Moments where a character has to hide the warning signs of abuse at the hands of parents/guardians and mean teachers from authority figures and friends in Webcomics.
- In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, the Doc and Gordito use this excuse
after Gordito learns of Dr. McNinja's trained waking reflexes. - Inverted beautifully in this Ansem Retort strip.
- In Bigger Than Cheeses one character gets beaten by his wife and tries to tell his friend:I fell down some stairs. Stairs filled with doorknobs. Doorknobs shaped like fists?
- In Bob and George, this is used after a plot device revives dead characters in the Rockman Universe. Bob tells Rock and Dr. Light that they fell down. Rock then questions if Roll fell up, as she's tied to the ceiling. Bob responses that he put her up there to prevent her from falling down.
- Bug Martini once postulated that people whose spouses really do get black eyes from running into doors might have to claim those spouses were evil enough to be worth abusing.
- In Darths & Droids, the alien Tion Medon's ghastly facial features are explained away as a "shaving accident".
- At one point in 8-Bit Theater, Black Mage gets fed up with Fighter and stabs Fight an inordinate amount of times. When another character asks Black Mage what happened to Fighter, Black Mages says that fighter tripped and accidentally fell on his knife. The incredulous questioner asks Black Mage how Fighter managed to do that 'forty-seven times.'
- Jupiter-Men: After showing up to his own birthday party with bandages around his waist and a hole burned in his shirt from taking an Elemental Punch, Arrio explains it away as a fryer accident from work when asked about it.
- Least I Could Do:
- Defied…Rayne: I fell down some stairs.
Noel: No he didn't. I beat the shit out of him with a smile on my face. - And played straighter earlier when Rayne has slept with a blonde that was into rough sex, and goes to his mother for comfort.Rayne: I fell down the stairs. Some angry and physically abusive stairs. During sex.
- Defied…
- Parodied in this strip of Looking for Group. Richard lights a pirate on fire. When the captain asks him what happened, he (and the pirate) swear that the third-degree burns came from a fall down the stairs.
- Subverted in Questionable Content, where Hannelore really does just bump her head. The officer has good reason to be concerned, though.Hannelore: No, no! I'm fine, really! I don't need to go to the police station!
Dora: C'mon, officer, you're just freakin' her out more. She really did hit her head.
Officer: Ma'am, this young lady just ran down Main Street covered in blood and screaming. That's normally the kind of thing that arouses suspicion. - Used in Sam & Fuzzy. Noosehead's manager claims he cut himself shaving. With a katana.
