Into each life, a little rain must fall. Whatever degree that old truism applies to you, however, must be absolutely dwarfed by the sheer deluge of tragedy that greets the average comic book character in a year. From plucky teen sidekicks being bludgeoned to death, to old flames being impaled on their own blades, tragedy is a mainstay of the comic book medium. Dont expect this trend to slow down any time soon either, because apparently, regret-filled tales of disaster, failure, suffering and woe sell books by the bucketload. Please dont misunderstand though, this isnt a list of comic book deaths (we did one of those fairly recently), so dont go looking for too many obvious candidates like the death of Superman or the sacrifice of Jean Grey here. This list is more about the despair, tragedy and hopelessness that comic book characters often find themselves mired in, usually with no chance of release. This list, then, is a compilation of moments almost as awful as being tied down and forced to watch Man of Steel on repeat for a week (in some cases, even worse). So get your tissues at the ready, people, its the greatest comic book tragedies of all time! WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS!