Line #24 BookEnds/ComicBooks


1	%%%
2	%%
3	%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
4	%%
5	%%%
6	So we made it onto the last page of the last chapter of the last volume.
7	----
8	* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'':
9	** The series begins and ends with [[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:52_1.jpg similar]] [[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:52_52.jpg covers]] (emphasizing ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/{{Batman}}, and ComicBook/WonderWoman's absence during the TimeSkip that took place after ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'').
10	** Issue one ends with ComicBook/TheQuestion removing the bat decal from the Bat-signal, and replacing it with a question mark. He then shines it on Renee Montoya's apartment (who has elected as his successor), and asks "Are you ready?". Issue 52 ends with Renee Montoya, now The Question, removing the question mark and putting the bat decal back on the signal. She then shines it on the apartment of Kate Kane's, who is both her girlfriend and Batwoman. "Are you ready?".
11	* On the cover of the first issue of the ''Series/{{ALF}}'' comic book, ALF is beholding a large stock photo of himself and exclaiming, "Creator/RobertRedford!" The last issue's cover featured the same scene, except the photo is now stamped "[[EndOfSeriesAwareness CANCELLED!]]" and ALF declares, [[SelfBotchedCatchPhrase "Ha! They KILL me!"]]
12	* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': The story "In Dreams" starts and ends with Samaritan dreaming about flying.
13	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
14	** One Batman story begins with Batman trying and failing to convince the parole board not to let Penguin out of prison. He watches Penguin closely, convinced that he's up to something. It turns out that Penguin is providing legitimate jobs to other ex-cons, and being secretive because under the terms of his parole he's not allowed to associate with them. The story ends with Batman trying and failing to convince the parole board to overlook the violation.
15	** ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', which begins and ends with a shot of rain hitting the ground, and the joke which is starting in the beginning is completed at the conclusion.
16	** The ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'' storyline "The Gift" begins and ends with Booster Gold watching an AU version of a Justice Leaguer killing themselves with a single headshot. The first time, while he's a bit shocked, he thinks it's kind of cool, because [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse it's not like it's the real Hal]], right? The second time [[spoiler: having got to know Alt!Bruce, gone a bit mad, and realised that this is ''all his fault'', he has a total breakdown]].
17	* ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'': The series begins and ends with [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] and [[ComicBook/TheFlash Barry Allen]] talking in front of ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s grave. Likewise, the [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090716030736/marvel_dc/images/1/18/Blackest_Night_Vol_1_1.jpg cover]] for ''Blackest Night'' #1 is the Batman clone's skull spewing Black Lantern Rings, while [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110428213736/marvel_dc/images/8/81/Brightest_Day_24_Variant.jpg one of the covers]] for ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'' #24 is a similar image of [[spoiler:ComicBook/SwampThing]] spewing White Lantern Rings.
18	* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': Part of the opening scene the series has Smiley Bone unexpectedly charging Phoney Bone a dollar for a random tattered map he found on the ground. Phoney's angry reluctance to pay this impromptu fee causes Fone Bone to chide him that they're lost in the middle of the desert, so he should cough up the dollar. The very last scene repeats this occurrence, with the map replaced by one of their food rations.
19	* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': ''ComicBook/DaredevilEndOfDays'' is one to Bendis and Mack's first Daredevil story in the early 2000s, ''Wake Up''. In the back matter of the series hardcover, Mack notes this was an unexpected side effect. They were even able to use the same real-life kid as the model for Timmy, all grown up in the time that's passed between ''Wake Up'' and this. Possible FridgeBrilliance there in-story: Some of the dialogue suggests Timmy is not biologically Ben's son and that he lives with Ben because years before Matt Murdock brought Timmy there. Take another look at the ending to ''Wake Up'': Urich adopted Timmy, and Matt kept an eye on the kid.
20	* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'':
21	** In the first set, there's a bookend that occurs within the main storyline while Cutter and Leetah have been struck by "Recognition", a biological imperative that's trying to force them to mate and have kids. In one scene [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ03/DisplayOQ03.html?page=12 Cutter knocks on the window of Leetah's hut]] to demand why she's continuing to resist, and she angrily rebuffs him. It's probably not a spoiler-worthy surprise that she eventually gives in, and the scene is bookended by [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ05/DisplayOQ05.html?page=28 Cutter knocking at her window again]], only this time it's to invite her to make love under the stars. Aaaah.
22	** The first time we see Leetah in the ''Siege at Blue Mountain'' arc, just before the plot hits the fan, she's enjoying an uninhibited [[LesYay nude dance]] with her friend Nightfall. At the end of the story she's naked again, only now looking very vulnerable as she contemplates the future.
23	* ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'': The series begins with ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} sitting alone in his shitty apartment, watching TV and lusting after Creator/BeaArthur. The scene is revisited in panel-for-panel recreations a couple of times throughout the series, and then the final issue ends with Deadpool sitting alone in his shitty apartment, watching TV... and then being joined by his friends.
24	* ''ComicBook/DaisyKutter'': Chapter 1 opens with Daisy getting bored of her mundane, non-outlaw life running a General Store. She picks up a toy gun and practices trick shots before heading to Middleton's Poker Night with ex-boyfriend and current town Sheriff Tom [=McKay=] -- Daisy plays, while Tom marshals the event. Chapter 4 ends the same way, except that [[spoiler: Daisy has taken over as the Sheriff of Middleton while Tom is adjusting to life in a wheelchair, and she's messing around with a toy gun in his old office before heading off to Poker Night with him. Daisy is supposed to marshal, but she winds up playing a few hands]].
25	* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'':
26	** When Robotman first meets Crazy Jane, he consoles her over the rain ruining her painting by instructing her to come in out of the rain. Later, after Crazy Jane is teleported to what is apparently the real world, Cliff says "Come in out of the rain" again when he sees Crazy Jane on another rainy day.
27	** The covers to the first and last issues of John Arcudi's run both depict the rest of the team reflecting in Robotman's head, the former having him think to himself "We're doomed" while the latter has him state "I was right. We '''are''' doomed."
28	* ''ComicBook/GreenArrow''
29	** The ending of Chuck Dixon's (aka, Post-Zero Hour) run on Green Arrow has this in spades. [[ComicBook/ZeroHour Green Arrow #0]] starts out with Oliver Queen returning to the ashram he once stayed at following the "death" of his friend, Hal Jordan, and later returning to the role of Green Arrow and taking a young 18 year old monk named Connor Hawke with him. The ending of ''ComicBook/WhereAngelsFearToTread'' (''Green Arrow'' #101) has Oliver Queen die to save Metropolis with Superman there for his final moments and Connor Hawke becoming the new Green Arrow. The start of Connor's run in the role (#102) has the ashram being taken over by the billionaire Fritz Mueller to become a fighting dojo. The finale of the run (#137) features Superman telling Connor Oliver's last words, fighting Seljuk in a rite of passage to reclaim the ashram, retire from the role of Green Arrow actively and returning to the ashrem, and [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/{{Quiver}} sees Oliver Queen get revived by The Spectre]].]]
30	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The story "Tygers" has a prologue and epilogue depicting [[DeathByOriginStory Abin Sur's plummet into Earth]]. Both begin with the words, "Years later, he died," and both end with the words, "He fell...and all the way down, in his mind, he could hear them laughing."
31	* ''ComicBook/TheGrievousJourneyOfIchabodAzrael'': The comic has the OpeningNarration, "His name is Ichabod Azrael". It ends with the words "His name was Ichabod Azrael".
32	* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}: ''ComicBook/Hawkeye2012'' begins and ends with Clint fighting off the Tracksuit Draculas and saving his apartment building.
33	* ''ComicBook/{{Hound\|2014}}'':
34	** Morrigan begins and ends the story with the assertion that she is the LastOfHerKind and that she was there during the events of the story, unlike any other storyteller.
35	** At the story's beginning, Morrigan carries Setanta away as a baby to her lair at Brunaboyne. The final battle takes place around the same mound.
36	* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': ''ComicBook/HulkTheEnd'' begins with an elderly Bruce Banner narrating about how he feels cold, and proceeding to bitterly remark that ''he'' can't feel the cold. After the Hulk (the aforementioned "he") [[DeathOfPersonality kills]] Banner for good and is finally, truly alone [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor just like he always wanted]], the Hulk's narration lowers to a whisper as he comes to grips with what that truly means:
37	--> '''Hulk:''' Hulk strongest one there is... Hulk [[TheAloner only]] one there is... \
38	Hulk... feels... [[IronicEcho cold]].
39	* ''ComicBook/IronFist'': ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist'' begins its first and final issues with Danny being held at gunpoint by [[Characters/MarvelComicHydra Hydra]] soldiers.
40	* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'':
41	** ''Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare'', the miniseries that set-up ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', saw Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Wally West Flash, the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter deal with (an enslaved) Dr. Destiny. While Creator/MarkWaid would ignore it in favor of presenting ''JLA'' #50[[note]]the issue where Batman rejoins the League after ''ComicBook/JLATowerOfBabel''[[/note]] as the first time since the mini they met, Morrison ends his run with Oracle informing them that Dr. Destiny was stirring up trouble and them heading off to stop him.
42	** The first arc of ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague2011'' kickstarted the ComicBook/New52 era with the Justice League forming after fending off Darkseid. The GrandFinale of both the series and the New 52 era, ''ComicBook/DarkseidWar'' likewise sees the League vs. Darkseid.
43	* ''ComicBook/KickAss'': Volume 3 ends the same way Volume 1 began; with some loon trying to fly from the roof of an NYC skyscraper, drawn almost identically to the panels in the original. [[spoiler:This time, instead of his plummeting to his death in a dark illustration of just how ridiculous the idea of super-heroes really is, he actually pulls it off and soars into the air]].
44	* ''ComicBook/{{The Kingdom\|DCComics}}'': Ignoring ''New Year's Evil: Gog'', the series begins with what is presumably the Golden Age/Earth-2 ComicBook/{{Superman}} flying over his version of Metropolis banging on a sky barrier, being imprisoned on what appears to be a copy of Earth-2, and ends with him in the sky realizing that the barrier is now gone and that he can fly right past it, [[AsideGlance giving a wink to the reader]] that someday he will. Whether that was actually the same Golden Age Superman as the one who went into the paradise dimension with his wife Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor, Jr. from Earth-3, and Superboy of Earth-Prime near the end of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' was left ambiguous at the time.
45	* ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'' begins and ends in the same setting where Scrooge is introduced--in the timeframe where "Christmas On Bear Mountain" takes place.
46	* ''ComicBook/MarvelMysteryComics'': The first issue (just called ''Marvel Comics'') featured the origin story of the (Golden Age) Human Torch. The final issue (before a rename and retool) retold the Torch's origin story.
47	* ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'': ''Marvel Zombies'' begins with the Zombie Sentry going into Earth-2149 from his dimension. ''Marvel Zombies Return'' ends with him [[StableTimeLoop leaving his dimension to Earth-2149.]]
48	* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries'': In the short story in Issue #3 [[spoiler:Hayseed's face at being heartbroken after initially meeting Rarity is matched at the end when Spike claims Rarity's taken.]]
49	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': The most recent ''Punisher: War Journal''[='=]s first issue involved Frank killing Stilt-Man. The last issue was about Frank deciding not to kill the Stilt-Man gang.
50	* ''ComicBook/RedSonja'': Creator/GailSimone's run opened with Sonja sleeping off a hangover when she is attacked by three thieves. Simone's final scene before passing Sonja off to another writer was a nun scribing Sonja's story, beginning with the same attack.
51	* ''ComicBook/RisingStars'' begins with a burst of energy hitting a small town, giving unborn children super powers. By the end of the series, the last surviving member of The Specials (who now has all the energy of all the deceased specials combined) has built a spacecraft, and uses it to find another inhabited world and crashes down like a fireball, starting the whole process over again.
52	* ''ComicBook/TheSanctuaryTree'': The story begins with Donald in a tree, and a fat female guard below, furious, making threats. The story ends with Donald once again in the same tree, trapped by the same guard, but this time, with her madly in love with him and making promises of love.
53	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', more subtly than most examples, begins and ends on the words "wake up".[[note]]Well, discounting the three "epilogue" issues following ''The Wake''.[[/note]]
54	* ''ComicBook/HowlingCommandos'': In an odd meta example, the first run began and ended with the same ''story'', as the last issue reprinted the story from their debut.
55	* ''ComicBook/SheHulk'': The second run of ''ComicBook/TheSensationalSheHulk'' (basically Creator/JohnByrne's run) has the first cover telling readers that if they don't buy her comic, she's coming over to their house and ripping up their ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics. The final issue's cover has her telling them to hand them over.
56	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' begins and climaxes with Boomerang throwing a baseball game and being forced to become a criminal. Notably, the two events are similar but end up having completely different meanings; the first time was his StartOfDarkness, but the second time serves as his ultimate failure to escape the supervillain lifestyle.
57	* ''ComicBook/StarTrekDebtOfHonor'' begins and ends with Kirk going out boating with Dr. Gillian Taylor from ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', who is still working with the humpback whales they rescued and brought to the future to repopulate the species. Gracie the whale has her baby in the epilogue.
58	* ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'': The first and last issues have nearly the same covers; the first showing Francine and Katchoo in an art gallery as young girls, and the last issue showing them in the same pose as mature women.
59	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
60	** Sterling Gates started and ended [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 his run]] by using a Cat Grant news piece. In the first issue, Cat wrote an article titled: "Why the World Doesn't Need a Supergirl". At the end of the final storyline ''ComicBook/DayOfTheDollmaker'', she wrote a reluctant recantation: "The world needs a Supergirl".
61	** In the cover of the first issue of the 1996 book, main character Linda is holding her skateboard. In the last panel of final storyline ''ComicBook/ManyHappyReturns'', ComicBook/LoisLane is holding it.
62	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
63	** ''ComicBook/TheKryptonChronicles'' reveals the first Kryptonian born with the surname El was named Kal. His great descendant and last male of his House, Superman, was named Kal-El after him.
64	** At the beginning of ''ComicBook/NewKrypton'', ComicBook/LoisLane is placing flowers at her father's grave as her sister Lucy reminds her angrily that Sam Lane never liked flowers. At the final issue, Lois visits her father's grave again. When asked why she didn't bring flowers she replies her father didn't like them and doesn't deserve them.
65	** In ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' the story begins with Superman in a Black-Mercy-induced fantasy which ends with the words "he is content." The last scene in the story is Mongul now in a Black-Mercy-induced fantasy which ends with the words "he is content."
66	** ''ComicBook/TheGreatPhantomPeril'': In the second chapter, the narration box points out that "We started this episode at the Fortress of Solitude— and that's where we end it!"
67	** ''ComicBook/LetMyPeopleGrow'': Many fans tend to regard the Bottle City of Kandor's shrinking (''ComicBook/TheSuperDuelInSpace'', 1958) and enlarging (''ComicBook/LetMyPeopleGrow'' 1973) as bookends for Superman's Silver Age.
68	** "ComicBook/LuthorUnleashed": The first and final pages feature an upset Superman flying away in the aftermath of a battle, as a bruised Luthor crawls out of the wreckage, pondering he has been pushed beyond his limit and swearing revenge.
69	* ''ComicBook/ThroughTheWoods'': "A Lady's Hands Are Cold" begins and ends with the same verse, except the last lines are changed.
70	-->''There was a girl\
71	& there was a man\
72	And there was the girl's father\
73	Who said, "You will marry this man."''\
74	…\
75	''There was a girl\
76	And there was a man.\
77	And there was a lady with cold hands.''
78	* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': ''Tintin and the Picaros'' uses two very similar panels to show that despite [[spoiler:Alcazar's regime replacing Tapioca's]], nothing has changed for the ordinary people.
79	* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': ''Titans'' #15 has [[http://g.imagehost.org/view/0920/01_7 this]] example of ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} at the start of the book, an outcast of his people, leading Atlantis, and [[http://g.imagehost.org/view/0207/22_2 Tempest]], Aquaman's former sidekick Aqualad, as an outcast of his people, leading Atlantis.
80	* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': An early panel has Cyclonus hug Whirl in order to whisper a death threat to him so Rodimus won't hear. The panel is replicated in reverse at the DistantFinale of ''Lost Light'', with Whirl hugging Cyclonus -- but sincerely, this time, when Cyclonus offers him lodgings.
81	* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'': The first issue is Spider driving down from the mountain, the last issue is Royce driving up the mountain. Some of the panels are staged almost identically, with Royce in Spider's place. Additionally, it incorporates an off panel BrickJoke involving a beating Spider promised to a [[AssholeVictim tollbooth attendant]] in Issue 1.
82	* In-story example in Creator/EdwardGorey's illustrated short ''The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel.'' The titular author, C(lavius) F(rederick) Earbrass, begins the first draft of the manuscript for ''The Unstrung Harp'' with "It had begun to snow" and finishes with "It was still snowing."
83	* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'':
84	** The story begins and ends with a red-stained smiley. (And every chapter ends with a panel visually reminiscent of the first panel of the chapter.)
85	** The first and last chapter feature the death of a main character: [[spoiler:The Comedian and Rorschach]], respectively.
86	* ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'': A one-issue set of bookends happened in issue #5, the first part of The Phantom Affair arc. [[http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/8814/blz02ps6.jpg "When you are a child]], the world is full of wonders. [[http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/7556/blz03ws7.jpg When you grow up]], though, wonders tend to have more mundane explanations." [[http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5400/blz25fd4.jpg "The world is]] full of wonders when you're a child. But sometimes, just sometimes, even a grown-up can meet with one."
87	* ''ComicBook/YTheLastMan'': The first issue begins with Yorick in a straitjacket (practicing to be an escape artist) while on the phone with his girlfriend, asking her if she knew that Elvis had a stillborn twin brother. In the last issue, he poses the same question to [[spoiler: one of his clones, who doesn't even know who Elvis is]]. He's in a straitjacket again, this time because [[spoiler: he's been placed on suicide watch]].
88	----

Context BookEnds / ComicBooks