History CrapsackWorld / Comicbooks

* It is little wonder that the Franchise/MarvelUniverse is often considered one of these. There are very many villainous [[PersonOfMassDestruction persons of mass destruction]], world-threatening private militias, overlords with JokerImmunity; [[AliensAreBastards Multiple warmongering alien armadas]]; Hordes of {{eldritch abomination}}s, [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils demon lords]], [[JerkassGods evil deities]], or casually genocidal OmniscientMoralityLicense [[CosmicEntity cosmic entities]], and an EasyRoadToHell allegedly awaits most of the inhabitants. {{Nineties antihero}}es, [[HeroWithAnFInGood heroes with an F in good]], [[ByronicHero Byronic heroes]], and [[SociopathicHero sociopathic heroes]] are very prevalent. Other defining tropes include: {{Gorn}}, DysfunctionJunction, FailureIsTheOnlyOption, StatusQuoIsGod, CosmicHorrorStory, BlackAndGrayMorality, and HopeSpot. The overall atmosphere tends to be cynical and hopeless, with the [[{{Dystopia}} futures uniformly shown as dystopian]]. Increasing from the UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, and onwards. However, it should be noted that just because the foundation is crapsack, not all books set within it need to be.

** [[ComicBook/JLAAvengers In a crossover between]] Marvel's ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' and ''The ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' of DC, the Avengers immediately suspect the JLA have mind-controlled the populace simply because they find that the people in the DC-verse actually seem to like and respect their metahuman heroes and costumed adventurers. Conversely, the JLA are completely aghast at the state of the Marvel-verse -- where [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom tyrants]] rule unopposed, [[ComicBook/ThePunisher crazed vigilantes]] slaughter criminals wholesale, and the heroes are given [[UngratefulBastard no respect at all]] -- and can only assume that the Marvel heroes are colossal failures to have let things get that bad.

* In some versions of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' (especially those by Creator/FrankMiller) Gotham City is depicted as one of these, particularly in stories set early in Batman's career. It's often shown to be blighted by the worst in urban decay and crime, and it's often suggested that the entire police department is [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment corrupt and venal]] apart from James Gordon. Several issues imply that evil and insanity are InherentInTheSystem and legends allude to an evil Bat-demon that has haunted the city (and especially Arkham Asylum) since its early days. ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' suggests that the demon in question is actually a living embodiment of the evil Omega power of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, sent back in time as part of a convoluted scheme to kill Batman and destroy the Earth; if not, then it just posed as it, implying the corruptive supernatural evil that plagues Gotham is still out there--[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane that]], or Gotham is just a WeirdnessMagnet for maniacs and psychopaths.
** The most infamous version is ''ComicBook/AllStarBatmanAndRobinTheBoyWonder'' where the superheroes are either sociopaths (Batman, ComicBook/BlackCanary, Franchise/WonderWoman), future sociopaths (ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}), or morons (Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/GreenLantern).

** Is one in the ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' altered reality. To sum up: Kal-El never became Franchise/{{Superman}} because after his ship crashed into Metropolis instead of Smallville (along with a meteor shower that ''wiped out'' the city), he was taken by the military and has spent his ''entire life'' being experimented on, as were [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]] and [[ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog Krypto]] when they arrived [[spoiler:(unlike Kal, they didn't survive the experiments)]]; Bruce Wayne died in place of his parents, causing his father to become a much more brutal Franchise/{{Batman}} [[spoiler:and his mother to become an even crazier version of ComicBook/TheJoker]]; a Nazi remnant is in control of Brazil; Franchise/{{Aquaman}} and Franchise/WonderWoman are at war, which has led to Britain being occupied by the Amazons and ''all of Western Europe'' being flooded; Grodd has conquered Africa and killed half the human population (and that's viewed as a ''background event''); and meanwhile, the [[ComicBook/BlackestNight Black Lanterns]] and Manhunters are overrunning the Green Lanterns and destroying planets left and right. Needless to say, this is one of the crappiest worlds in comic book history, if not the crappiest of them all.

** [[ComicBook/JLAAvengers In a crossover between]] Marvel's ''Franchise/TheAvengers'' and ''The Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' of DC, the Avengers immediately suspect the JLA have mind-controlled the populace simply because they find that the people in the DC-verse actually seem to like and respect their metahuman heroes and costumed adventurers. Conversely, the JLA are completely aghast at the state of the Marvel-verse -- where [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom tyrants]] rule unopposed, [[ComicBook/ThePunisher crazed vigilantes]] slaughter criminals wholesale, and the heroes are given [[UngratefulBastard no respect at all]] -- and can only assume that the Marvel heroes are colossal failures to have let things get that bad.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlSaga'' from the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic book titles in 1988, the Pocket Universe Earth that Superboy of the Legion of Superheroes came from became this when its Lex Luthor had accidentally released the Phantom Zone criminals from their prison, as they subjected the world to their cruel relentless barbarism. Things went FromBadToWorse when Lex Luthor created a LaResistance team of humans to withstand the rogue Kryptonians, forcing them to pull a Class 6 ApocalypseHow on the Earth by destabilizing its core and causing hot gases to erupt and destroy its atmosphere, instantly killing five billion people on the planet except for those who were living in Lex Luthor's Smallville citadel.

* ''ComicBook/DaredevilEndOfDays'': It takes Hell's Kitchen's usual portrayal and paints it across the Marvel Universe of the near-future. SHIELD Helicarriers patrol New York in groups. The ComicBook/FantasticFour are said to be dead. Other heroes or their names are shilled (Hammer Insurance; [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] Burgers, and ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'s name on a kind of whisky). ComicBook/TheAvengers are nowhere to be seen; [[ComicBook/IronMan Stark Tower]]'s become an automated museum. ComicBook/NickFury still kicks around underground for some reason. The president of the United States is none other than ComicBook/TheFalcon--and his VP is someone named [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Osborn]].

** The DCU may be considered this in general -- not only is it the place Gotham, Bludhaven, Hub City and Apokolips exist, it's also the world where the [[ComicBook/LexLuthor worst]] [[ComicBook/TheJoker criminals]] [[KarmaHoudini never face justice]] and even entire cities are constantly being destroyed by aliens and supervillains. That wouldn't be so bad, at least not much worse than the MarvelUniverse, if it wasn't for FridgeHorror related to DC's fondness for {{Cosmic Retcon}}s -- you never know if tomorrow, you aren't going to wake up with your entire life or personality changed beyond recognition or won't wake up, as you [[RetGone don't exist and never existed at all]], just because Superboy-Prime punched reality.

* ''ComicBook/BombQueen'': The comic book's setting New Port City is a criminal mecca where virtually every citizen is a crook, murderer, drug dealer, member of a hate group, or at the very least beats and/or rapes their children. Even people who were normal before they moved there turn evil. The city's dictator is a supervillainess with a [[HundredPercentAdorationRating sky-high approval rating]]. Superheroes are illegal. Throughout the city are designated crime zones where anything goes. The later stories try to explain this by implying [[DoingInTheScientist demonic influence on the area]].

** The BadFuture of ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'' counts: it's several decades since the villains seized control of the world, all but destroying it in the process, with most heroes dead or corrupt or just given up. The fact that ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk has gone mad and become one of the warlords, leading a vast brood of inbred redneck offspring who have inherited weaker versions of his powers, with the whole twisted clan being avid cannibals, is just one ''aspect'' of what makes this world so crapsack.

* In some versions of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' (especially those by Creator/FrankMiller) Gotham City is depicted as one of these, particularly in stories set early in Batman's career. It's often shown to be blighted by the worst in urban decay and crime, and it's often suggested that the entire police department is [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment corrupt and venal]] apart from James Gordon. Several issues imply that evil and insanity are InherentInTheSystem and legends allude to an evil Bat-demon that has haunted the city (and especially Arkham Asylum) since its early days. ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman'' run suggests that the demon in question is actually a living embodiment of the evil Omega power of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, sent back in time as part of a convoluted scheme to kill Batman and destroy the Earth; if not, then it just posed as it, implying the corruptive supernatural evil that plagues Gotham is still out there--[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane that]], or Gotham is just a WeirdnessMagnet for maniacs and psychopaths.

** The [[Comicbook/BatmanNoMansLand No Man's Land]] arc took the crapsack Gotham City and made it into a blighted, disease-ridden, quasi-apocalyptic hell hole where the villains far outnumbered the police. Then again, Gotham being Gotham, it's a wonder anybody noticed a difference.

* ''ComicBook/DaredevilEndOfDays'': It takes Hell's Kitchen's usual portrayal and paints it across the Marvel Universe of the near-future. SHIELD Helicarriers patrol New York in groups. The ComicBook/FantasticFour are said to be dead. Other heroes or their names are shilled (Hammer Insurance; [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] Burgers, and ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'s name on a kind of whisky). Comicbook/TheAvengers are nowhere to be seen; [[ComicBook/IronMan Stark Tower]]'s become an automated museum. ComicBook/NickFury still kicks around underground for some reason. The president of the United States is none other than ComicBook/TheFalcon--and his VP is someone named [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Osborn]].

** The DCU may be considered this in general -- not only is it the place Gotham, Bludhaven, Hub City and Apokolips exist, it's also the world where the [[ComicBook/LexLuthor worst]] [[ComicBook/TheJoker criminals]] [[KarmaHoudini never face justice]] and even entire cities are constantly being destroyed by aliens and supervillains. That wouldn't be so bad, at least not much worse than the MarvelUniverse, if it wasn't for FridgeHorror related to DC's fondness for [[CosmicRetcon Cosmic Retcons]] -- you never know if tomorrow, you aren't going to wake up with your entire life or personality changed beyond recognition or won't wake up, as you [[RetGone don't exist and never existed at all]], just because Superboy-Prime punched reality.

** Every few years, the DCU experiences another [[CrisisCrossover Crisis]]. Which essentially means reality goes out to lunch for a while, random alternate universes are created, destroyed or rebooted and in most cases there's an Omnicidal, nigh omnipotent villain behind it all. In ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' alone, the Earth was plagued with horrible and unnatural weather events, a massive superhuman war and civilians dying by the ''millions''. Putting aside how tanked the global infrastructure would be after a series of events like that, for however brief a time it was, the DC universe was a nightmare world where everyone not a popular superhero ([[AnyoneCanDie not that that can save you forever]]) was in danger of being swept away by a catastrophe they couldn't begin to understand.

* Featured prominently in ''Comicbook/GiveMeLiberty'', with inner-city ghettos turned into virtual prisons, fast-food restaurants waging war for farmland, and the DividedStatesOfAmerica on the verge of a fifteen-way civil war.

* ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' slips into this over the course of time, but it's pretty pronounced by the middle of Volume II.
* ComicBook/LutherArkwright: The primary parallel of the main story arc, 00.72.87, is dominated by ruthless dictatorial great powers all out to dominate the lesser powers and wreck the other great powers. Then it got worse in ''Heart of Empire''.

** In ''Comicbook/YoungAvengers'' v2 the team gets a guided tour (they were chasing a ''villain'') through some choice alternate universes which results in Kate stating that '' it's entirely possible that Earth-616 is the best of all possible worlds''. You can guess how bad those were.

* As if it really needed to be said, the setting of ComicBook/TheWalkingDead is a really crappy place to live. Between the cannibalistic survivors who see you as little more than especially gullible prey, and {{Crazy Survivalist}}s who will shoot you dead or rob you blind at gunpoint under the assumption that you'd do the same anyways, and that's ignoring the manipulative, dog-kicking dictators that have sprung up here and there, or the roving bands of raiders who are out to prove the aforementioned [[CrazySurvivalist survivalists]] dead right. Oh, and also, there are zombies everywhere who naturally band together in ever-expanding, very sound-sensitive (easy on the guns!) groups, with all the usual baggage of infecting and killing a person with a single scratch.