Tear Jerker / JL8

• This strip.◊ "My parents are dead" indeed.
  • At Diana's birthday party, when her mother comments on Bruce having done his research on the family, he mentions that he "was caught unprepared once and swore it would never happen again". It kind of puts his Crazy-Prepared mentality in a new light.
  • A very subtle example occurs in the first panel of this strip, when Bruce says "There's nothing to do. Besides, it's almost bedtime. [slight pause] For you guys, anyway", with a slightly-pained expression on his face, which may at first appear to be caused (only) by his boredom. However, because of how comics work, his expression could just as (or even more) easily be caused by his remark about bedtimes, in which case he seems to be implying that he wishes he still had one, because that would mean that his parents were still alive to assign him one (and perhaps that he's slightly jealous of his friends for having bedtimes, and, by extension, parents). This can also count as Fridge Horror, depending on how long it takes you to realize it.
• Diana telling Clark "You're like the brother I never had, thank you". Clark just replies "anything for a friend", while looking at a training dummy with a sword through its heart.
  • Similarly, this bit with Power Girl looking on. All Love Is Unrequited indeed.
  • Clark abandoning his homemade gift for Diana, swapping it out with a book he purchased, in order to avoid breaking Karen's heart and possibly ruining Karen and Diana's friendship.
• Daniel's appearance in #79 caused more than a few tears to be shed.
• Bruce reliving his parents' murders when J'onn tries proving they found Bigfoot. Also the next strip where J'onn breaks down because of it.
  • The way it's presented makes it especially shocking and tragic. Most versions of the Wayne deaths are expected and appear relatively early in whatever adaptation. Strip 260 starts out like any other, looking like it's going to simply solve the problem of convincing Bruce that they really did find Bigfoot. Bruce and J'onn's parallel looks of horror sell it, especially J'onn's broken "This isn't...this isn't...I don't know." Up to this moment, the comic had mostly implied anything remotely close to this dark, so it comes out of nowhere. It really sells how abrupt, unexpected, and shocking the event was for Bruce in a way that few other adaptations really can.