Downer Ending / Comic Books

"I don't need to know the future. When the future is over, then it's me."

— Death, The Sandman

WARNING: As an ending trope, every example is a spoiler. Read at your own risk!

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The following have their own pages:

• Crossed
• The DCU
• Marvel Universe

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Other Comics

• Astro City:
  • "Her Dark Plastic Roots" ends on a fairly down note. Beautie is no closer to learning her origins, and while she is feeling fulfilled at the moment, she will eventually begin re-questioning herself and will go through another cycle of investigation to re-learn who her creator, Elaine Girbachs, is. Worse, there's no indication that Elaine has taken any of MPH's advice to heart, so she could very well dismiss Beautie once more and perpetuate their cycle of pain.
  • The "Lover's Quarrel" story arc ends on this: Crackerjack has been badly injured and probably crippled for life, the Big Bad who injured him has escaped, and the whole thing was a futile effort for Crackerjack to rejuvenate himself. The only bright spot is that Quarrel has begun to reconcile with her father, and she's giving herself a new purpose in life by tending to Crackerjack's rehabilitation.
  • "What I Did On My Vacation"/"The Other Side of the Story" has a bleak ending with no easy comfort. The Johnson family finally learns that the original Jack-in-the-Box died in a Suicide Attack by his longtime foe Mister Drama. But it's worse for Francesca Darman, a.k.a. the Drama Queen — she had spent decades plotting revenge on Jack-in-the-Box for the death of her grandfather, only to learn that Jack wasn't to blame and that all of her family's emotional pain and suffering was self-inflicted. She survives an attempt to kill herself, but it's unclear if she will ever wake up from her coma, much less make anything close to a recovery.
  • "The Day the Music Died" is a downer on both a narrative and a metaphorical level. The story is Exactly What It Says on the Tin — Glamorax, the current spirit of counterculture music, dies — and there's no sign that it will return. The story also challenges the reader to think about the topic on a metaphysical level, asking if the Real Life spark of musical expressionism has been snuffed out by the industry's overuse of targeted markets, micro-niches, and brand management.
• A Walk Through Hell: Shaw, McGregor, their co-workers and their boss are all left in hell to suffer horribly, Carnahan gets away scot-free to continue his plans to destroy humanity, and the world at large is already terrible and full of enough evil to welcome him.
• Jeff Smith's Bone has sort of a bittersweet ending, but Thorn saying her goodbye to Fone Bone, which almost seems like a permanent goodbye, makes people tear up for sure.
  • The prequel miniseries, Rose awkwardly tries to disguise the downer aspect, but the ending is sad because Rose must kill the first living being she sees after killing Balsaad and has every reason to kill Briar, her sister, but instead, Briar tells Rose that she does not serve the Locust and the Locust was controlling her. Thus, Rose spares her sister's life and instead kills one of her own beloved pet dogs. Cue the townspeople cheering on Rose for killing Balsaad. Plus, the fact that Rose spared Briar allows Briar to continue to help out her charming friend the Locust in emerging into and destroying the physical world. This also allows Briar to kill Rose's beloved daughter and son-in-law in the future.
    • Though, in a Fridge Logic kind of way, Briar's life being spared is a good thing, because if Briar was dead, Thorn would become the Locust's new helper, the Bones would most likely have never traveled to the valley at all, and overall, the events of Bone that would lead to the destruction of the Locust wouldn't happen and it would instead stay alive and have more chances to escape the spirit world.
• Boxers & Saints:
  • In Boxers, since it's the story of the Boxer rebellion from the Boxers' point of view.The last image is Little Bao lying on the ground, bleeding out, as he sees the gods of the opera drift away.
  • In Saints, Vibiana is slain along with local Christians as she refuses to denounce her faith, with her last witness to Joan's spirit is of her being burned at the stake.
• Warren Ellis' Zombie Apocalypse miniseries Black Gas ends with every protagonist dead, New York City nuked, and the titular zombifying gas implied to spread across the entire world.
• The ending to the second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen can be seen as this. The Martians are defeated, but with a deadly disease hybrid that wipes out many citizens in London (which is covered up by the government). Griffin and Jekyll/Hyde are dead, Nemo leaves the group in fury of the government's methods, and some time later, Mina leaves Quatermain to stay at a women's colony. The last panel shows us Quatermain, sitting alone in Hyde Park.
  • Things get better from there - Mina and Allan reunite, as seen in The New Traveler's Almanac and The Black Dossier, and eventually escape to the Blazing World with the Dossier.
  • And just as quickly, things have fallen apart again. The end of Century: 1969 mirrors the ending of Volume 2, but manages to come off as even more depressing. The villain escapes, Mina is dragged away to an insane asylum , and in a flash forward eight years, Quartermain is once again left completely alone, only this time his situation is even more dire. He's a shell of his former self, a miserable junkie once more, and completely lost without Mina, who is still locked away. The book ends with his only remaining friend Orlando leaving him, disgusted at what he's become.
  • Confirmed at the end of Century: 2009: Allan's dead, Mina and Orlando are still utterly burned out by Who Wants to Live Forever?, and while the Antichrist was destroyed by a benevolent Eldritch Abomination, the League Britain is still an incredibly grim place.
• Cerebus the Aardvark: "Help, God! The light has got Cerebus!" To elaborate: In the final issue, Cerebus dies alone, unmourned, and unloved, just as The Judge had predicted, and left the world undoubtedly a worse place through his actions. After seeing almost every important character in what appears to be the light of Heaven, and especially his three favorite people (Bear, Jaka, and Ham Ernestway), he begins to ascend into the light. However, when he notices the absence of Rick, he suspects that the Light is actually the YHWH, the opposite of God, trying to lure him in to Hell instead. He tries to escape, and futilely calls to god to save him, but is ultimately dragged screaming in to the light and disappears.
• Demo: Several of the tales end on fairly bleak notes.
  • "Emmy" is on the run after accidentally killing an Asshole Victim with her Compelling Voice. It's also implied that she may have performed a Mercy Kill to her unresponsive mother, having realised that she can no longer take care of her any more.
  • "Girl You Want". Kate finds out that her crush is a mother, and that she didn't know her any better than anyone else knew Kate.
  • "One Shot, Don't Miss" John is discharged from the army, having realised that he just doesn't want to be a killer, no matter how suited he is to the role and how other want him to be one. He returns home with his morals intact, and finds his newborn daughter, but his wife now hates him since they had sunk all the money they had earned and borrowed into the army position, and now have no stable source of income, and no suitable way to get him into college.
  • "Damaged" Thomas dies in a car accident, having found out minutes prior that the woman who had been giving advice to him was a con artist who's seeming omniscience was due to having spied on him for a while beforehand. The lone bright spot is that the unnamed con artist, guilt-ridden, meets with Thomas' mother to give some comfort and the money she had gained in the scam.
  • "Pangs" The cannibal protagonist gives in to his urges again, with the implication that he'll either kill and eat his date, or introduce her to his new diet.
• The first two Atavar arcs ended on severe downers.
  1. Atavar and a small group of Kalen manage to penetrate to the heart of UOS node, and the UOS begin communicating with Atavar. They claim they are actually a servitor race, looking for a species to obey, and their war with the Kalen is simply an attempt to protect themselves from a hostile aggressor species. Atavar kills the Kalen with him to prevent them exterminating the UOS... only for it to be revealed that they were lying, the UOS really are evil, and Atavar has just doomed the Kalen.
  2. Atavar and Worldbreaker enter the heart of the Wosk's 'God', which is actually a galactic cancer. Worldbreaker is killed and Atavar's vessel is overridden by zombie Wosks; his weapons are disabled and he doesn't have enough energy or fuel to escape.
• The original Marvel comics G.I. Joe series ran into this due to its cancellation, as it ended pretty much just as Cobra Commander had gone about kidnapping and brainwashing just about everyone who had ever worked for him, including Noble Demon Destro, The Atoner Zartan, well-on-her-way to a Heel–Face Turn Baroness, and flat-out heroic characters Storm Shadow and Billy. The brainwashing method used on the last three basically involved torturing them until they gave in. Did I mention that Billy is Cobra Commander's son?
• Rare for the franchise in general, the Doctor Who Magazine comic "The End Of The Line" features the 4th Doctor attempting to save a group of humans in a devastated England from mutated cannibals by helping them restart the Underground trains so they can escape to a station long prophesied to be an idyllic countryside, free of radiation and danger. The Doctor's own presence brings the cannibals right to the survivors' secret base, but he manages to mostly start the trains and escape in the TARDIS (a surprisingly dick move for the usually noble Doctor) as the last humans struggle to save themselves. He arrives at the station to find out it's simply a doorway to the Underground surrounded by radioactive wastes, and would serve the survivors no better than the city if not kill them outright. Still, he sits and waits for them. After some time passes, the train does not appear; noting that acid rain is preparing to fall, The Doctor turns and leaves without further comment. (And no, this story was never picked up again.)
• Flight (2004): Several stories in the anthology comic are brutal TearJerkers:
  • The Forever Box has a girl step into the titular box, which can put someone into a long trance to wake up in the far future, after losing her brothers in a car accident. She gets locked in and undergoes a centuries long sleep before awaking in a future world where she meets a kind museum employee and starts a new life. Except not, this is all a dream. She's still in the box, buried deep beneath the ruins of Toronto, probably never to be found, and assuming she does wake up, she'll die alone underground.
  • Food From The Sea has the main characters mutate into sea monsters in competition for the produce market of their island. Both are dragged beneath the sea to die in a brutal fight, and the island goes on to prosper off bamboo, forgetting them completely. This would be a happy ending if you ignore that two women mutated and died horribly after a pointless feud.
  • Polaris has the entire Earth drowned by the rising seas. The last girl on earth, who can fly, makes a wish to the Star Polaris to be with her mother. She gets her wish as the seas envelop her, and she dies seeing herself and mommy flying into heaven.
  • A more mundane one happens in another story where a guy runs out after a fight with his girlfriend. As he walks about town, he remembers the first time he met her, and soon his love is rekindled. Running home in excitement, all he finds is a note that says "Goodbye" and is left miserable in an empty house.
• The Goddamned: Before the Flood ends with Noah dying before he could build his Ark before the Flood. Cain's hope of a Nephilim ending his life proves fruitless, and while regains his will to live at the thought of staying with Aga and Lodo, Lodo kills Aga after his time as Noah's slave corrupts him. Cain is now back to square one: alone and unable to end his misery in a hopelessly unforgiving world.
• Frank Miller's Hard Boiled ends with the protagonist, a robotic assassin who thinks he's human, slaughtering most of the security forces of the corporation that created him only to end up almost completely destroyed, and ends up being put back together, having his memory reset, and returning to his (fake) family none the wiser about his true nature. Also, he happened to be the only hope for a planned revolution that would have freed all other robots from slavery, a plan which falls apart with his defeat, and prompts the revolution's leader to kill herself by overloading her own circuits.
• Supergod: Just when it looks like the last remaining Supergods have reached a truce, Daijal self-destructs, destroying practically all of Earth's Eastern Hemisphere. With all the other Supergods dead, Morrigan Lugus is able to spread its spores across the planet. The few survivors are left cowering in bunkers, and it's clear that they're only delaying the inevitable.
• Gotham Central. Crispus Allen is dead, his murderer gets away with it, his partner, Renee Montoya, is left a drunken, violent, mess who can't handle police work anymore, the corruption continues and all the MCU cops can do is watch it happen.
• Star Wars: Dark Times: The Path to Nowhere is disturbing. Bomo Greenbark and his new comrades set out to save his wife and daughter from slavery. At the slave pits they learn that the daughter has already been sold; his wife tried to protect her and was killed. The group is unable to free the remaining slaves, either. Eventually, they manage to track down the man who purchased the daughter, only to learn he has … eaten her. And then Dass Jennir – the Jedi of all people – kills him on the spot, alienating Bomo who would have preferred avenging her death himself.
• Asterix and Obelix's Birthday has a Flash Forward set fifty years in the future. Things are mostly quite peaceful, but the Romans have deforested the area, meaning they have to rely on buying Roman food instead of hunting, and Asterix's son, Obelix's daughter and their children are culturally very Romanised as a result. The invasive Roman camps have developed into new, Roman towns, while the village is structurally falling apart because the Romans have no interest in going anywhere near it any more. Of course this is all pretty much inevitable, with the historical Gauls living as they did. In the end they cause a reset when Obelix punches Albert Uderzo in the face, but there's every indication that this future is exactly what would happen if the series wasn't Frozen in Time.
• In When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, a retired couple attempt to prepare for an impending nuclear holocaust by following the advice given in various official leaflets. However, though they both grew up during World War II, they are unaware of the long term effects of a nuclear war and think life will soon get back to normal. The story ends with both of them fatally ill with radiation poisoning.
• Kick-Ass:
  • By the end of Volume One, becoming Kick-Ass has arguably made Dave's life worse. On top of that, he's now got an arch nemesis who wants him dead.
  • In Volume Two, Dave's dad is murdered in Issue 5 and his funeral is bombed. Worse still, Mindy is in jail and Vic Gigante earns a high post at the NYPD.
• Idées Noires: Perhaps the best example. All the gags in this comic strip are Black Comedy about stuff that worry and depress most people: suicide, fear of world war, fear of the bomb, fear of nuclear power, fear of epidemics, ... but also fantastical After the End jokes, Take That! comedy aimed at hunters, the death penalty and jokes about bizarre monsters. Nevertheless nearly all of them have a cynical downer ending.
• Judge Dredd: The conclusion to the "Day of Chaos" arc probably has the most depressing ending of any of the mega epics. After all of Justice Department's efforts to stop the Fourth Faction's plans, a combination of carelessness on their parts, bad luck striking multiple times, and the enemy's efficiency leads to the spread of a deadly plague inside Mega City One, culminating in the near-complete destruction of the city. Dredd can only salvage what's left as he sees his city dying before his eyes.
• There were very few truly happy endings in Misty. Usually, the best anyone could hope for was a Bittersweet Ending.
• Khaal: The Chronicles of a Galactic Emperor ends with the bad guy winning in the most depressing fashion, in this case its the eponymous Villain Protagonist getting everything he wants and then some. Khaal gains ultimate power, uncontested control and gets all his rivals killed by the end. He subjects his two brothers (the most sympathetic characters in the comic) to A Fate Worse Than Death to ensure his continued survival as their lifeforce is tied to his own meaning if they die, so does him. Khaal then invades planet Earth and and successfully conquers it, becoming a God-Emperor.
• The final arc of Plainswalkers, the sequel series to BUBBLE Comics's Friar, sees its hero, Andrey Radov, undergo a Heel–Face Turn after the death of his wife and declare that he will bring an end to all magic, everywhere. The end result: the destruction of a thousand magical worlds, countless lives across the dimensions, and the Radov family legacy — something that even Andrey's greatest enemy (who is stunned by his actions) couldn't accomplish. Andrey finally realizes the enormity of his actions, decides that Death Is the Only Option, and tries to goad his closest friend, Danila, into killing him. Danila realizes what he's doing, but goes through with it anyway. The comic ends with Andrey's mother and sister visiting Andrey's grave, while Danila sits alone at the bar where he and Andrey used to hang out, completely dejected and grief-stricken.
  • The finale of Demonslayer: Second Wind (Danila's own series) fixes the downer ending, by having Danila essentially take over the role of God and recreate the universe — sans magic, and with his deceased friends alive and well.
• Plutona: The attempt to steal Plutona's powers fails. The kids discover the plan and punish the perpetrator, escalating into a mortal wound. Plutona wakes up just in time to tell the kids to screw off and leave while their friend dies. They bury the body in the woods and never tell anyone.
• In the independent comic book Mama! Dramas, one story called “Leisurely Welfare Living” ends this way. After going through a Trauma Conga Line of financial hardship and humiliation (including being shamed by her caseworker, taking a retail job that barely covers the basics, no support from her ex husband and having to move to a bad neighborhood), single mother Mary is living in a run down house, her check is late and she has no food to feed her children. When she calls Social Services, the Jerkass caseworker yells at her for being ungrateful as she breaks down crying. The end.
• In The Sanctuary Tree: The fat female guard of the beginning of history ends up taking the love potion that Donald Duck was planning to use in Daisy. She ends up falling madly in love with him and the two are caught hugging and kissing by Daisy. She believes he is cheating on her with another woman and ends their relationship once and for all. The story ends with the horrified Donald running away from the guard and trapped in the same tree of the beginning of the plot, with no chance of escape.
• Star Wars Jedi Vs Sith recounts how the Jedi defeated the Sith for a thousand years, but there are no victors. Kind and honorable Lord Hoth sacrifices himself alongside his men to defeat the insane lord Kaan, but Kaan's final crime ensures that their souls will suffer a torturous hell for a thousand years. Young and innocent Harodin is crushed by falling rocks, his cousin Darovit is so horrified by the realities of war that he becomes a lone hermit, and sweet little Raine is found on the battlefield by Darth Bane, who will turn her into a murderous psychopath.
  All of them... All the lords, all the jedi and all of the sith... All gone.
• Most stories in Inspector Canardo tend to end on a sour, if not downright tragic, note.
• Sandcastle: Everyone inevitably dies of old age on the beach. Zoe and Louis’s daughter is the last surviving person, though in the body of a 50 year old and will inevitably age to death as well. The last scene shows her building a sandcastle.
• The Unfunnies: Troy Hicks succeeds in the ritual to keep him in the world of The Funnies, where he becomes an omnipotent god. The police department that tries to stop him are slaughtered, and he grants Birdseed Betty's family one small bit of happiness before crushing them all with a giant anvil. Meanwhile, poor Frosty Pete is stuck in Hicks' original body, awaiting execution by electric chair.
• Doméstico: The girl he was trying to win over ignores him and calls him crazy. The guy he tries to defeat beats him up easily. The people from the Asylum find him (thanks to his friend betraying him) and lock him up again.
• Laika: The Russian scientists successfully launch Sputnik 2 with Laika in it, but she dies a painful death in less than four hours from overheating in the capsule. Yelena, her primary caretaker, is heartbroken and quits the space program. Still, Laika lives on in the memories of those who loved her, including Liliana the little girl who was her first owner. As the author's notes reveal, even the scientific value of Sputnik 2 was minimal, meaning Laika's death could have been prevented if Khrushchev had not insisted on Sputnik 2 being finished in time for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution.
  Oleg Gazenko, in 1998: Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.

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