History KarmaHoudini / ComicBooks

* Moose Mason from Franchise/ArchieComics. He beats up any guy who so much as looks at his girlfriend Midge, sometimes even sending guys to the hospital, and never gets any punishment at all for his violence. Worst of all was the time when he went so far as to [[SuperPersistentPredator spend]] ''[[SuperPersistentPredator several days]]'' [[SuperPersistentPredator hunting down Reggie Mantle, not stopping until he finally got the chance to beat him up]]. [[MoralEventHorizon That goes beyond bullying and enters the realm of pure sadism.]] Of course, Moose ''is'' an idiot, possibly even subhuman. So he presumably can't be held responsible for what he does, and the other characters just tend to see it as ExitPursuedByABear. (Or maybe it's just that most other characters think [[{{Jerkass}} Reggie has it coming]]; he's rarely an innocent in any such conflict.)

* ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'': From time to time, Mortadelo gets away with things because some misunderstanding results in someone else being blamed. For instance, when Filemón sees him smoking a cigar and Mortadelo offers him one, he quickly goes to the cigar box to take it. Cue the Super appearing out of nowhere to catch Filemón red-handed and grab him by the neck, saying "At last I've found the jerk who steals my cigars!"

* ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'': A meta-example, where writer Nick Spencer and Marvel Comics editorial are the Karma Houdinis--by ending the series with a "good" Captain America publicly defeating the fascist Captain America that led the HYDRA takeover of America, Spencer and Marvel get to dodge any long-term, in-universe consequences for turning one of their flagship heroes into a fascist villain, and do so without ''technically'' going back on their word that the events of ''Secret Empire'' wouldn't be retconned away.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: Comicbook/{{Legacy}}'', most of the truly heinous villains, namely [[BigBad Darth Krayt]],[[TheDragon Darth Wyyrlok]], [[TheBrute Darth Stryfe]], [[GeneralRipper Darth Rauder]], and genocidal [[MadScientist Vul Isen]] ''do'' receive punishment, several secondary antagonists including Darths Nihl, Talon, Havoc, and Maladi, and Sith Apprentice Saarai decide to say ScrewThisImOuttaHere at the deaths of their superiors and return this Sith to their Sidious-era ways of subterfuge rather than the all-out war Krayt espoused. As such, they avoid any comeuppance, and with the 2014 reworking of the franchise's continuity policy, it seems likely to stay that way.

* Moose Mason from ArchieComics. He beats up any guy who so much as looks at his girlfriend Midge, sometimes even sending guys to the hospital, and never gets any punishment at all for his violence. Worst of all was the time when he went so far as to [[SuperPersistentPredator spend]] ''[[SuperPersistentPredator several days]]'' [[SuperPersistentPredator hunting down Reggie Mantle, not stopping until he finally got the chance to beat him up]]. [[MoralEventHorizon That goes beyond bullying and enters the realm of pure sadism.]] Of course, Moose ''is'' an idiot, possibly even subhuman. So he presumably can't be held responsible for what he does, and the other characters just tend to see it as ExitPursuedByABear. (Or maybe it's just that most other characters think [[{{Jerkass}} Reggie has it coming]]; he's rarely an innocent in any such conflict.)

* PJ Maybe in ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd'' is a gleeful serial killer and one of the worst criminals the Big Meg has ever seen. How does his story end? He uses his impersonation skills to get himself elected mayor. Interestingly, since then, he's used his position to do quite a lot of genuinely good work, such as increasing employment, supporting mutant rights, and most recently working to eliminate [[PresidentEvil Chief Judge Sinfield]]. All while keeping up his passion for murder.

** King Sombra himself in the Fiendship series gets to end with a "HappilyEverAfter" of running off with his LoveInterest / MoralityPet Radiant Hope after being [[EasilyForgiven Quickly Forgiven]] for all the slavery and murder and the 1000 year exile of a kingdom because LoveRedeems.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: Comicbook/{{Legacy}}'', most of the truly heinous villains, namely BigBad Darth Krayt, EvilSorcerer [[TheDragon Dragon]] Darth Wyyrlok, warmongering [[TheBrute brute]] Darth Stryfe, GeneralRipper Darth Rauder, and genocidal MadScientist Vul Isen ''do'' receive punishment, several secondary antagonists including Darths Nihl, Talon, Havoc, and Maladi, and Sith Apprentice Saarai decide to say ScrewThisImOuttaHere at the deaths of their superiors and return this Sith to their Sidious-era ways of subterfuge rather than the all-out war Krayt espoused. As such, they avoid any comeuppance, and with the 2014 reworking of the franchise's continuity policy, it seems likely to stay that way.
* Comicbook/{{Elektra}} is one, despite the fact that the fanbase loves her. She murdered loads of innocents (for example SHIELD agents). Of course she kills mostly Redshirt/{{Redshirts}} that are armed with some weapons, which seems to be justified by the fact that as they are armed she is allowed to fight them. Of course, as a ninja she could use non-lethal methods, but doesn't care. When she is confronted about this, she murders the rogue agent who hunts Elektra to avenge her friends that Elektra murdered. Despite all this the heroes of MarvelUniverse have no problem hanging out with her - the same people who can not stand being anywhere near Comicbook/{{Punisher}}, who didn't even kill HAMMER troops even though they counld be considered Mooks - he still considered them federal agents, even though their agency made FaceHeelTurn. Elektra did not give that much care.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Queen Chrysalis can be assumed to have suffered a DisneyVillainDeath. In [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comics]], however, she survives this fall. She also does more horrible things than in A Canterlot Wedding (which clearly transpired in comic canon as well, thus turning Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor against her still stands); She takes over a kindgom of kittens, and while WordOfGod says most of the kittens survived, she still kills one of them [[GoryDiscretionShot in bloody fashion]]. She also plans to kill the Cutie Mark Crusaders once they were useless to her, tried to brainwash Twilight to kill her friends, and even ''drove a race of ponies to extinction''. And at the end of her [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue34To37 final comic appearance]], she isn't even imprisoned, but [[VillainExitStageLeft flies across the sea]] to escape the Umbrum, and has probably taken over the griffon kindgom by now and either living comfortably there or destroying other kingdoms outside of Equestria, unlikely to return as she thinks the Umbrum destroyed Equestria.

* In WillEisner's graphic novel, ''ComicBook/AContractWithGod'', one of the stories focuses on the super of the tenant where the stories take place/centered around. While the super is a middle-aged, balding man with a somewhat bad attitude and a possibly unfriendly dog, he is played in a horrible con. While in his room (the walls of which are covered with pornographic pinups), the niece of one of his tenants enters his room, and offers to show him her panties for a nickel (the setting is in the 1950's) and asks if she can give the dog a treat. While the super's back is turned, the girl (who is twelve years old!) grabs his cashbox and poisons his dog to death. When the super catches up with the girl, she screams rape and everyone sees and the tenants call the police. When the police come for the super, he kills himself and everyone calls him a creep. The last scene we see is the girl counting the money she just stole, not a look of remorse on her face. It's a great story and everything and was probably written to spite UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode, but still.

** [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt oil executive]] Trickler and international arms-dealer B. Mazaroff in ''The Broken Ear''. After manipulating two {{Banana Republic}}s to go to war over oil, working with Mazaroff, who selling weapons to both sides, framing Tintin for treason, and arranging him to be executed without trial, Trickler gets no comeuppance other than the embarrassment that the region he started a war over didn't have any oil at all.
** This trope also applies to the Bordurian government. In ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' Syldavia is saved, but Borduria remains a threat in later adventures (despite World War 2), even if the schemes launched by its secret agents continue to be foiled.

** Not villageRs, mind you. Entire villages. Heck, most of the characters in Fables did horrible things but in the Real World their crimes are in the past. Anything they do now is punished. The Three Little Pigs mutiny and two are guillotined.

** The three baddies in ''Friends Forever Issue #25'', who steal the wings from Rainbow Dash (not via magic either; there are ''[[BodyHorror stitch marks]]'') and plan to use them to brew a potion to become alicorns, get the equivalent of a time out. Twilight Sparkle disables their magic for a while and lets them go free. Making matters worse is they didn't get a sympathetic motive like the Kelpie or even a HeelFaceTurn like Sombra; they're still hurling insults at Twilight as they leave and there is literally nothing stopping them from just trying again with a different pegasus once their magic comes back.

* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries'' Issue #3 Flim and Flam trick the Hippie Ponies into owing them a large sum of money and losing their farm (so they could sell the land to Filthy Rich) unless the ponies could pay the debt. Thanks to Rarity's help, the Hippie Ponies can make enough money to pay their debt and save their farm... which means Flim and Flam ''still'' managed to win a large sum of money out of their shady deal and ''once again'' nothing bad happened to them.
** Though the HippiePonies made a lot of money because their farm-based products were just that darned good. They may act silly but they got the skills.

* In WillEisner's graphic novel, ''A Contract With God'', one of the stories focuses on the super of the tenant where the stories take place/centered around. While the super is a middle-aged, balding man with a somewhat bad attitude and a possibly unfriendly dog, he is played in a horrible con. While in his room (the walls of which are covered with pornographic pinups), the niece of one of his tenants enters his room, and offers to show him her panties for a nickel (the setting is in the 1950's) and asks if she can give the dog a treat. While the super's back is turned, the girl (who is twelve years old!) grabs his cashbox and poisons his dog to death. When the super catches up with the girl, she screams rape and everyone sees and the tenants call the police. When the police come for the super, he kills himself and everyone calls him a creep. The last scene we see is the girl counting the money she just stole, not a look of remorse on her face. It's a great story and everything and was probably written to spite UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode, but still.

* Justified with the title character of ''JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', who cannot die or get captured because he plays an integral role in the universe.