Your favourite final page cliffhanger? [Archive]

CJ Lentze

03-02-2008, 08:07 AM

So, you've read 21 pages of comic book, and then you turn around that final page to get some closure to the experience... but instead, you get a tantalising image... perhaps the defeat of the hero at the hands of an old, returning foe; perhaps the launch of a deadly nuclear weapon. Whatever it is, for the next thirty days you'll be yearning for the next issue, to find out what will happen next.

What is your favourite cliffhanger? It doesn't have to be a big splash page; if the final page is split into six-or-so neat panels, and the final panel is the cliffhanger, it counts.

Posting a picture of the cliffhanger is optional, so the scanner-impaired among us can play.

My personal favourite is from 'Uncanny X-Men' #208, when Storm and Shadowcat are facing off against the Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club. Suddenly, there's a flash in the sky, and a voice declares: 'Mutants! I am Nimrod! Your physical nature automatically brands you as felons. The unsanctioned use of those mutant abilities is a capital crime-- punishable by death!'
And Nimrod is shown hovering above the mutants.

Joe Acro

03-02-2008, 08:20 AM

My personal favourite is from 'Uncanny X-Men' #208, when Storm and Shadowcat are facing off against the Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club. Suddenly, there's a flash in the sky, and a voice declares: 'Mutants! I am Nimrod! Your physical nature automatically brands you as felons. The unsanctioned use of those mutant abilities is a capital crime-- punishable by death!'
And Nimrod is shown hovering above the mutants.
I have to say, that is a pretty good one.

I can't pick just one, but another favorite of mine is Slingers #3, where the issue ends with Hornet trapped behind a cave-in and Ricochet being unable to dig him out.

david r

03-02-2008, 08:20 AM

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/97792366288.113.GIF

I have to be honest, Uncanny X-Men #113 has probably my favorite cliffhanger ever. When I read #113 for the first time, I was absolutely floored by the endings. The X-Men trapped under an exploding volcano! And then Beast and Jean Grey dropping face-first in the raging snow of Antarctica!! I couldn't possibly think HOW the X-Men could have survived.

I had to wait to read #114, and I just believed the X-Men may really & truly be dead this time, for sure. I could not wait to find what happened!!

Joe Acro

03-02-2008, 08:23 AM

And then Beast and Jean Grey dropping face-first in the raging snow of Antarctica!!
Yes, definitely a great ending. Probably the first great cliffhanger I ever read.

I have feeling I'm going to be agreeing a lot...

Kirayoshi

03-02-2008, 08:28 AM

Astonishing X-Men #4;

http://amocat.net/kiotr/KIOTR-Gallery/albums/Astonishing-X-Men-4-Gifted/Astonishing_4_6.jpg

Not just because of Peter's return, but because that last scene was an emotional gut-check. What had Peter endured during his imprisonment? What would Kitty's reaction be? His resurrection was staged so that there would be no doubt as to his identity, but what would happen next?

40yearoldnovafan

03-02-2008, 08:28 AM

Nova fans know what I'm talking about. Issue #1 of the Annihilation series (not Annihilation: Nova), Richard Rider finds out Galactus has been defeated. As he walks off into the shadows with his head down, he thinks "They took down Galactus, God help us."

I have read comics for many many years, but seeing Galactus fall in battle (not while starving), and then see Rich walking off knowing the war might be lost - well, I just could not wait until the next issue. I remember when I read it, where I read it, and how I felt at that moment.

That's when I knew Annihilation was for real.

Jimmy

david r

03-02-2008, 08:38 AM

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/30929984076.278.GIF

Awesome Doctor Doom story! As Doom takes control of the Baxter Building and sends it hurtling into outer space. And then the Baxter Building explodes....!!!! Even if the Fantastic Four survived, there was NO BRINGING BACK The BAXTER BUILDING!!

I couldn't wait to read #279!! My favorite FF cliffhanger.

Magneto Rocks

03-02-2008, 08:42 AM

I'm gonna throw out a few suggestions.

-Civil War #3. I don't CARE if we all knew he was coming back, I don't CARE if it was a fakeout, it was still phenomenally done. THOR returns, looking insanely badass.

-Captain America #25- Just when you thought there could be no more twists left.... it was SHARON? Holy plot twist, Batman!

-Sinestro Corps Special- Sure, it's DC but SWEET LORD! Anti-Monitor, Sinestro, Superboy Prime, Cyborg Superman and Parralax? :O

-Can't remember the issue, but the end of the second last part of the "Nefaria" trilogy of Avengers. Nefaria spends the whole issue hunting down Thor, takes down the entire Avengers, then suddenly the sky darkens, lightning crackles and the God of Thunder descends in glory, declaring that "Thou hast dared much, villain- and verily, thy hour of judgement hath come!"

There are probably more I can't rememeber right now.

XPac

03-02-2008, 08:55 AM

My fave is the first issue of TBolts, where you find out they are actually the Masters of EVil.

Will.S

03-02-2008, 09:03 AM

I'm gonna throw out a few suggestions.

-Civil War #3. I don't CARE if we all knew he was coming back, I don't CARE if it was a fakeout, it was still phenomenally done. THOR returns, looking insanely badass.

-Captain America #25- Just when you thought there could be no more twists left.... it was SHARON? Holy plot twist, Batman!

-Sinestro Corps Special- Sure, it's DC but SWEET LORD! Anti-Monitor, Sinestro, Superboy Prime, Cyborg Superman and Parralax? :O
As of late I can definitely get behind those.

I'm not sure what other ones I have to add right now since there have been so many good cliffhangers I can barely remember them all but I might come back to this.

Don Quixote

03-02-2008, 09:16 AM

The Civil War #3 and Captain America #25 ones were excellent. I prefer dramatic cliffhangers like that to the ones that are just 'how will our heroes get out of this one' endings.

New X-Men #23 was a pretty good one. Cutting between the big speeches of Emma Frost and Stryker, motivating their followers, then to all of the ex-mutant kids being led out through the Morlock tunnels, to the bus that will take them to safety. Then, in the distance, a rocket fires. The kids have no time to react, and the last panel is of the bus exploding.

LungerTony

03-02-2008, 11:39 AM

Messiah Complex had a lot of awesome cliffhangers.
The early cliffhanger that showed Cable alive and with the baby on the run was pretty extreme to me.

Also one that comes to my mind is in Punisher MAX. Can't remember the issue, but it was the latest arch with Barracuda.
Barracuda squares up against Punisher, and has his infant 'child,' then takes his gun and blows the baby away.
That was exteme as hell at the time.

Marcus_Maximus

03-02-2008, 11:42 AM

DDM

03-02-2008, 12:40 PM

Uncanny X-Men #219:

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/97792366288.219.GIF

Alex Summers' nightmares keeps getting worse. He dreams the X-Men attack him as he enters Xavier's mansion: Rogue absorbs Havok as he slips away into a coma. Yet his waking memory is everything is fine at the school. Something is not right. Alex Summers goes to investigate to find the school deserted. He reluctantly enters the Hellfire Club to find Magneto is the new White King while, Emma Frost, the White Queen makes a cameo. Alex turns into Havok as he follows Magneto into the Morlock Tunnels. He learns of Storm's "Plan Omega." Then Alex attacks the X-Men! Storm is surprised Psylocke's mindwipe did not affect Havok's memories, but Psylocke informs Storm that Alex's mind is very hard to wipe given Xavier's training. The X-Men inform Alex about the Marauders. He joins the team out of honor. And Havok is wondering how he is going to explain all of this to Lorna...

In the meantime, Lorna Dane is working on her graduate studies when her home is rocked by an earthquake! However, Lorna's home is on techtonically stable ground. The Marauders--Scalphunter, Sabretooth & Arclight--is their new target. She is outnumbered & outmatched. Sabretooth scares Lorna. Yet, seemingly, the tide quickly turns as the ground opens to swallow Arclight, leaving on her head sticking out of the ground; Scalphunter's metal weapons turn on him. Lorna's magnetic energy glows as she reforms a new costume from nothing! Malice informs the Marauders she possessed Lorna at the airport & this measure was a test to see how Malice could handle Lorna's psyche. Malice also tells the team she is the Marauders & will turn Lorna Dane into the ultimate master of magnetism as POLARIS!

I never expected Malice to possess Polaris at all.

DaeJi

03-02-2008, 01:26 PM

My fave is the first issue of TBolts, where you find out they are actually the Masters of EVil.

I must second this, great, great ending. And Secret Wars #10, where it is reveled that Doom has stolen the Beyonder's power.

rwe1138

03-02-2008, 02:38 PM

Astonishing X-Men #23

Cyclops: "To me, my X-Men."

LordEd1976

03-02-2008, 03:59 PM

Avengers (v.1) #176 -Korvac stands revealed and is ready to destroy the Avengers.

Capatain America (v.1) #332- Cap quits.

Transformers (v.1) #4- Shockwave destroys the Autobots.

ratzo

03-02-2008, 04:26 PM

Thor #351: Surtur beats everybody, including Thor, and appears to finally light his sword with the Eternal Flame, which would bring about Ragnarok and the end of everything. This is the moment Walt Simonson had been building towards from Day One and it really felt like nothing could stop Surtur. But in the very next issue...

Thor #352: Loki steps in at the last second! He buys time for both Thor and Odin to catch their second wind. Odin and Surtur end up falling off a cliff into nowhere which closes behind them. The final page is Thor and Loki standing over the seal in the rift crying, "FATHER!!" A literal cliffhanger!

littlemaths

03-02-2008, 04:38 PM

I still think the cliffhanger that had me hanging for the next issue most was Fantastic Four vol. 3 #25. A pretty recent one, yeah, but after Doom and Reed fought the Dreaming Celestial, and only Doom stepped out of the rubble...yeah, I was pretty curious about what was going to happen next. I think, mostly, it was that Claremont's charactisation of Reed and Doom was so spot on. I don't think anyone since has actually managed to nail their relationship as well as him.

Expletive Deleted

03-02-2008, 05:10 PM

Pretty much any issue of the "Born Again" storyline in DAREDEVIL.

#227 - "It was a nice piece of work, Kingin. You shouldn't have signed it." (with a splash page of Matt's townhouse exploding)

#228 - "There is no corpse. There is no corpse." (with a splash page of Matt, in silhouette, staggering out of the river and into an alley)

#229 - "And I - I have shown him . . . that a man without hope . . . is a man without fear." (with a splash page of Matt in a pietà pose with Sister Maggie)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/expletivedeleted/Daredevil_BornAgain229.jpg

#230 - "She's lying."

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/expletivedeleted/Daredevil_BornAgain230.jpg

#231 - "I'm going to find out where Matt Murdock is . . . and what he has become." (with a splash page of Matt and Karen sobbing in the snow, a needle in the foreground)

#232 - "Gimme a red." (with a splash page of Matt confronting Nuke, while Hell's Kitchen burns)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/expletivedeleted/6chrigk.jpg

Not all of them are really, strictly speaking, cliffhangers . . . but damn if they wouldn't have made me want that next issue.

CaptainCanada

03-02-2008, 05:23 PM

The end of Cap #25 would have to be my favourite.

Gloom Cookie

03-02-2008, 05:26 PM

Daredevil #208. After being led into a house by a little girl (which turns out to be a robot with a bomb inside), he spends the rest of the issue fighting for his life from trap after trap. He finally escapes and the end of the issue has him in a courtroom thinking, "I'm safe", while behind him, two more little girl robots sit behind him and smile.

rZi

03-02-2008, 05:49 PM

Astonishing X-Men #23

Cyclops: "To me, my X-Men."

One of the coolest scenes to ever grace a comic book. EPIC

SeritoNiN

03-02-2008, 06:15 PM

Ultimates vol. 1 Issue # 10.

It was a solid issue, with a decent cliffhanger, what made it special was knowing it would be half a year before another issue would ship. :mad:

jcp011c

03-02-2008, 07:09 PM

I mainly read X-Books and Avengers so I"m sure there are others out there, but my top 5 in no particular order:

New X-Men #146 - Xorn being revealed to be Magneto and crippling Xavier.

X-Men #54 - Onslaught being revealed to be none other than Xavier, after taking out the Juggernaught? Yeah, the Onslaught story as a whole was kind of half baked, with the whole merging of Magneto and Xavier, but that - that scene was something else.

Avengers: the Crossing. Again, an overall bad concept, IMO, but revealing Iron Man as the murderer?

Avengers (vol. 3) #2. Scarlet Witch brings Wonder Man back from the dead, and ready to take on Morgan Le Fey.

Avengers (vol. 3) #500 - Captain America under attack by She-Hulk, possibly killed by a smashing car? And this at a time when no death isn't possible - considering that Ant-Man, Vision, and Jack Of Hearts (er, well, a second death) had already happened. I really didn't think they'd kill off Cap but truthfully, I wasn't 100% convinced.

david r

03-02-2008, 08:34 PM

My favorite cliffhanger had to be Jim Shooter's Secret Wars #10(?) where Doom amassed all this power to fight the Beyonder and lost in the most galatic battle ever. Then, as he was being dissected, he refused to give up and slowly stretched his hand out against the Beyonder in one last act of defiance...and won, beating rthe Beyonder and becoming a god.

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/72795747460.10.GIF

I totally agree with that one. A fantastic last page moment where you're thinking "Holy...Doctor Doom WON! Beat the Beyonder and now has unlimited power!" And he returns to Earth and rips off his face-mask. I couldn't WAIT FOR THE NEXT ISSUE!

TheAmazingSpidey

03-02-2008, 09:44 PM

The Night Gwen Stacy Died...'nuff said.

http://www.spidervillain.com/SpiderManCovers/Amazing/ASM121/Page4.jpg

BEST. CLIFFHANGER. EVER.

Kid Kyoto

03-02-2008, 09:55 PM

I'll add more love for Secret Wars. The first one I thought of.

I'll add (not Marvel but still good) Storm Watch 25. Image did a stunt where they released their 25th issues a year or more early. In it Battallion (the leader) is transported into the future, learns that he and most of his team are dead and his insane father is about to take over the world, then gets returned to his present. The issue continues and just as the villan is about to win someone shoots him in the back and yells out a challenge.

Great job by the Wildstorm team since we not only had to wait a year or two for the end of the cliff hanger, we had to also see how the story got there. In the end the payoff wasn't quite worth the build up but it was still good.

z0mbie_aut0pil0t

03-02-2008, 10:07 PM

Astonishing X-Men has rad final pages.

LungerTony

03-02-2008, 10:33 PM

Did anyone mention Skrullectra?

prodigy

03-03-2008, 03:42 AM

Also one that comes to my mind is in Punisher MAX. Can't remember the issue, but it was the latest arch with Barracuda.
Barracuda squares up against Punisher, and has his infant 'child,' then takes his gun and blows the baby away.
That was exteme as hell at the time.
Yesiree. That was one damn fine cliffhanger.

Ennis for editor AND chief!!

jackolover

03-03-2008, 03:47 AM

Mine was that bait and switch moment, when the Green Goblin killed Spiderman. That looked like a pretty convincing death, until it was revealed that the Goblin was having one of his psychotic moments.

Crimson

03-03-2008, 04:41 AM

The last few pages of the Astonishing X-Men issue where Colossus comes back. That is just the perfect example of writer and artist working in complete harmony... it just flows so well, you can see and hear it live and breath in your head. So good.

Wolverine stabbing Rogue at about the time Nimrod first appeared was great too.

Iron Syndicate

03-03-2008, 06:23 AM

While not a cliffhanger, perse, this pretty much changed the Spidey books to their very core...

http://uncoolkids.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/158709-civil-war_400.jpg

Despite being retconned out of existence, it was still a great final page...

comicum18

03-03-2008, 06:29 AM

I´ve got a few favourites that have already been refered to (SINESTRO CORPS SPECIAL; CIVIL WAR #3; CAPTAIN AMERICA #1; THUNDERBOLTS VOL.1 #1):p
Here are others I really like:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121 "THE NIGHT GWEN STACY DIED"
NEW X-MEN #146 : XORN REVEALED AS MAGNETO (he says "EMERGENCY INDEED CHARLES... THE DREAM IS OVER")
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #13 (two sentences MR AMERICA "ANYONE KNOWS WHO GOG IS" STARMAN "WOW DEJA VU".
There are more but these three are the ones I remenber right now.:eek:

Marcus_Maximus

03-03-2008, 08:27 AM

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/72795747460.10.GIF

I totally agree with that one. A fantastic last page moment where you're thinking "Holy...Doctor Doom WON! Beat the Beyonder and now has unlimited power!" And he returns to Earth and rips off his face-mask. I couldn't WAIT FOR THE NEXT ISSUE!

Even the cover is EPIC. Haven't seen a better cover in years---not even the covers for WWH are better even tho they are great too.

Semah_G_Noj

03-03-2008, 01:51 PM

Secret Wars #10's getting the love, but I'd be remiss if I didn't give props to #11. Where Doom kills all the heroes with a bolt from the blue.

david r

03-03-2008, 07:53 PM

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/35544179902.12.GIF

Every good G.I. Joe fan knows this issue. Has one of the best cliffhangers in history. Snake-Eyes is fighting Dr. Venom and Kwinn the Eskimo on this tiny island, in a South American river. As the Baroness flies overhead in a plane, she drops a bomb and the entire island is blown up and sinks....with Snake-Eyes still on it. I was thinking "NO WAY Snake-Eyes could have survived that one!!"

Monty_Cristo

03-03-2008, 08:02 PM

i thought this one was funny but only after reading the beginning of the next issue.

http://bp1.blogger.com/_5VgL6ZXwkaw/RaKVl8O-oLI/AAAAAAAAApM/fuguGfNUOyo/s1600-h/AntMan4-2.JPG

Trey

03-03-2008, 08:41 PM

Also one that comes to my mind is in Punisher MAX. Can't remember the issue, but it was the latest arch with Barracuda.
Barracuda squares up against Punisher, and has his infant 'child,' then takes his gun and blows the baby away.
That was exteme as hell at the time.

The first time my jaw dropped ever reading a comic. I was not expecting that.

streator

03-03-2008, 09:03 PM

new x-men 146: xorn reveals himself to be magneto

worstblogever

03-03-2008, 09:19 PM

At the time, the reveal that the Hulk was the captive of Apocalypse, who wanted to make him into his Horseman, War, blew my mind.

Looking back... that was sort of not the highest impact cliffhanger ever. But hey, that's mine.

Don't pee in the (Dead)pool

03-04-2008, 02:13 AM

My personal favourite is at the end of Maximum Carnage episode #9 where Captain America turns up and says to Spider-man: " Need a hand, son? You look as though you might need it. " That double page spread made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!

vampireboy97

03-04-2008, 03:44 AM

There are so many favourite cliffhangers. One of my favourites has to be

1) Ult. X-Men #75: when Ult. Cable turned out to be a future Wolverine.

2) X-Men Messiah Complex: when Cable got KO-ed to reveal the messiah baby's would-be killer is actually Lucas Bishop.

3) New X-Men #23: The bus explosion

4) Capt. America #25: The death

5) New Avengers #31: The discovery of Skrull Elektra

6) Fantastic Four #551 (which turned out to have a very disappointing following): when Reed found out that in the future, Sue left him for Namor. Then he grabs a ray-gun and shots Namor in the face. Though its following and story was a complete waste of time. That cliffhanger itself was so cool.

7) World War Hulk #4: Sentry - "Its time to play God"

8) Ult. Spider-Man: Clone Saga - Doc Ock arrives with SHIELD and reveals that he is the spider-cloner.

9) X-Mem: Messiah Complex - Death of Prof. X

10) Spider-Man: One More Day - Mephisto rewrites history and changes everything (seriously, I had no idea thats where this whole thing was going, plus I though that this was all going to be a temporary thing, like the HOUSE OF M world)

11) House of M #8: The decimation of M-Day

12) Hulk #2: Red Hulk meets A-Bomb

13) Civil War #3: Return of a god

http://images.newsarama.com/SDCC06/Marvel/Civil/CIVWAR003022_100.jpg

Look at the attachments (below) from Civil War Parody 3

14) New Avengers Annual #2: Jessica Jones switches sides

15) Ult. Spider-Man #118: Firestar is born

16) Ultimates 2 #9: The Liberators suprise invasion

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/Ultimates_Liberators.jpg/250px-Ultimates_Liberators.jpg

and lastly

17) Silent War #6: Black Bolt speaks to his niece.