Have you ever wanted to kill yourself after watching a horribly depressing movie? Well, thankfully, comics can have that affect too, except most of these characters are serialized month after month, so the reader is constantly filled with an empty, sorrowful feeling in the pit of their stomach after every read. But guess what? We wouldn't have it any other way.

Comics may be entertainment, but more than that, they are a form of literature, an art form. And, all art forms have their tortured souls. This week, CraveOnline takes a look at ten comic book characters that it is utterly painful to even see on the page. Though their lives may be tragic, what better way to draw emotion from a reader than by making them feel for a character? Utterly impressive when it comes down to it; there are no performances here, no spoken words. They are nothing more than pen and ink.


10. Yorick Brown

One might think that being the last man on Earth would be a Godsend. All the women of the world itching for your seed. The last hope for the survival of the human race. Treated like royalty. But think of the negatives: All the women of the world itching for your seed, the last hope for the survival of the human race, and being treated like royalty. Y: The Last Man is one of the most important comic books of the last decade, and that is in no small part due to its lead character, Yorick Brown.

He is faced with the impossible task of being the last man on Planet Earth, as well as his own naive quest to reconnect with his girlfriend, who is contintents away, in a world that has lost all semblance of stability is like watching a child lose its innocence. Though he masks his guilt and fear with genuinely funny one-liners, it is truly gutwrenching for the reader to watch Yorick en route to the inevitable end of the story. Along the way, his family falls apart around him, friends are lost, and it remains more and more difficult to find hope in post-male world. Though I won't spoil major plot points for those who have yet to read the series, one can't truly see the tragedy of Yorick's character until you've seen his story from beginning to end.