# The saddest comic strip of all time. . **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242 "2019-01-23T02:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/21 "2019-01-24T02:29:38Z")
> [@JeffB](#): > > Probably [Death and the dog](https://imgur.com/gallery/n2xwi). Why did I click that? I knew what would happen because started happening before I clicked it. Oh well, my system needed flushing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/22 "2019-01-24T02:48:48Z")
The death of Mary Gold in the Gumps caused quite a reaction from what I’ve read (I wasn’t around then). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/23 "2019-01-24T02:58:26Z")
I’ve always teared up at [My Dog the Paradox](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/24 "2019-01-24T03:13:06Z")
I don’t have a specific example, but Cyanide & Happiness has some doozies. [There’s this series](http://www.explosmsearch.net/tag/depressing%20comic%20week/), but they might have worse ones. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/25 "2019-01-24T06:19:27Z")
I don’t know why exactly they would make it so the robot is somehow homesick despite the fact if we’re putting emotion and logic into it it should realize there’s no realistic way for it to get back home and should instead focus on the job at hand. The fact its mission exceeding 20 times it’s planned should be the thing it’s proud of, not the fact it thinks it did a bad job hence why it’s not coming home. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/26 "2019-01-24T06:29:56Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I don’t know why exactly they would make it so the robot is somehow homesick despite the fact if we’re putting emotion and logic into it it should realize there’s no realistic way for it to get back home and should instead focus on the job at hand. The fact its mission exceeding 20 times it’s planned should be the thing it’s proud of, not the fact it thinks it did a bad job hence why it’s not coming home. Because that wouldn’t be sad. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/27 "2019-01-24T06:35:08Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The raccoon story in [Calvin & Hobbes](http://blogondeathanddying.blogspot.com/2012/06/raccoon-story-calvin-hobbes.html) always makes me tear up. That was actually only half of the story. In the following strips, Calvin & Hobbes go back to where they found the raccoon and see it’s next to a construction site. The raccoon’s burrow (and likely the rest of his family) had been dug up and plowed under. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/28 "2019-01-24T15:55:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve always teared up at [My Dog the Paradox](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox) That’s another one that does me in. Just thinking about it and I’m ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/29 "2019-01-24T16:11:06Z")
I would submit Garfield Minus Garfield for honorable mention. > **[garfield minus garfield](https://garfieldminusgarfield.net/page/459)** At first the premise is amusing, but once you’ve gotten past the novelty and shuffled through a few dozen strips, you come to realize that Jon is a deeply troubled person who is clearly suffering from chronic depression and start to feel for him. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/30 "2019-01-24T16:38:43Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > WARNING-- this is a direct download. Man, don’t DO that! > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \*(NB: I broke the link) > > Dude, what the _hell_? [Here](http://crossingtheline.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-04-at-10.45.35-am.png) ya go. It was, of course, drawn by Chuck Jones. Speaking [of which](http://www.kevinmccorrytv.ca/ripjones.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/31 "2019-01-24T17:27:51Z")
Maybe not saddest ever but the xkcd Tatoo gets me misty > **[Tattoo](https://xkcd.com/933/)** > > I calculate that the electrons in radiation therapy hit you at 99.8% of the speed of light, and the beam used in a 90-second gamma ray therapy session could, if fired with less precision, kill a horse (they did not let me test this). ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/32 "2019-01-24T18:42:55Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I don’t have a specific example, but Cyanide & Happiness has some doozies. [There’s this series](http://www.explosmsearch.net/tag/depressing%20comic%20week/), but they might have worse ones. One of my favorite animated tales from C & H: [Waiting for the Bus.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLI2-kYMUEE) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/33 "2019-01-24T19:59:21Z")
Not necessarily a tear-jerker, but one that has stayed with me all these years is Non Squiters’ “The Old Man’s Tattoo”. [https://mymorningmeditations.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/nonsequitur-holocaust.jpg](https://mymorningmeditations.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/nonsequitur-holocaust.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/34 "2019-01-24T20:14:05Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > Sad in a sentimental good way: > > Peanuts last strip: > [http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/peanuts/images/36753033/title/last-strip-photo](http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/peanuts/images/36753033/title/last-strip-photo) What made it even sadder: most people who read it first saw it in the same paper that reported that Schulz had died the previous day. For that matter, pretty much any comic strip published on May 27, 2000 could qualify as “sad”; quite a few of them had references to Peanuts or Schulz in them, as Schulz was going to be honored at that year’s National Cartoonists Society banquet that night, and, without him finding out, his wife had planned for as many strips as possible to mention him as a surprise (because of the amount of “lead time” needed, the strips were drawn and submitted before he died). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/35 "2019-01-24T20:40:33Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Maybe not saddest ever but the xkcd Tatoo gets me misty > [xkcd: Tattoo](https://xkcd.com/933/) He had several related to his fiance/wife’s cancer diagnosis and treatment that were tear-jerkers. _Spirit_ (from the OP) is the saddest in a jokey way, but these are _actually_ sad. [Probability](https://www.xkcd.com/881/) [Emotion](https://www.xkcd.com/1048/) [Seven Years](https://xkcd.com/1928/) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/36 "2019-01-24T23:40:46Z")
For saddest animated cartoon, the episode of Futurama with Fry’s dog. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/37 "2019-01-25T01:42:14Z")
I dunno; “Tattoo” doesn’t get me misty-eyed. It gets me going “Hell yeah, kick that tumor’s… um… tendrils!”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/38 "2019-01-25T14:37:35Z")
[Lisa Moore’s death](https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/a-death-in-the-funny-pages-stirs-controversy/) in Funky Winkerbean. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/39 "2019-01-25T17:34:40Z")
A different strip from The Oatmeal: [It’s going to be okay.](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/plane) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242/40 "2019-01-25T17:46:28Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > A different strip from The Oatmeal: [It’s going to be okay.](https://theoatmeal.com/comics/plane) I never knew that about Gene Roddenberry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saddest-comic-strip-of-all-time/828242.md?page=3)