YMMV / Ruins

• Angst Aversion: This comic just lays the grimdark on so thickly — Jean Grey shows up as a teenaged prostitute, for example, to be shot for no reason by Nick Fury before he blows his own head off — that very few people can bring themselves to read it. Even then, it tends to only be cited as an example of what a worst-case scenario would be for Hulk, Spider-Man, etc., rather than as an actual story with any merit, be it comic or dramatic.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • At the end of the first issue, Sheldon, with no prior setup other than he can hear "gunfire over by the riverfront", trips over the Punisher's bullet-riddled body lying randomly in the street, in what may be the quickest introduction/death in the book. What makes this scene strange is that Punisher is also one of the only characters to be shown in full, gaudy costume, as if Ellis and the Nielsens couldn't figure out to make Frank Castle recognizable without a big skull on his chest.
  • The opening of the second issue features a valkyrie flying atop a winged steed near an airplane Sheldon is on. Sheldon notices her and tries to bring it to his co-passenger's attention, but it is quickly forgotten. It stands in complete contrast of the rest of the comic for not being played for any kind of horror or parody.
• Bile Fascination: Those who are after the comic are typically interested in reading it just to see how excessively bleak and grim the story tries to make a more "realistic" interpretation of the Marvel Universe.
• Complete Monster: Warden Wilson Fisk runs a despicable prison for superpowered individuals. Fisk tortures and abuses the dozens of beings under his purview, regularly breaking their fingers and psychologically tormenting them. Fisk takes brutal measures to force his prisoners into compliance, usually mutilation, best seen with Cyclops having his eyes carved out and Quicksilver's limbs being chopped off. With the majority of his prisoners insane thanks to his abuses, Fisk proudly boasts with a smile that he oversees all of the viciousness simply because he can.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Philip Sheldon succumbing to a lethal virus as his notes and photographs scatter in the wind in this two-issue parody of Marvels becomes even more depressing in light of the sequel to Marvels known as Marvels: Eye of the Camera, where Sheldon ended up dying of lung cancer, but at least was at peace during his final hours and had his daughters and Maggie to continue working on his new book after he passed away.
  • Wolverine is suffering from adamantium poisoning in this story, causing his skin to slowly decay off his bones. He has a similar condition in Logan, though while the Body Horror is not as severe, there is a defined cause of his illness; his Healing Factor slowing down.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Captain America's cannibalism. Chris Evans, who played Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also starred as a cannibal in Snowpiercer.
• Nightmare Fuel: The setting itself. This miniseries transforms the Marvel Universe into a bleak hellscape in which everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.
• Redundant Parody: Marvels wasn't exactly sweetness and light, showing some of the downsides of the setting (Philip Sheldon loses an eye at the end of the first issue when he's caught up in Namor and the original Human Torch's battle, which floods a massive portion of New York). Ruins just pushes the darkness to the point of absurdity.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: More like too bleak, never cared to begin with. See Angst Aversion.