What Comics Made You Cry?

[Ed Liu]

It's OK. You can admit it. We'll understand.

Shaenon K. Garrity posted a list that made the rounds in the comics blogosphere a while ago of the top 10 comics that made her cry (http://www.comixology.com/articles/158/Ten-Comics-That-Made-Me-Cry), so I figured it would make a decent discussion point here. You can cry because of a tremendously sad moment, a painfully noble sacrifice, a terribly romantic moment, an incident that was really close to an intensely personal memory, or just because the comic hit you in just the right emotional spot. You can also rule in the strong sense that you were about to start crying, or the comics that would have made you cry if you weren't such a Manly Man that you don't cry over anything, doggone it ;).

Off the top of my head:

- Astro City 1/2: "The Nearness of You" One of the most painfully romantic stories I've ever read, and it hinges on the kind of incident that only happens in superhero comic books.
- "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" It's kind of goofy, but the part when Krypto attacks the Kryptonite Man. He knows full well what's going to happen when he does this, and he does it anyway because he knows he has to. Good dog.
- Skurge at Gjallerbru in Thor #362. Here's why (http://daveslongbox.blogspot.com/2005/05/mighty-thor-362-marvel-comics-1985.html). Awesome. Oddly, it seems that killing someone is a good way to make me cry :p.
- Superman: Secrety Identity: The part when the Clark Kent of that world finds out the truth about his twin daughters for the first time. The 2-page splash that hits right after that is such a painfully obvious emotional hot-button moment, but boy does it work.

I'm sure there are more, but I'll have to look at the books I have in my library to figure out more.

So, what are the comics that make you bust out the Kleenex (http://www.kleenex.com/)?

-- Ed

[Spideyzilla]

http://images.comicbookresources.com/previews/asm36/wtc3.jpg
:crying: :crying: This makes me cry. This issue: I'm sure you'll remember it, pictures are a thousand words.

[Russkafin]

I cried at the death of Superman, and at the death of Aunt May in Amazing #400 (of course it was later retconned)...

Also, there is a story from one of the "Flight" collections that was reprinted for Free Comic Book Day two years ago I think... about a robot and a sparrow, and what it means to dream. I have read it a couple times and it gets me every time. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? It's very sweet.

[DisneyBoy]

They seriously drew a picture of Spider-Man watching the Twin Towers go down?

*rolls eyes* Was that in good taste? Did they write a whole story around it? Yipes.

So, I cried...really really hard, at Phil Jiminez's Death of Hippolyta moment in the Wonder Woman books. It was brutal, gut-wrenching and so honest.

Scary stuff, that.

Otherwise...I don't think I've really cried.

[Bloody Marquis]

They seriously drew a picture of Spider-Man watching the Twin Towers go down?

*rolls eyes* Was that in good taste? Did they write a whole story around it? Yipes.

A bunch of comic companies (Dark Horse, Marvel, DC) were doing comic tributes. And they gave the profits to charities.

[wonderfly]

http://images.comicbookresources.com/previews/asm36/wtc3.jpg
:crying: :crying: This makes me cry. This issue: I'm sure you'll remember it, pictures are a thousand words.




Just remember, Manhattan gets destroyed every other Thursday in the Marvel Universe. MadGoblin has a pretty good article (http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/DeepThoughts/SpiderManand911.html) on why Spidey's shock at the Sept. 11th attacks doesn't quite make sense in the context of the Marvel Universe. Also, Dr. Doom crying over some terrorist attack in New York? Does. Not. Compute!

http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/DeepThoughts/SpiderManand911EA.jpg

Having said that, I was moved by that issue as well, back when it first came out.

I don't actually think I've had tears running down my face because of a comic book, but there have been several comics that have tightened a knot in my chest, and have made my eyes a little blurry...I'll try and get together a list and post it later.

[Ed Liu]

A bunch of comic companies (Dark Horse, Marvel, DC) were doing comic tributes. And they gave the profits to charities.

This is true, but the comic that splash came from was Amazing Spider-Man (http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_amazing_v2/036.html) #36, which was their dedicated tribute issue. I read most or all of the 9/11 tribute comics, and while I liked reading some of them, most didn't leave much of an impression, good or bad, and none of them got close to starting the waterworks.

-- Ed

[Spideyzilla]

They seriously drew a picture of Spider-Man watching the Twin Towers go down?

*rolls eyes* Was that in good taste? Did they write a whole story around it? Yipes.

So, I cried...really really hard, at Phil Jiminez's Death of Hippolyta moment in the Wonder Woman books. It was brutal, gut-wrenching and so honest.

Scary stuff, that.

Otherwise...I don't think I've really cried.

Full book? Yeah. I know New York gets destroyed often, but this is by human hands, not villains. Plus, JMS, who wrote this said his script said nothing about Doom. He merely mentioned a bunch of villains, and John Romita Jr. did Doom.

[Peter Paltridge]

Shaenon K. Garrity posted a list that made the rounds in the comics blogosphere a while ago of the top 10 comics that made her cry (http://www.comixology.com/articles/158/Ten-Comics-That-Made-Me-Cry),
That's a very good list, and the best part is that it doesn't rely on superheroes.


Everyone talks about Charlie Brown's pining for the little red-haired girl, but the most poignant unrequited love in Peanuts, for my money, is Peppermint Patty's crush on Charlie Brown. Patty, tough and funny and loyal as a dog, is the only girl who sees something to love in that awkward hard-luck case—but he doesn't care, he doesn't even notice, because he's hypnotized by some disinterested beauty floating just off the edge of the panel border.
I've loved my share of nerdy guys, and perhaps I relate to this scenario a little too much. Anyway, the saddest sequence of Peanuts strips is that in which Patty tells Linus about finally meeting the little red-haired girl and crying because she realizes she'll never be able to compete with someone so pretty. There is nothing in the world sadder than those strips. Charlie Brown thinks he's suffered in love? You're a solipsistic ass, Charlie Brown.

The second saddest Peanuts strip is Spike's origin story. I can't even talk about that one.Where is this sequence? That sounds like a brilliant inversion of an established tradition.

[wonderfly]

That's a very good list, and the best part is that it doesn't rely on superheroes.


Geez, now that I've had a chance to review the list, you're right...in fact, it doesn't have ANY superheroes. That kinda comes across as her saying that superhero comics can't move the soul. :sad:

It's times like these when I'm reminded of the difference between boys and girls in comic book reading habits...

EDIT: Not that her picks are bad, far from it, but I went into that list thinking, "Okay, where's the 'Death of Gwen Stacy' on this list"...only to find it's NOWHERE on the list. :p

[MajorTom]

Some recent ones-

Strangers in Paradise:
When David died. I'm getting weepy just thinking about it.
Too Cool To Be Forgotten:
When you realize Andy's dad is going to die.
Y: The Last Man
When 355 died, and the thing in the last issue with Ampersand and the grape.

[dth1971]

Crisis #7 (1985).

[Xurk]

I don't actually think I've had tears running down my face because of a comic book, but there have been several comics that have tightened a knot in my chest, and have made my eyes a little blurry...I'll try and get together a list and post it later.
Same here. When I first read the thread title, I couldn't really think of any examples, but after reading through the comments already posted, it's jogged by memory a bit... there have been quite a few times that I felt a lump in my throat and had my eyes blurry up a bit while reading a comic book.

The few that came to me instantly were:

Amazing Spider-Man (Volume 2) #36 - Not the actual image posted above - although that did send a shiver down my spine - but the sequence where Spider-Man is comforting a boy who's waiting for his Dad to come out of a burning building and then, seconds later, the Dad's body is carried out by firemen[?]. Of course, the boy went hysterical. That really got to me...

Death of Superman TPB - I wasn't a fully established Comic Geek at the time of the actual storyline, I only picked up an issue of Superman, Batman or Spider-Man every now and then. About five or six years later, I bought the TPB and the final few pages, with the closing monologue and the image of Lois crying while holding Clark's body - wow.

I'm not sure about AMZ #400, I know that the Aunt May death sequence was touching, but I don't think I got all that emotional about it. I know that there are at least a few more examples of when that did happen, but I'm having trouble remembering them :sweat:

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Where is this sequence? That sounds like a brilliant inversion of an established tradition.

Hoo boy, I remember that one, and it's probably a 70s strip, although I recall a number of strips where Patty is insecure about her looks--albeit she never lets it on in public.

In general, I don't find comics to be very tear jerking, especially superhero comics. They are too silly and melodramatic inherently, to draw out real emotions like that. Yes, they can be grim and thought provoking and exciting, but DC and Marvel have too often undone tragic deeds, rendering future ones shrouded in skepticism.

I may have come close to tears of joy, though. A long running series coming to its end, maybe. A character who spends dozens of volumes trying to achieve something and finally doing it after hundreds of pages and many years in comic time, perhaps. But dying, or lost loves, don't move me anymore.

[sleepydumbdude]

I got sort of worked up for the Death of Superman and a few of the X books around the AoA, like how it concluded at the time and the end of Legions quest where everything crystalized and they knew they failed.

[Shawn Hopkins]

The end of WE3, definitely, when all looks blackest. "Gud dog."

A Paul Jenkins issue of Spectacular Spider-Man, I think it's 35, that focuses on a little black boy who idolizes and fantasizes about Spider-Man. The last page is just a killer, gets me just thinking about it.

The "Best Man Fall" issue of Invisibles, issue 12. It's a whole story detailing the life of a security person that King Mob casually killed in the first issue, and it is heartbreaking. It made a piece of cannon fodder into what seemed like a real person.

And "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow," also, but I was more moved by the sacrifices of Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang than Krypto for some reason. Some really sad line they said that I can't quite remember.

I'm sure there are more.

[sleepydumbdude]

Oh yeah I just remembered. The death of Martin Manhunter during FC was pretty sad.

[dendawg]

This one is the closest I ever got to crying over a comic death:


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Vaklam/Crisis07.jpg

[Prof. Mecavio]

I can't recall ever crying because of a comic. However, I won't deny that there are comics that made me feel sad for the characters. Two examples:

Canardo: La Marque de Raspoutine by Sokal

When Raspoutine/Rasputin descends into the lake holding his daughter's dead body.

The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness by Burlew

Redcloak's family being wiped out in the beginning as well as Redcloak killing his brother in the end.