"Reasons Hot Dogs Are Amazing: 1. You can eat them almost every day 2. They taste the way they smell 3. They can be fun! 4. Sometimes, it's hard to be alone in the world 5. ..."
This comic, where the beleaguered single male callboy at Nerdrotica who finds out that one of his regular callers is an old man who uses the service as a method of recalling memories of his deceased male lover.
The whole flashback of Scotty's last day, especially this comic, in which Davan pours his heart out to Scotty over the phone, coupled with Mr. Harris knocking on his son's door, wanting to talk to him, when you know how it's going to end. And at the end, just... Ow, my heartstrings.
Davan: I never knew my half-brother, but I'd like to think you were sort of sent to me in his stead.
This Erfworld comic. It's because Grey and Grey Morality of the setting that makes you root for the both sides. And then you realise it's the Pacifist of "Bad" side doing the deed. And all the main protagonist knows about it all is this message from said pacificst: "Im In Ur Dirtz: We broke the leadership.". Baaaw!
Nana's Everyday Life. You don't even need to know the series to end up a snivelling wreck by the end of it. Compared to Nana's Everyday Life, Elfen Lied is straight-up comedy. Let that sink in for a while.
This strip. Black Mage finally achieves his dreams of becoming the most powerful evil force in the universe...and then the one being he's ever loved shows up out of nowhere, right into his line of fire, and he apparently kills her. And then, to add insult to injury, Fighter finally gets the picture that BM is evil and blames him for the one atrocity he didn't mean to commit.
Another one? Warbot is made to kick you in the gut at least once every comic.
The penultimate strip of The Last Days of Foxhound. After 500 strips of watching and getting to know and love them, the final, silent images of the team's dead bodies is heartbreaking (though it does have warning. Being a Foregone Conclusion doesn't make it easier.
Sniper Wolf and Berthold
Big Boss's explanation of The Boss's death, and Liquid's highly emotional reaction to it.
Big Boss: You understand now? I had to kill the greatest hero of the modern era because the factions of Philosophers were fighting over money. Liquid Snake: But you burned those sons of bitches right? Tell me you went home and SKULLFUCKED every last one of them!
Link has now been updated to one that works. In case you weren't bawling already, the ones focusing on named people were all true stories - the artist took news stories and put them in comic form. Eyes are moist on the first one, wet on the second, and the waterworks break by the 4th or 5th.
Even more painful: Anna collecting the ashes and visibly starting to fall apart emotionally.
Also: Hennya's death in Abel's Story.
The tragic story of Aniz and Destania after the death of Siar, Aniz's clan leader, and the rest of the clan.
When Abel visits his dying mother at the hospital and she stays alive just long enough to tell him that she always loved him before passing away was especially potent for readers who have been in similar situations with their relatives.
Also when Fumbles is begging the Goblin Slayer to let him go
And in this and this strip. Anything with those two is a tearjerker. This will make you cry of relief when they find each other again. Also doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
...Chief's death. After being tortured by Kore, Complains struggles to save him while Ears and Thaco try to defeat the Complete Monster. However...he can't stop Chief's bleeding...and...he grasps Complain's face...and dies after getting the -10 thing...you feel like crying as well, just like Complains...
The fact that his last act is to weakly and pathetically reach for Complains, as if begging for comfort in his final moments, easily clinches the tragedy of the moment.
The death of younger Sheena. As the ROM they were in collapsed, the heroes were stranded in a mess of garbled coding, glitching the game up and costing Sheena's life. Seeing her newfound sister fade away, Sheena dropped to the ground. "She's gone..."
Bogey realizing he was useless and in the way on their missions, unable to do anything aside from get himself killed, and becoming an increasingly minor character as he pondered his usefulness. That combined with the fact that he was actually in love with Sheena, but could see she and Radd were meant for each other. ** Sheena realizing she loves Radd and wanting them to be together, but being afraid it was their programming speaking. Afterwards, she realizes that regardless of programming, she'd have fallen for him all along.
Back to Bogey, the second one is made even worse by his Heroic Sacrifice. Radd is losing in the final battle against the Seer. One more hit and he's dead, permanently. The Seer is about to use his most powerful move yet, to wipe out Radd and everyone else. Bogey is trapped in there with them, watching unnoticed from the sidelines. He makes his appearance, reminding Radd that he could get a full life meter from killing the most common enemy in his game...a Bogey. At first Radd refuses to do this, but realizes he has to. Despite all his fighting, Bogey dies the hopeless death of an enemy sprite. Or does he?
The ending, too. Possibly the best webcomic ending out there.
The fact that Bogey nearly forced Radd to kill him. Bogey says something along the lines of, "I understand.", walks away, and suddenly runs back and tries attacking Radd. Radd blocks it... And kills Bogey in the process. *sniff*
ThisDarthsand Droids strip. Which is strange, considering a) we knew it was coming, b) the character himself is still alive, because c) it's a comedic rpg. Talented webcomic artists.
The moment in MegaTokyo where Largo and Erika have an argument, and Largo gets depressed enough to actually manage to drink himself into a drunken stupor is strangely heartbreaking.
This non-story comic. "A Failure Of Conscience", indeed.
The omake chapter "Circuity" [1]. "I said I'd push back the wind for you!"...
Made even better by "Circuity: Rewound", a rewrite and update of the omake Fred did for the 4th volume.
Questionable Content does this starting with strip number 500. Faye's Dad's death
These twostrips. Say what you will about Marten and Dora's relationship, but seeing it come to an end after so long was pretty heartbreaking.
That last line before Marten closed the door was just such an awful way to put it, it conveyed how hurt he was and was actually horribly true at the same time. That one line matched the angst of this strip right after it.
The death of Thor in Brat-halla. Admittedly, it's in a story set in the future so the character isn't actually dead "yet," and it's really a case of Foregone Conclusion, but the sheer unstoppable inevitability of it.
Welcome to Norse Mythology! We're all just killing time until the end of the world!
Several in YU+ME: dream , such as how Fiona's mom died and tried to kill her in the process, the big revelation that it's all Just A Dream, and especially when it's revealed that Lia broke all the rules just to be able to truly meet Fiona and is currently being imprisoned/tortured/raped/some other form of horrible treatment because of it.
Penny Arcade: The last panel of this strip always gets me bawling.
When you realize what happens to the two of them, this strip turns on the waterworks.
Some of Tycho's words after the birth of his daughter are tearjerking and heartwarming at the same time.
"I need you to be thus armed because I fear your mother and I have played a trick on you; we have brought you to a place where hidden weaponry is sometimes necessary. In our defense, and I recognize that it may be insufficient, this was the only world available to us."
Bogroll's death in Erfworld, that is all. It's only after his Heroic Sacrifice (shouting "For Lord Hamster!!", no less) that you realize how much you rooted for him. And it gets worse, when Parson shows his Not So Stoic side at the news...
And Vinny crying at Prince Ansom's death kinda stabbed me in the heart.
For a lot of people this is the first Minus. strip they saw. Without context, the last panel is an absolutely heartrending statement of defiance and serenity. The whole world is falling apart and she's just standing there, waiting to take a swing at that asteroid.
Grim Tales From Down Below fits one in too, after Grim Jr. lashes out at Mini Mandy for saving his life, you can see how crushed Mini Mandy is, one page later, she is RIPPED INTO PIECES BY THE PUMPKINATOR, and another page later, Lock, Shock, and Barrel are horrified, unlike Oogie, who is laughing in pure glee, and after Junior Took a Level in Badass, the Redeemer comes and takes Mini Mandy to heaven, she gives Junior one last kiss, in my opinion, merging Tear Jerker AND Nightmare Fuel together PERFECTLY.
Riff finally comes face-to-face with her empty shell of a body, his alternate self trying to convince him she's brain-dead.
He goes back in time to save her, betraying his new friends, only to be told by his alternate self it's impossible; meanwhile, she wakes up briefly and goes back to sleep, blissfully unaware that she'll be dead in a matter of hours.
Fans! has a few, notably from the God-Machine arc;
"Save Draft. That paragraph stays." Context; Shanna is writing about this adventure four years after the fact, and up to this moment, we don't know whether Will survived the final battle.
This comic. Sure, yukkuris are supposed to be either funny or annoying, but this...Abusive Parents, Family Unfriendly Death, and the scene where Alice goes out into the rain to stay with her Mommie... Although, the parts where the Mommie realizes how much Alice loves her, in turn realizing how much she loves Alice and her sisters, and Alice, her sisters, and Mommie being happily reunited in the after life, at least provides a Bitter Sweet Ending.
Nature of Nature\'s Art. Ending of the first arc, as Quintet repeatedly attacks Meander's living body, now fully facing the fact that Meander, her best friend, is dead and all that's left is a vacuous animal with only the slightest snippets of memory making him keep near to her. Then, as he runs off into the wild, away from his friend that his vacuous animal brain can't understand why she was attacking him, we are left with a quote from him from near the beginning of the story. Then we have the end of the second arc which is going on now, what is it with nofna and best friend death anyway?
The second arc is worse than that. It's revealed that XZ (formerly known as Nutsedge) has been constantly bombarded with sexism, leading to her decision to quit the college. This is revealed through SV's nightmarish power - and then SV beats her to death. If that wasn't enough, right after this No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, he realises that he's dying, and as he writes his story, his monologue reveals the lesson he has learned, and the secret to true happiness... and then, after he dies, when the investigators see his message, it turns out to be illegible, and SV is passed off as a fool who never learned anything! Yes, in the end, SV's efforts were for nothing.
A Running Gag in Achewood is Philippe asking Lie Bot "What is the saddest thing?" and getting an uncharacteristically — and brutally — honest answer. They have generally been intentionally over-the-top, but the first one is legendarily depressing.
"The First Week", from Jenny the Military Spouse. Jenny goes through the first week of her husband's first overseas deployment. All in the form of a happy cheerful helpful guide on how to deal with deployments. It's the implications of Jenny lying wide-awake in bed clenching her blanket it her hands.
The rather...bizarreSugar Babiez has an unexpected one near the end. This comes in the form of Despair, parts one and two. Your Millage May Vary, but the fact that this is that last we see of Jess before the comic ends makes it hit a little harder than it should.
That series seems tailor made to be as saddening as possible. Quite a feat with only a handful of comics to its name.
This entry for an OC tournament left many a person only able to say "...wow" in their comments. The gist of it is both O Cs are dying, one a demon that will eventually be reborn, the other a man that will just simply die. As he's dying, he hopes that they'll be something afterwards. "Something above our heads. Or burning like a bloody furnace below our feet. I'd... I'd take either over nothing at all." The part that will really make the tears flow? There is something. "Welcome to Endrealm."
Although Errant Story has more of the other moments, the page after this one certainly qualifies as a Tear Jerker.
Ace Dick's game of life is an in-story example (with Shout Outs to Batman and Oregon Trail). The reason that the second face of Demonhead Mobster Kingpin could be defeated was because it was so depressing that DMK grew a second emotion meter.
The Super Fogeys has one of the most elegantly sorrowful strips ever, all about getting old.
And again. Dear lord, this much bittersweet should be illegal. For context, Star Maiden stole Spy Gal's boyfriend when they were young, breaking Spy Gal's heart. This is the first time they've confronted each other since.
This collection of minicomics of Pokemon, based on the question of where is Ash's father.
Venus Envy, anyone? Despite being a major exporter of Wangst, there are a good deal of legitimately sad bits.
Richie's rant about how Alex/Zoe is a freak, after she's blackmailed by Principal Darc
The author's personal experience with transphobic violence is easily the worst bit.
And Nina STABBING the protagonist (presumably to death, as the strip ends with Nina standing over a collapsed and stabbed Zoe) is a big example of Anyone Can Die, especially in a formerly lighthearted comic. YMMV as to whether this is Wangst, a Tear Jerker, or even Nightmare Fuel.
Teddy Bear Anti-Christ is usually darkly and morbidly humorous, but this one is sad. Poor Byron.
No Black Plume, with its heavy reliance on black comedy, sometimes skirts with this.
Chapter 28 and 29 (the comic has very short chapters) of Orange Marmalade has Ma-ri, a vampire, have to deal and cope with all the racism around her, coming from all the friends she had been trying so hard to make. It's so heart-breaking when she has to make racist jokes about herself and her family to stop her cover from being blown.
This might be a small one, but in Tales of the Questor Quen breaks down the night after the first time he kills someone. He's a boy who can barely be considered a man, and gets comforted by his mama.
