Lighter And Softer / Comic Books

The following have their own pages:

• The DCU
• Marvel Universe

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Other Comic Books

• Beginning with a one-off in 2018, 2000 AD has been publishing quarterly "Regened" issues, which are intentionally written and marketed as being all-ages. There's still violence, but little blood and nobody dies.
• The Adventures of Spawn is an online comic series designed to turn Spawn into a kid-friendly property. Yes, the military assassin who died and went to Hell, then made a Deal with the Devil in order to return to Earth. That Spawn.
• Li'l Battlestar Galactica can best be described as "Battlestar Galactica" given the Tiny Titans treatment. Incidentally, both comics are by the same artist.
• Transformers: Wings of Honor: The Text stories are usually more humor based, compared to the comicstrip which ended with most of the characters dead. The Generation 2: Redux stories are a lot more upbeat and funny and, on the whole, more optimistic, with the next generation seeing a future working together, rather than an inevitable war that the Wings comics lead into.
• The My Little Pony Micro Series has a more Slice of Life feel and is generally lighthearted compared to the main books (Particularly in light of how dark the first arc in the main series is).
• Shortly after the [adult swim] revival of Samurai Jack ended its run, IDW Publishing published an Alternate Continuity five-issue miniseries titled Samurai Jack: Quantum Jack. The miniseries was notably less dark than the original cartoon's revival and more in line with the tone of the show's first four seasons, as it toned down on the adult themes, there was no blood, and Jack was back to only killing robotic enemies.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics):
  • The comic became this when Ian Flynn took over on issue 160. Though there were still some darker arcs, the tone was generally lighter and more comical than the last 100 or so issues, which were mostly dark melodrama filled with tragic moments and little to no comic relief.

• Twisted Dark: Volume 2 of the series feels this way in comparison to volume 1. While there are still plenty of dark, creepy moments, some of the stories aren't quite as visceral as volume 1, and some of the twists are more humorous that horrifying. Neil Gibson even addresses this at the start of the book.
• The Warrior Cats graphic novels (aside from The Rise of Scourge), compared to the main series: they tend to have more comedic parts, the plot is usually less fighting-focused, and violence is usually bloodless and sometimes even accompanied by goofy sound effects. They focus more on characterization than the Family-Unfriendly Violence heavy books do. Most of the artists also draw the characters in cartoony or animesque styles, which help alleviate some of the darkness of the series (in contrast, book artwork features realistic cat designs).

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