15 Emotional Comic Book Moments That Made Us Shed A Tear
3. The Death Of A Prince
While the Bronze Age era unquestionably brought darker, more somber stories to the comic book industry in the 1970s, few comic book readers anticipated the tragic events of the 1977 story, Dark Destiny, Deadly Dreams, which marks the death of Aquaman's young son, Arthur Curry III.
In this story, Aquababy is kidnapped by the villain, Black Manta, and is held in a sphere that is filling with air. Aquaman is forced to battle his sidekick Aqualad or the child would be killed. Aquaman frees his son by throwing a trident at the sphere, but it's too little too late, and the child is already dead. The image of Aquaman holding his child accompanied by the narrative - "There is hatred in the world. There is injustice, prejudice, corruption, but none of these matter anymore" - is absolutely heartbreaking to look at especially when you consider the historical significance of this moment.
Up until this point, young children were generally considered off-limits in mainstream comics. But this Aquaman storyline established an unsettling precedent that any character is fair game to be killed off.