History MoodWhiplash / Webcomics

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' did this in one chapter, with the mood shifting from lighthearted to sad in a single page. The author even commented on it:
-->That's right, it's the end of the chapter! I hope I successfully tricked you all into thinking something weird and wacky was going to happen, but in the end, it was just about a girl crying for her mum.

* ''{{Order of the Stick}}'' #640 brings us the genocide of [[spoiler:25% of the Black Dragon race]]. And a [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0640.html college basketball gag.]]
** With the exception of maybe the first 50 gag-based comics, I think it's fair to say that ''{{OrderofTheStick}} does MoodWhiplash almost all the time and actually makes it all work really well. One of the earliest examples was actually "Saddest.Comic.Ever", a TearJerker comic strip that was immediately followed by Durkon rejoining the group in time to hear Elan's hilarious attempts to convert Vaarsuvius to the Cult of Banjo.

* QuestionableContent demonstrates and lampshades it in [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2033 this strip]].

* '' ElGoonishShive''... From the comedy of Gender Bending to the drama of Ellen's creation, to the comedy of the following strips, back to the drama, this time starting with [[spoiler: Elliot's capture]], and the revelation of Grace's background...it goes all over the mood spectrum, and is currently see-sawing between the two, all part of the author's tug-of-war against CerebusSyndrome.
** Shive isn't fighting CerebusSyndrome; he's one of the foremost practitioners of the CerebusRetcon in webcomics. However, he does try and stop the comic's tone from stagnating, and so he keeps it seesawing from wacky to dramatic.

* [[EerieCuties Ace and Nina]] have to do a report on an ancient vampire queen.

-->'''Narration''': Evolution is funny. Generation after generation of Fillipods were naturally selected for stalks capable of ever-stronger van der waals forces. Basically, for reasons of diet. The Winter Tilla fruit has an amazing combination of proteins, carbs, and vitamins... but has a tree bark that's glass-smooth, and impossible to climb. Hence the natural selection towards van der waals forces: the Fillipods who could climb... could live to breed. It's an ability that's kept them alive for thousands of years. And, oddly enough, did so again when [[spoiler: their planet was cracked in half... and every Tesskan alive was flung 30 meters in the air.]]

* ''GunnerkriggCourt'' did this in one chapter, with the mood shifting from lighthearted to sad in a single page. The author even commented on it:

* ''{{Homestuck}}'' has plenty of this. An example is the end of Act 4. Not long after John pulls a hilarious Con Air reference with a guitar solo, Jack Noir [[spoiler: kills all of the Black and White soldiers, takes the White King's scepter, begins the Reckoning, sends meteors towards Skaia, sets Prospit on fire destroying its inhabitants, and cuts the chain between Prospit and its moon, sending the moon into the Battlefield, where Jade sacrifices her dream self to save John.]] Wow.

* Afganisu-Tan can be this at points, particularly when you compare the childish pranks of the NationsAsPeople with the real-life history that they're portraying.

--> '''Nina:''' ''(completely normal)'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Also, she had a kitty. Its name was Mr. Boodles.]]

* Afganisu-Tan can be this at points, particularly when you compare the childish pranks of the NationsAsPeople with the real-life history that they're portraying.

* AfganisuTan can be this at points, particularly when you compare the childish pranks of the NationsAsPeople with the real-life history that they're portraying.

* AfghanisTan can be this at points, particularly when you compare the childish pranks of the NationsAsPeople with the real-life history that they're portraying.

* AfghanisuTan can be this at points, particularly when you compare the childish pranks of the NationsAsPeople with the real-life history that they're portraying.

* ''WapsiSquare'' went from a week of goofy strips about Monica being an audiophile to an incredibly dark and graphic sequence about the creation of the chimera.

* Ctrl+ Alt+ Del. The abortion comics. A ConvenientMiscarriage that follows a previously untragic story and is followed by more gag comics.

* {{Homestuck}} has plenty of this. An example is the end of Act 4. Not long after John pulls a hilarious Con Air reference with a guitar solo, Jack Noir [[spoiler: kills all of the Black and White soldiers, takes the White King's scepter, begins the Reckoning, sends meteors towards Skaia, sets Prospit on fire destroying its inhabitants, and cuts the chain between Prospit and its moon, sending the moon into the Battlefield, where Jade sacrifices her dream self to save John.]] Wow.

* Immelmann (the author) admits to using this trope by name in [[http://concessioncomic.com/index.php?pid=20100907 this]] {{Concession}} comic's alt text. The comic takes an abrupt turn from ridiculous and comedic to gravely serious.
* Nerf Now, a webcomic with cartoonish characters that often has a very light hearted tone, has done this with three story arcs. **The first involved a look at what it meant to be a Drone for the Zerg in a competitive game, starting off with a gleeful adventure, and ending in the complete annihilation of all the anthropomorphized Zerg forces save for the drone, whose life was sacrificed for a new hive.

* In ErfWorld, Parson provides what could be the page quote for the entire concept while first adjusting to Erf World, "Everything is cute. Like it's been made safe for children. The people even look like children. Except then they die."
* GoblinsComic has a tendency to go from funny strips to horrific death and HighOctaneNightmareFuel.
* DemonEater switches its approach as time goes on, depending on the circumstances. Sinec it's narrated in an almost-first-person point of view, it certainly reflects the main character's view of the world.

* GoblinsComic has a tendency to go from funny strips to horrific death and HighOctaneNightmareFuel.

* In ErfWorld, Parson provides what could be the page quote for the entire concept while first adjusting to Erf World, "Everything is cute. Like it's been made safe for children. The people even look like children. Except then they die."

* Any players first visit to [[CityOfHeroes Praetoria]] is riddled with this. Especially when compared to the Four Color nature of the vanilla game. In a game where [[NeverSayDie the fate of defeated enemies was typically left up to the player]], one of the first Morality Missions involves a SadisticChoice where you have to choose to ''murder'' one of your contacts. There is no [[TakeAThirdOption third option]]. Someone has to die. Talk about DarkerAndEdgier.

** Done to a ridiculous amount with an update in the style of a video game controlling John. We get to run around a salamander village and John is his happy self before going off to start the next stage of his quest. Then [[spoiler: Jack Noir stabs him through the chest.
*** [[spoiler:Recent updates:Death death death death, FLYING CAR]]

[[spoiler:Recent updates:Death death death death, FLYING CAR]]

** Done to a ridiculous amount with an update in the style of a video game controlling John. We get to run around a salamander village and John is his happy self before going off to start the next stage of his quest. Then [[spoiler: Jack Noir stabs him through the chest.]]

* ''NuzlockeComics'' frequently do this, courtesy of the subject matter: ''{{Pokemon}}'' adventures in a world where defeat means getting KilledOffForReal. Silly antics can swing into [[TearJerker tearful losses]] in a heartbeat, ''especially'' whenever [[TemptingFate battles seem to be going really well]]...

* Much of the dark humour in Lackadaisy comes from this. Notable example is the strip [[http://lackadaisy.foxprints.com/comic.php?comicid=54 Houdini]], where a quite sweet scene between Ivy and Viktor pans out to reveal the dangling tail of the man he's just brutally murdered.

* [[KeychainofCreation Keychain of Creation]] sometimes falls into this. Compare [[http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0063.html this]] [[TearJerker tear jerker]] to [[http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0071.html how they get Misho to cope with it]]

** There's also the episode where we get to see through Splash Woman's eyes for Megaman 9. It begins out with her life being all she could ever want, until she's to be recycled. Right before she's crushed, the machine stops, and we see a [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation heroic Dr. Wily reaching down to offer her a second chance.]] We flash forward where we seen her stage in ruins and a NightmareFuel inducing, soulless Megaman facing her. She soon finds herself no match and prays on the ground where Megaman places his gun to her head and BLOWS A HOLE THROUGH HER HEAD. The scene flashes to Dr. Light at the controls, smug with his victory. The camera rotates revealing a half completed Megaman X along with a computer screen with a similar symbol on it that condemned Splash Woman to recycling next to Megaman's name.

** [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=284 See Also:]]
** [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=660 And Also:]]