The Alcoholic / Comic Books

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• In All Star Section Eight, Sixpack drinks a lot, hence his codename.
• The title character of Arne Anka, though as he insists in one of his famous quotes:
  Arne Anka: I'm not having problems with the alcohol, I'm having problems with the reality!
• Asterix:
  • In Asterix and Caesar's Gift, Tremensdelirius (a pun on "delirium tremens", the trembly hallucinations that are a side-effect of withdrawal in an alcoholic), like other legionaries, is awarded a plot of land by Julius Caesar for twenty years of service. But since he spent all twenty of them drunk and publicly insulted Caesar in a fit of Alcohol-Induced Stupidity, Caesar decides to award him the title deed to a certain little Gaulish village. Tremensdelirius sells it to an innkeeper for more wine when he's broke.
  • Tremensdelirius returns in Asterix and the Actress where he has joined Pompey's forces, but his Alcohol-Induced Stupidity completely derails Pompey's plans when he accidentally sets both Caesar and the Gauls on Pompey's trail. At one point he is released from jail and given an alternative punishment: water corvée. He immediately pleads to be sent back to jail as he can't stand water, something his superiors are well aware of.
• Blast: Polza has a long-standing drinking problem that's taken a toll on his physical and mental well-being. He somehow hasn't died from liver failure even though he drinks straight gin everyday and routinely has life-threatening nosebleeds because his blood can't coagulate. Polza rationalizes his constant drinking as a tool for self-discovery on his journey, an idea the detectives are immediately skeptical of.
• Cerebus the Aardvark:
  • Cerebus gets smashed whenever he can, and can knock back prodigious amounts of booze, such as drinking whiskey out of full brandy snifters^note that's at least double the capacity of the standard highball glass and scotch out of buckets. In the early issues, this was usually played for laughs, but by the time Guys came around, the alcohol-based comedy is balanced by playing all the consequences of Cerebus' boozing much more seriously. For instance, Cerebus has to deal with the aftermath of very rude things he says about his former mercenary pal Bear while drunk, and in the middle of a booze pass-out, he tells "Dave" that he just wanted to die.
  • Cirinist society actually enables this trope; unmarried men tend to be sequestered in bars because the state provides free room and board for them and all the alcohol they can handle. The thought process is that they will either get tired of that lifestyle, shape up, and leave to find a wife, or eventually drink themselves to death. The Guys Story Arc is set in a bar and deals with this concept in multiple fashions.
  • In keeping with his real-life basis, F. Stop Kennedy can't stay away from his gin. In Going Home, he spends many evenings on the boat ride with Cerebus and Jaka drunkenly soliloquizing on the roof of his cabin.
• The easiest way to find the town doctor in Copperhead is to check the bar for the drunkest man. He is introduced immediately after the bartender cuts him off, but goes on to competently treat a dying person and claim he's done more complex treatments while drunker.
• Ninjette in Empowered is initially introduced as a comic Hard-Drinking Party Girl but her heavy drinking is treated with increasing seriousness as the comic's Cerebus Syndrome develops. In the "Nine Beers With Ninjette" short it's finally confirmed that she's an alcoholic and knows it.
• Inspector Gill of Fish Police. This is even mentioned in one letters section, where a reader points out that Gill went a whole issue without drinking. Moncuse counters that by saying that the violence and sex in that issue make up for it.
• Howard Nissen from Give Me Liberty, after having to deal with more than fifty separatist movements in the US and his mostly right-wing secretaries actively opposing him. Moretti may also be blamed.
• As Gotham Central progresses Renee Montoya descends further and further into depression as she experiences the violence and corruption of the Gotham City Police Department. After being involuntarily outed by Two-Face, forced to beat up a Corrupt Cop in order to get evidence to exonerate her falsely-implicated partner and experiencing the general events of Gotham City she begins to drink heavily and grows increasingly violent. This is noticed by her girlfriend, Daria Hernandez, and her partner, Crispus Allen, and it looks like she might actually decide to get some counseling to deal with this issue...when Crispus is murdered by Jim Corrigan who then walks on the crime. When her character returns in 52 the creator commentary reveals that she has become an actual alcoholic and has driven away her remaining friends and family.
• Iron Man:
  • Tony Stark went through a serious alcohol problem in the comics, which was treated realistically and respectfully. But thanks to Never Live It Down, this is the default portrayal of him in other media. In the movie, nearly every scene that's not a fight scene has him drinking an alcoholic beverage of some sort. As the sequel was partially an adaptation of the storyline dealing with the drinking problem, it was Foreshadowing.
  • Stark helped Carol Danvers (a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and Captain Marvel) get a handle on her drinking problem. The Ultimate version takes this to the Ultimate extreme. A prime example is this dialogue between Black Widow and Stark:
    Black Widow: Listen... but do you really think it is wise to knock back so many vodkas before you fly that thing?
    Tony Stark: Oh, absolutely, darling. In fact, it's really quite essential... I mean, who in their right mind's going to climb into it sober?
  • Of course, there's a secondary reason for Ultimate Stark's alcoholism: he has an inoperable brain tumor that will kill him in under five years, which means he must be dealing with some massive migraines. Ultimate Stark also has brain tissue all over his body that makes him more intelligent but also causes him to feel constant agony. Wearing a special bio-suit and being plastered 24-7 helps him to cope with it.
• Several in Jack Chick tracts.
  • In "Happy Hour", Jerry ends up spending most of his family's money drinking, causes his wife to die after pushing her over during an argument over his drinking, and uses the grocery money on alcohol. Naturally, while his kids think that he should have died instead of their mother, they end up forgiving him and Christianity is what he needs to get over his alcoholism.
  • In "Tiny Shoes", Juan's alcoholism is the reason why he is unable to keep his promise to buy shoes for his son. After the saloon is destroyed by lightning, he decides to buy the shoes, but by then, Juanito has died of pneumonia after walking out in the rain to search for him.
  • In "Mad Machine", a father and a son go to a facility described to treat alcoholism. The father's told that he'll like it there, but he says that his son is the patient.
• Judge Dredd Megazine: Jack Point carries a hipflask of whiskey everywhere and drinks it at every available opportunity.
• Major Disaster became a serious alcoholic during his time in Justice League Elite. His drinking became so bad that his powers malfunctioned during a particularly disastrous battle with the Justice Society, causing an explosion that nearly killed Hawkgirl. He later became sober after Manitou Raven died protecting him from a bomb.
• Greg Rucka also used this trope with Tara Chace in Queen and Country. Don't misunderstand, Tara is a highly functional alcoholic, but she is definitely an alcoholic. At one point, she is shown having fallen asleep with an empty bottle of whiskey. Another time, she is shown drinking from another bottle of whiskey in the shower. On another occasion, she and a coworker, both already drunk, decide to break into a liquor store to get more alcohol. As much of a badass superspy as Tara may be, she clearly has a huge drinking problem. She does quit drinking after she finds out she is pregnant, however.
• Arsenal from Red Hood and the Outlaws is a recovering one. He laments hanging out in a bar in #4 even though he's only drinking soda.
• Among his many other vices (spousal abuse, rape, hypocritical religious zeal, etc.), Klara Prast's (Runaways) husband was a drunk who often blew her meager wages on alcohol.
• Spider-Man:
  • Flash Thompson's asshole of a father was one, and Flash was too for a while. Flash was smart enough to clean up his act and get help, but sadly, Norman Osborn exploited this in a plot to get revenge on Spidey. At present, it seems Flash is sober, but he has plenty more to worry about..
  • Mary Jane Watson's dad was this too, and it cost him his marriage and the respect of both his daughters, although Mary Jane eventually reconciled with him a little.
  • Also true of Electro's father and probably Dr. Octopus' father, the problem causing both villains to have Abusive Parents and broken homes. To be blunt, as unlucky as he is, Peter Parker had a much better history than most of his foes.
• Casey Sullivan from Sullivan's Sluggers is a pretty heavy drinker, brought on by the end of his baseball career by a ball he failed to catch in 1976.
• Captain Haddock in Tintin. The portrayal is rather horrifying in his first appearance, The Crab with the Golden Claws, where his Alcohol-Induced Idiocy arguably makes him more dangerous to Tintin than the baddies they're fighting. Although often the subject of jokes, readers are left in no doubt that it's an addiction and has terrible side effects not only on Haddock himself but everyone around him. It's also a running gag that he is so addicted to alcohol, he's incapable of drinking non-alcoholic drinks, especially water. Fortunately, his addiction slowly weakens during the course of the series thanks to a combination of Character Development, horrible repercussions, and Tintin's efforts to keep him away from alcohol.
• Trakk: Monster Hunter: Trakk spent four decades with a bottle of booze in his hand after failing to save a woman in The '60s.
• The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: Bots have a Fuel Intake Moderator Chip which allows them to filter their fuel, switching it off allows them to get drunk, and Trailbreaker (later Trailcutter) is always drinking, from his spotlight to most of his regular appearances. In Season 2, Megatron forcibly switches the FIM chip on with a blow to his head to ensure permanent sobriety.
• Sunfire from the Uncanny Avengers, who turned to drinking after an ill-advised Face–Heel Turn where he betrayed the X-Men and joined Mr. Sinister's Marauders. When Wolverine finally tracks him to Tokyo, Sunfire drunkenly assumes that his former ally is there to kill him for his betrayal.
• In Vampirella, Pendragon cannot resist the lure of alcohol.
• In Violine, Kombo, a witch doctor, even going so far as to save bottles of whiskey from a fire (he thought a child was still inside). His alcoholism also prevents him from seeing the future in time, or at all.
• In Watchmen, the Mothman's alcoholism gets so bad that he is eventually committed to a sanitarium. This would not have been unusual for the time period, though.

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