History MindScrew / Webcomics

* ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}!'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this trope in the [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20051224.html some sort of symbolic]] climax.

* ''Webcomic/YuMeDream'' starts of as a straightforward GirlsLove strip (albeit with an [[EthnicScrappy ebonics-spouting conscience]]), until the last ten pages of issue 9, when [[spoiler:the entire comic up to that point is revealed to be AllJustADream, with a minor character actually being a Morpheus-like being]]... and then it gets ''weird''.

** Keeping track of everything (or sometimes catching the important things in the first place) is what makes you reach for the aspirin. There aren't very many characters at first, but then the trolls show up. And alternate timelines. And extra ''universes'', complete with [[UpToEleven counterparts to characters we already have]]. And ''yes'', you have to keep track of them all. And pretty much ''everything'' is important in some way, shape, or form. And most plot elements doesn't make sense until you have the whole story behind them--which is why you have to pay such close attention, because you ''will'' miss something if you don't and then you'll be lost.

** ''Literature/TheHomestuckEpilogues'' takes the brand of Mind Screw that was in the parent work, and cranks it UpToEleven ([[SerialEscalation crazy]] [[BeyondTheImpossible as that sounds]]), by mixing in [[spoiler: meta-analysis, by making the idea of "canon" and "non-canon", who [[UnreliableNarrator the narrator is]], and even the concept of an epilogue important plot points and themes]]. Hussie himself even describes that he designed the print version (which was originally supposed to be the only version, so as to further distance it from the original comic) with a TomeOfEldritchLore feel, just to convey the sheer weirdness of the narrative even further.

** Keeping track of everything (or sometimes catching the important things in the first place) is what makes you reach for the aspirin. There aren't very many characters at first, but then the trolls show up. And alternate timelines. And extra ''universes'', complete with [[UpToEleven counterparts to characters we already have]]. And ''yes'', you have to keep track of them [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters all]]. And pretty much ''everything'' is important in some way, shape, or form. And most plot elements doesn't make sense until you have the whole story behind them--which is why you have to pay such close attention, because you ''will'' miss something if you don't and then you'll be lost.

* ''Webcomic/{{Kagerou}}''. The main character's SplitPersonality is actually pretty realistic (he's unaware of his other personalities, and none of them are really functional human beings) and based on the real life experience of the author.

* ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}!'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this trope in the [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20051224.html some sort of symbolic]] climax.

* The final arc of the fifth book of ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'', "What Dreams May Come" focuses on a wish-granting artifact granting a kind of (extremely geeky) AssimilationPlot, apparently a metaphor for the afterlife. A few of the earlier and later introspective storylines could get a little MindScrew-[[BuffySpeak ey]], but this one (being the intended finale) was just plain ''insane''.
* ''Webcomic/TemplarArizona''. The main characters are straightforward enough, but everything about the world around them is some twisted reflection of our own.
** It doesn't help that it is apparently, but not explicitly, set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
* A ''Webcomic/{{Nedroid}}'' storyline ends on [[http://nedroid.com/2007/03/beartato-63/ this screwy note]].
* [[http://www.levelmanga.com/ Level]].
* Occasionally, ''Webcomic/GeneCatlow'' wanders into this, mainly due to the strange mix of philosophy, spirituality and sheer silliness.
* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', the entire series was just one big MIND SCREW; unless you pay attention to every detail, you are going to get lost.
** Gets especially bad when you have five versions of each main character running around and most of them hate each other.
* ''Webcomic/CochleaAndEustachia'' is shaping up to becoming this trope, being a surreal webcomic featuring a pair of identical, [[FanService scantily-clad]], young women exploring a strange building with... unusual spatial properties..
* ''Webcomic/{{Jerkcity}}''. It's just a bunch of chat logs, mainly focused on UNIX, pot smoking, and homosexuality. OR IS IT?
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' starts off relatively easily to understand, but once the KudzuPlot had taken root, updates are now more likely to bring up far more questions than they answer.
** As a general rule: Anything involving alternate universes will make your head hurt. Anything involving time and history and what happened when in relation to other events (or didn't happen, or happened in a manner that makes the timeline irrelevant) will make it hurt worse. And anything based around life and death and specifically who is dead or alive or both or neither at what point in time will make it [[YourHeadAsplode explode]] 14 times in a variety of pretty colors.
** Actually, almost everything (even the aforementioned elements) makes perfect sense in the context of the story. (Take almost any panel ''out'' of context, however...) However, a lot of the time, you have to think hard about every detail, pore over your extensive notes, and reread several earlier portions of the story (perhaps multiple times) before figuring it out, and then look it up online to realize you were only scratching the surface. Of course, that's what makes it so fun.
** Keeping track of everything (or sometimes catching the important things in the first place) is what makes you reach for the aspirin. There aren't very many characters at first, but then the trolls show up. And alternate timelines. And extra ''universes'', complete with [[UpToEleven counterparts to characters we already have]]. And ''yes'', you have to keep track of them [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters all]]. And pretty much ''everything'' is important in some way, shape, or form. And most plot elements doesn't make sense until you have the whole story behind them--which is why you have to pay such close attention, because you ''will'' miss something if you don't and then you'll be lost.
** There are so many unanswered questions, with more being brought up every page, that it still qualifies as a Mind Screw of truly epic proportions. There's a reason the Wild Mass Guessing page had to be split into a dozen subpages.
** ''Literature/TheHomestuckEpilogues'' takes the brand of Mind Screw that was in the parent work, and cranks it UpToEleven ([[SerialEscalation crazy]] [[BeyondTheImpossible as that sounds]]), by mixing in [[spoiler: meta-analysis, by making the idea of "canon" and "non-canon", who [[UnreliableNarrator the narrator is]], and even the concept of an epilogue important plot points and themes]]. Hussie himself even describes that he designed the print version (which was originally supposed to be the only version, so as to further distance it from the original comic) with a TomeOfEldritchLore feel, just to convey the sheer weirdness of the narrative even further.
* The previous MS Paint Adventure, ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'', is actually a better example, given that it threw logic literally out the window right at the beginning. Over the course of the story, we have an imaginary universe that exists in all the characters' minds simultaneously, but physical objects can pass between the real and imaginary worlds. That's not even getting into things like mental transportation by hitting your head, valves, doors and clothes that change peoples' sizes and shapes, [[RecursiveReality a robot walking through a portal into the building it's carrying on its back]], or ''putting a window through itself''. It's mostly played for laughs, but still gets quite mindbending.
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', there is lots of it. When done intentionally, usually involves [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-02-17 attempts to project the normal family tree]] onto [[OppositeSexClone Ellen]]'s case in several equally disturbing ways. Sometimes the comic [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this, as seen in [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1121 Grace's explanation to the immortal, Jerry]] of how she knows Raven.

* ''Webcomic/HisFaceAllRed'' derives most of its horror from this.
* Dialogue in ''Webcomic/RumorsOfWar'' is often a bit on the screwy side, but [[LoveableRogue Nenshe]] goes on a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind during the fifth story arc and the things we see there are less comprehensible.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' managed to confuse some readers as to what's going on in Chapter 34 (Faraway Morning). The recipe in this case is interaction of characters who are a bunch of teens in extra weird circumstances, and as such themselves neither have a clear idea of what they want nor are good at sorting through their own feelings.
** Zimmy's episodes also get increasingly bizarre each time, particularly when [[spoiler:Antimony inexplicably starts turning into Zimmy]].
* ''Webcomic/CaptainSnes'' definitely reaches this at times. Particularly in one comic in which the character [[HowWeGotHere telling the story]] taunts his captor about how the truth should be obvious at this point. Before realizing that he'd forgotten to mention key details earlier, and adding a whole other layer to the story.
* ''Webcomic/CreativeRelease''. The fact that the author is a troll definitely doesn't help.
* ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' manages to routinely confuse its readership mostly through unusually high concentration of meta (it's a NoFourthWall MegaCrossover MetaFic with RecursiveReality for starters), but its ''"Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On" arc'' takes the cake. The best description the fans could come up with to date is: ''Film/{{Inception}}'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Theatre/SwanLake'' and also a [[DivorceAssetsConflict custody battle]] over TheFairFolk MonsterRoommate.
** Said fair roommate also fixed {{Film/Inception}} and accidentally made his love interest's sleeping problem their landlord. This actually more or less MakesSenseInContext.
* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'' is pretty hard for most readers to comprehend. It helps to think of each character as experiencing their own version of the world.
* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' already has a JigsawPuzzlePlot that satisfies this trope, but the dream sequences and flashbacks push it even farther into this territory.

* ''Webcomic/{{Gaia}}'': Viviana is subjected to a nightmarish and increasingly surreal experience when she tries to leave Oakdale, which involves being unhorsed, deafened, lost in the woods, and eventually mutilated after chasing herself through the fog, only to discover when she wakes up the next day that it was AllJustADream except for the part when she fainted and hit her head on a rock.

** While not really symbolic, Torg's flashbacks will freeze your brain. Mainly because we see things through his perspective so anything we read has already been warped by his screwy mind. Most of the time we don't even know he's having a flashback until the scene suddenly cuts to him in a completely different scene saying "And that's how..."