10 Greatest Comic Book Tragedies Of All Time

By Chris Quicksilver /

9. 30 Days Of Night - Issue 3

The conclusion of Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith€™s excellent vampire series, 30 Days of Night issue 3 turned out to be a real tearjerker. At the beginning of the series, the local husband and wife sheriff team of Eben and Stella Olemaun are sat together watching the sun go down, knowing that their hometown of Barrow, Alaska would not see sun again for a month. Of course, a gang of unruly vampires invade the night-stricken town and engorge themselves on the local townspeople (such things tend to happen in comics), with Stella and Eben attempting to rescue this remote, isolated community from certain destruction by any means necessary... In the end, the only way Eben can save his wife, his community and the town he loves, is by injecting himself with a vampire€™s blood and challenging the lead bloodsucker to a fight. After this, the pair set down to watch the sun rise again, each knowing what will happen if Eben looks directly at it. When Stella suggests that he try to live as a vampire, Eben refuses and, in one of the most romantic and heartbreaking lines ever published in a comic book, he strokes her face gently, before saying €œI could live forever, sure, but I don€™t want to live another second...If I can€™t remember what it feels like to love you€. Tearfully, the pair kiss one final time and the sun rises, after which we simply see a plaintive, full page shot of Stella sitting alone next to a pile of ashes and burned rags.