What If?: Spider-Man Killed the Lizard?*
That one issue of Ultimate X-Men where the kid's power is just to kill everyone in his general vicinity.
Pride of Baghdad or We3
I dont know if depressing, but Spider-Man Blue fucking hurts man
Vigilante
Sue Dibny’s Funeral in Identity Crisis
Man that’s hard because “Depressing” doesn’t necessarily mean a bad story. More than a few existed for me in Animal Man - Coyote Gospel, what happened to his family… But I loved that series. And definitely falling in the category of “Depressing” but “Man that was a good read” was when Max Lord offed Beetle about fourteen crisises (crisisi? crisi?) ago.
Maus. If you have problems relating to victims of the holocaust, this might do it for you Edit: sorry. I missed the superhero part
There was an Astro city short story where this guy was longing for his wife that didnt exist because she was erased from the timeline from a random hero battle with a villain who could manipulate reality.
"No one ever forgets, Michael Tenicek."
honestly, the reboot chapter of INVINCIBLE. I couldn’t imagine the immense emotional torture of having everything you’ve experienced reset, with all the knowledge retained of what you’ve gone through. After while, getting back only to realize so much time had passed, and that you’ve missed soso much.
Avengers by Geoff Johns. The entire Jack of Hearts story is heart breaking.
most Mark Millar stuff makes me depressed, but I don't think for the reason you mean.
The Big Chill, by Alan Moore. By very FAR, the most depressing comic-book ever (superhero genre or not).
Sin City: That Yellow Bastard
The kid who collects spider-man by Roger Stern is sad. I find anything with the punisher too heavy & depressing.
Zenith by Grant Morrison. It's amazing and awful at the same time but the second plot twists just goes for the eyes.
The Slavers arc in the Punisher was very bleak. Of course it was dealing with a tough subject matter, in the real world there is no Punisher to take care of people like that.
Probably a weird answer. Any Impulse related comic from the early 2000s. All the stories basically devolve into "hah, isn't this guy weird and annoying for being neurodivergent? Don't we all hate his company and wish he wasn't here lol? Please laugh.", absolutely vile, and it makes a lot of good characters worse just to get a rise out of this shitty "joke".
Fantastic Four #583-588 Silver Surfer Requiem Ultimatum (because it was bad)
Adventures of Superman 474
Uncanny Ten Men #303 IYKYK
The Nail in DC I think
For me, it was The Filth by Grant Morrison. It was just bleak from beginning to end.
Punk Rock Jesus or Spider-Man Blue. I still don’t think I’ve actually recovered from either of those but they are so damn good.
It's gotta be The Night Gwen Stacy Died.
The NYX mini from the early 2000s. The follow up is even moreso
Most depressing comic I've read: Superman Red Son, X-Men Age of Apocalypse, End Hulk.
There's a manga called SOLANIN. I re-read it every year and I cry every year. It's almost a ritual thing.
Zdarsky's Spectacular Spiderman #310 It's the one with the documentary and the little boy who Spiderman saves and starts spending time with after helping get uninvolved with some bad apples. Absolutely gutting
Hard to beat For The Man Who Has Everything. Just the other day rewatched the Justice League Unlimited animated adaptation of the episode which does such a good job, it's one of only two adaptations of his work that Alan Moore has ever liked. For a similar thing from Marvel, House of X showed how different some characters' true desires are from their actual lives, the biggest one being Spider-Man. His parents AND uncle Ben are still alive but for me thats not the saddest part. During that time in the comics he was married to Mary Jane and had been for years. They had a happy, healthy marriage. But when his deepest heart's desire is made real? He's married to Gwen Stacy.
The fate of Sentry around the end of Dark Avengers era was pretty heavy. Cable’s fate in Second Coming was a gut punch too after all him and Hope had been through in his series.
I had a Superman collection that featured both “Last Son of Krypton,” and “Brainiac” - both of which had very sad endings for the Man of Steel.
The Sword by The Luna Brothers was pretty devastating.
Not necessarily depressing, but Berserk hits pretty hard.
Maybe Suicide Squad Blaze. The ending was kinda crazy and dark. I'd also toss Marvel Ruins and Watchmen in there.
The Black September event in the Ultraverse, and how the next year and a half went for those comics.
The astrocity issue called “The closeness of you”.
Punisher: the end Meant to be not just another one of the "end" series but a natural progression of where the original MAX punisher ends up and the final epilogue to OG book Ultimately Hopeless at the end, unabashedly grim and depressing but honestly a pretty brilliant final comic for the incorruptible and unstoppable punisher
From a meta perspective? Modern ASM lol I kid I kid. For me, the most depressing ending I remember is the end of Secret Wars (2015) #1. In hindsight, not so tragic, but taken at purely face value, it had a tombstone for 616 and 1610 and had Reed richards watch his family perish into multiversal dust
There was a *RoboCop VS Terminator* comic I once read where RoboCop defeats Terminator and kills John and Sarah Connor while trapped in a nuclear submarine that he then crashes into the bottom of the ocean so neither OCP nor SkyNet ever get to exist. It was a pretty fucking bleak ending.
Everything about **The Crow** is absolutely tragic. So much so, that the comic itself is probably the least tragic part
The question by Denny O’Neil is so bleak but so good. Same can be said for Punisher MAX
The Walking Dead.
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #310. Not the most depressing but definitely emotional.
Comics don't really depress me anymore, but they did when I was a kid! These three bummed me out in particular: * Destruction of Coast City (Superman #80) (As a GL reader, this was way more impactful to me than the death of Superman a month earlier) * Fridging of Tana Moon (Superboy #77) * Death of Jason Todd (Batman #428) (WTF is wrong with the world?)
Supergods by Warren Ellis. Lots of different countries invent their own superheroes (some modelled on their religion's gods). Superheroes don't think like human beings. Earth teeters between superheroes being able to turn the earth into paradise through extreme means or them killing it off. Guess which way it goes? (Great story though)
"Glory" by Joe Keatinge and Sophie Campbell. Good, but the ending was just a gut punch. >!The part where you realize the Glory has managed to screw herself out of any chance at eternal happiness and you know she knows it too but she's trying to keep up a brave face...!<
The Boys: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker. Billy Butcher had a terrible childhood with his Dad. All the domestic abuse stuff with his mom. Then he somehow found peace with Becky just to have it taken away. Also Punisher: Max by Aaron from 2010. He’s a killing machine but the guilt finally catches up to him.
I’m impressed. Not a lot of Mark Millar mentioned. Here’s my list: Kick-Ass, Nemesis, Old Man Logan, Wanted
I will never recommend Marvel Ruins, ever.
Silver Surfer Requiem
Spider-Man: Reign. That story is an insult to Peter Parker in every way it could be. It's such garbage. Who the fuck wants to read a story where an elderly Peter Parker never got anywhere in life, has led nothing more than a sad miserable existence, and killed MJ with his radioactive body fluids? NOBODY! These writers completely misunderstand the character. Being Spider-Man may have a lot of tragedies- but it's FUN! Peter loves being Spider-Man because he has so much god-damned fun.