10 Most Emotional Comic Book Moments Of The Decade

If there's one thing that keeps us engaged in comics, it's the emotional engagement we have with the characters. It's what gives fights stakes, what gives dialogue meaning, and what generally gets us coming back for more.

While this often involves some seriously sad moments, comics aren't exclusively a place of misery, suffering and grimdark brooding. They're just as easily capable of creating some heartwarming moments that genuinely make you feel good, as the emotional pay-off of seeing a character who's been through hell and back get a reprieve from their tireless fighting, stirs some feelings that are usually only provoked by wholesome Christmas adverts and particularly cute dogs.

And the past decade has been a veritable hotbed for these touching moments, with almost every storyline containing some dialogue or scene that hits you right in the place where your heart is, should you have one.

With emotional reunions, brotherly bonds, and the occasional zombie, it seems the goal of some comics is to see how quickly they can reduce you to heartfelt tears in the space of their series. And by god, they achieve that goal - and then some.

By all means, the set up for Journey Into Mystery #645 is pretty tragic. It starts with Kid Loki finally giving in to 'Ikol' - the evil elder version of himself - who Loki offers his soul in exchange for three last conversations before he dies for good, replaced by this alternate version of himself.

While the first two conversations he has are for practicality's sake, Loki saves the final one for his brother, Thor, asking the God of Thunder to promise to kill him should he ever turn evil again, desperate to protect both his brother and the rest of the world.

While you'd expect Thor to agree, he instead promises to never do such a thing, telling his younger brother that he'll always believe in him. Though the scene is sad, it's almost profoundly heartwarming, as it shows that Thor is willing to literally go against fate and destiny in order to take care of his brother - and that the brothers do dearly love one another, even if they spent half of their time trying to hide it.

In a world of giant serpents, lightning hammers and ancient evils, this scene reminds us that one of the most powerful things in the Thor series will always be the strange and beautiful bond between the God of Thunder and his little brother.