15 Emotional Comic Book Moments That Made Us Shed A Tear

13. Orpheus Looks Back

DC Comics/Vertigo

Neil Gaiman€™'s critically acclaimed Sandman series is chock full of emotional moments depicting pain and loss, but none may be as despairing as €œThe Song of Orpheus.€ For the Sandman Special one-shot, Gaiman reimagines the classical Greek tale of Orpheus by making him the son of series protagonist Dream (Morpheus).

Per the ancient story, Orpheus€™s wife Eurydice is killed by an asp on the day of their wedding. In an effort to resurrect her, Orpheus travels to the Underworld and appeals to Hades and Persephone. The Underworld rulers agree to send Eurydice back on one condition: Orpheus must walk in front of her as they travel back to the upper world and he can not look back to see her.

Of course, Orpheus has a moment of doubt about his wife and looks back which causes Eurydice to be pulled to the Underworld. The absolute tragedy of the situation is sold by Orpheus€™' scream of €œNo,€ while the art team of Bryan Talbot and Mark Buckingham beautifully depict Eurydice fading to black.

€œThe Song of Orpheus€ demonstrates that even a story that is thousands of years old can still emotionally resonate today if told correctly. And with such a special team of creators behind it like Gaiman, Talbot and Buckingham, this old story still has the capacity to make us tear up.

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Contributor

Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.