History ParentalAbandonment / Comics

** A major inspiration for the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' series was an avid Superman fan describing to the producers that Superman is unique to comics because his parents being there for him when he was a young child growing up with the powers of a god [[UpbringingMakesTheHero made him the man he is today.]] Early seasons of ''Smallville'' averted this trope many times and has been argued to be more about Jonathan and Martha raising the world's greatest hero rather than about Clark. Then they left the show.

* For {{Wild Child}}ren like Tarzan to be raised by animals (or gods or spirits or whatever), their parents ''have'' to be missing or deceased. This also happens to Nävis (in the French ComicBook ''ComicBook/{{Sillage}}'', a.k.a. ''Wake'') -- the only survivor of a spaceship crash, raised by a robot and a tiger; and also to the eponymous ''Pyrénée'' from another French comic, raised by a bear after her mother dies in an earthquake; and to numerous other characters. TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_children_in_mythology_and_fiction a list]], but it's probably far from comprehensive.

** A major inspiration for the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' series was an avid Superman fan describing to the producers that Superman is unique to comics because his parents being there for him when he was a young child growing up with the powers of a god [[UpbringingMakesTheHero made him the man he is today.]] Early seasons of ''Smallville'' averted this trope many times and has been argued to be more about Jonathan and Martha raising the world's greatest hero rather than about Clark. Then they left the show and, to many, it [[JumpingTheShark leaped tall sharks in a single bound.]]

** Tim Drake (Robin III), who previously only had a case of {{missing mom}}, becomes a full-fledged orphan in the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' mini. Made all the more poignant in that he and Franchise/{{Batman}} hear the whole thing over the phone while in the Batmobile, interspersed with the son of his father's murderer, [[spoiler: Captain Boomerang]] listening to, in effect, [[spoiler: a suicide message from Captain Boomerang]]. The whole sequence ends with a very heart-wrenching two-page splash of Batman cradling Robin in his arms over his father's body.

** Clark has had it both ways. His origin has always involved the destruction of his homeworld, and his birth parents along with it. As for his foster parents....

** As for the Hulk's sons, Skaar and Hiro-Kala, their mother died in an explosion, and their father, unaware that they had survived their mother's death, headed back to Earth to [[WorldWarHulk seek revenge on those he blamed]]. Neither of them is entirely happy with their father.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' -- Look at the title! Their parents aren't curiously absent so much as ''a group of supervillains out to help evil supernatural beings destroy the world.'' How's ''that'' for family issues?

* One doesn't necessarily think of Franchise/{{Batman}} as having ParentalAbandonment issues, mostly because he's not a teen hero and, unlike Spider-Man, never was, but it is worth noting that his parents were killed right in front of him when he was a child, and thus he was able to spend most of his teen years [[TookALevelInBadass taking about 20 levels in badass]].

** A major inspiration for the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' series was an avid Superman fan describing to the producers that Superman is unique to comics because his parents being there for him when he was a young child growing up with the powers of a god made him the man he is today. Early seasons of ''Smallville'' averted this trope many times and has been argued to be more about Jonathan and Martha raising the world's greatest hero rather than about Clark. Then they left the show and it [[JumpedTheShark leaped tall sharks in a single bound.]]

** Damian Wayne hadn't met his father until recently. That changed when Batman "died".[[note]]He was displaced in time by Darkseid's Omega Beam to gather more Omega energy.[[/note]] And since spoiler: he chose his father and Dick Grayson's ideals over his mother's, Talia abandoned him also.

** Damian Wayne hadn't met his father until recently. That changed when Batman "died".[[note]]He was displaced in time by Darkseid's Omega Beam to gather more Omega energy.[[/note]] And since spoiler: he chose his father and Dick Grayson's ideals over his mother's]], Talia abandoned him also.

** Damian Wayne hadn't met his father until recently. [[spoiler: That changed when Batman "died".[[note]]He was displaced in time by Darkseid's Omega Beam to gather more Omega energy.[[/note]]]] And since [[spoiler: he chose his father and Dick Grayson's ideals over his mother's]], Talia has abandoned him also.

** Silver Age Superboy stories made much of the tragedy of Krypton, to the point where Superboy ''always'' referred to the Kents as his "foster parents".

* Comicbook/{{Superman}} has had it both ways. His origin has always involved the destruction of his homeworld, and his birth parents along with it. As for his foster parents....

* A major inspiration for the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' series was an avid Superman fan describing to the producers that Superman is unique to comics because his parents being there for him when he was a young child growing up with the powers of a god made him the man he is today. Early seasons of ''Smallville'' averted this trope many times and has been argued to be more about Jonathan and Martha raising the world's greatest hero rather than about Clark. Then they left the show and it [[JumpedTheShark leaped tall sharks in a single bound.]]

* The original ComicBook/BlackCanary, Dinah Drake, died of cancer received due to radiation exposure from a battle that also killed her husband Larry. Dinah Drake is the mother of Dinah Lance, the post-Crisis Black Canary.

* In ''Comicbook/{{WITCH}}'', Will Vandom started out this way. Her parents divorced when she was young because her dad was a compulsive gambler. When he did come back, it was only to squeeze more money out of her mom. Years later, she did get a stepfather in the form of her teacher. As well, Irma Lair has a stepmother and stepbrother, but nothing is said about her mom or her stepbrother's dad. [[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} The cartoon]], though, alters this, making Will's father extremely less of a JerkAss and turning Irma's mother and brother into paternal family.

* In the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' titles, the teenaged mutants of Xavier's School are a mix of orphans, those with families hundreds or ''thousands'' of miles away, kids actively rejected by their parents, those on the run from parents who wish them harm, and other similar abandonment issues (for example, Kitty Pryde's parents went into the witness protection program (her father has since been killed). And Rogue's mother, it turns out, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended to a higher plane of existence]].)

* In ''Franchise/{{Spider-Man}}'', young Peter Parker lives with his aunt and uncle because his parents were killed long before the story opens, in most versions before he was old enough to remember them. His parents' death usually has little to do with his origin story, that role going to Uncle Ben.

* In ''{{Spider-Man}}'', young Peter Parker lives with his aunt and uncle because his parents were killed long before the story opens, in most versions before he was old enough to remember them. His parents' death usually has little to do with his origin story, that role going to Uncle Ben.

* Completely averted with ComicBook/BlueBeetle. Jaime Reyes' parents are both not only alive, but are very involved with his life as both a teenager and superhero. Plus, they're made of 100% pure awesome.

* [[Comicbook/TheFalcon The Falcon]] and his siblings lost his preacher father, killed trying to break up a fight, when he was a teen. Two years later, his mother was shot and killed by a mugger.

* In ''Comicbook/{{WITCH}}'', Will Vandom started out this way. Her parents divorced when she was young because her dad was a compulsive gambler. When he did come back, it was only to squeeze more money out of her mom. Years later, she did get a stepfather in the form of her teacher. As well, Irma Lair has a stepmother and stepbrother, but nothing is said about her mom or her stepbrother's dad.
** The cartoon, though, alters this, making Will's father extremely less of a JerkAss and turning Irma's mother and brother into paternal family.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' is this in spades. Name a character. Chances are that they went parentless or are missing a parent or two. Of the main Freedom Fighters, only Antoine and Bunnie are parentless after the initial war with Robotnik. The Chaotix aren't so fortunate - nothing is mentioned of Vector's family or Espio's father, Mighty and Ray's parents are MIA, Julie-Su's parents were killed by her stepsiblings, Charmy's presumably died when Eggman attacked Mobius after Sonic's disappearnce and Knuckles' parents got divorced with his father performing a HeroicSacrifice to save him.

* As with the games, there's a noticeable lack of parents in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic''. Tails is the youngest, at least under fourteen by the final arc, but his parents are never mentioned even when he went to his home zone or when we have flashbacks.

* Iggy in ''ComicStrip/{{Heathcliff}}'': He lives with his grandparents and his actual parents are never mentioned.

* One doesn't necessarily think of Franchise/{{Batman}} as having ParentalAbandonment issues, mostly because he's not a teen hero and, unlike Spider-Man, never was, but it is worth noting that he his parents were killed right in front of him when he was a child, and thus he was able to spend most of his teen years [[TookALevelInBadass taking about 20 levels in badass]].

* Disney comics has this in tons. Every child of any importance seems to be living with their aunt or uncle. Huey, Dewey and Louie, in particular, whose parents have scarcely been mentioned since Donalds sister dropped them off at his house and drove off with only a note that their father was in the hospital, after the boys put a firecracker under his chair, and asking Donald to take care of them for a bit. That was in 1937. Daisy also has three nieces, Mickey Mouse has two nephews and Goofy has one. WesternAnimation/DuckTales gives us Webby, who lives with her grandmother. In each case, their parents go practically unmentioned, despite Goofy otherwise having a large extended family.

** Applies to the adult members, too. Classic examples include: school founder Professor Xavier (father, mother, and stepfather all died before he was out of his teens), ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} (parents threw him and his little brother out of a burning plane [[HeroicSacrifice with the only parachute]] as young children), and {{Storm}} (grew up a StreetUrchin after a plane crashed atop her family home, killing her parents and [[BuriedAlive burying her alive]]).

** In ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'', the stage musical adaptation and the film musical, where she has Warbucks' secretary Grace acting as a mother figure.

* As with the games, there's a noticeable lack of parents in ''SonicTheComic''. Tails is the youngest, at least under fourteen by the final arc, but his parents are never mentioned even when he went to his home zone or when we have flashbacks.

** The ContinuityReboot universe reset the parental listings for the characters with the Sega-based characters never being mentioned outside of Cream and her mother Vanilla and Sally, Rotor and Antoine having just fathers (though Rotor would rather not deal with his).

* Iggy in ''ComicStrip/Heathcliff'': He lives with his grandparents and his actual parents are never mentioned.

* ComicBook/AgeOfBronze: When Helen leaves with Paris, she takes her infant son with her, but leaves her nine-year-old daughter behind. She claims it is to secure Menelaus' claim-by-marriage to the throne; but it does not explain why she does not leave her son instead of her daughter, or leave them both.

** A major element of the PostCrisis RetCon was that Ma and Pa Kent were still alive and well; Jonathan has since died, but Martha is still alive and well.

* Dr. Jack Hack of ''[[HackSlash Hack/Slash]]'' left his wife and child due to a combination of gambling debt and [[spoiler: being on the run from government agents because HeKnowsTooMuch]]. His wife, Delilah, turned out be a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalistic]] SerialKiller who killed herself upon being discovered by the police, rose from the dead, and had to be re-killed by her own daughter. All this happened before said daughter, Cassandra, turned 16. [[AxCrazy No wonder Cassie is so screwed up]].

* GreenArrow's sidekick, Roy Harper/Speedy, was adopted by the Navajo after his forest ranger father died in a fire. He was then raised by a Navajo medicine man until ''he'' died as well. Then he was adopted by Ollie, who was so inattentive he needed [[GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] to attract his attention to Roy's drug problem, and reacted by throwing him out of the house. (You might notice everyone in this story is male; much later, Roy would claim "[[MissingMom I don't have a mother]]. I don't even have a ''story'' about having a mother.")

* ''ComicBook{{ElfQuest}}''.

* Completely averted with BlueBeetle. Jaime Reyes' parents are both not only alive, but are very involved with his life as both a teenager and superhero. Plus, they're made of 100% pure awesome.