Jerkass/Web Comics

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The halfling Belkar Bitterleaf (a.k.a. "The Belkster" a.k.a. "Death's Li'l Helper") from Order of the Stick, when he's not being a Heroic Sociopath by accident. Although Roy (TheHero) pointed out that by keeping Belkar with them Belkar's murderous impulses may be channeled towards fighting "an evil greater Evil than himself", instead of him being free to run around and become more evil than "the theoretical lovechild of Sauron and Cruella deVille".
  • Both Thief and Black Mage from 8-Bit Theater. Sarda also fits, since he's an omnipotent chaotic Trickster Mentor (an example is when he threw Australia on Black Mage, not only to punish him for being disobedient but also because the resulting wave would destroy the city White Mage was helping reconstruct).
    • Thief is a more intellectual type of jerkass mainly motivated by greed and feelings of elven superiority, who loves screwing people over with legal contracts and l33t Ninja skills. Black Mage is, by all accounts, a smelly sociopathic fat little creep with horrible manners vis-a-vis women, to the extend that (it is said) the universe exists to hurt Black Mage. On the other hand many people would love to kick Thief in the groin face, but ever since he upgraded his class to ninja, he's (nearly) impossible to hit.
    • In fact, Thief himself has acknowledged that Sarda is the ultimate "jackass".
    • And then Thief got pwned by Sarda. Painfully.
  • Everybody in Sinfest is a jerkass to some degree except Jesus, Criminy, and Buddha, but the worst offender is (surprise, surprise) The Devil. Milder cases include Slick, Li'l Evil, and God.
    • Slick has become less of a jerk over time, but Seymore has become an exponentially bigger jerk sincce 2010.
  • Grim Jr. from Grim Tales from Down Below is a Jerkass to his little sister, Minnie, because he is jealous of all the attention she is getting.
  • Stef from User Friendly.
  • Aram from Men in Hats is either this or the series' version of a Heroic Sociopath. "I'm bored. Jump around with this scorpion on your face."
  • Mike from Shortpacked!, although he knows he's a jerk and makes a conscious effort to make everyone else miserable. He gets to keep his job at the store because he sells the most product insurance plans by outright threatening people.
  • Most of the cast of Something*Positive. Davan likes to go up to random children and convince them their parents want to kill them, Jason enjoys trapping people into excuses to berate them, Aubrey and Peejee consider assault of strangers and loved ones to be massively good fun. Kharisma, on the other hand, is currently serving time for a murder she didn't commit...but was bragging that she was going to. And yet someone is trying to make a movie out of it. Mike started out this way, but he became more human and likable throughout; at present, he's about the most sympathetic member of the main cast. Most of the cast claim to become sexually aroused by the suffering of others. At this point in his development, Mike is close to being the nicest guy in the strip, and there are times Kharisma comes off more sympathetic than the main cast; at least she's suffering for her sins. Mike seems to have realized what a bastard he was, and has decided that he needs to grow up and mature. He's the only person to actually make such a decision, with the rest of the main cast staying horrible, horrible people.
  • Pat from Achewood.
  • Bun-Bun of Sluggy Freelance falls squarely into this trope, and is a good example of how annoying such a character can be when the author gets too fond of him. An eight-month new-cast new-setting overwrought mass of Expospeak just to bring the Jerkass back from being Deader Than Dead? Yeah. Bad idea. Worse than the guy the rabbit had been brutally terrorizing (and is in charge of his organization because Bun-Bun killed all his superiors, mostly because he could) naming a kid after him.
    • The above notwithstanding, most readers actually like him, not just the author. Every evaluation above could be heavily questioned, though Squishydodo (the one whose son is now called "Squishybunbunbunbun") indeed seems to suffer from Stockholm Syndrome.
  • Reynardine from Gunnerkrigg Court is... difficult to categorize. His introduction to the story involved him attempting to kill Antimony, an act he has yet to show any remorse over. Since then, he appears to be undergoing a drawn-out Heel Face Turn, but it's unclear how much of it is really him and how much is just his Restraining Bolt. Rey is, in turn, surly and pleasant, disruptive and helpful, lewd and respectful towards his owner. (For her part, Antimony mainly keeps his company so she can prevent him from doing any real harm, and because she wants to know how he knew her mum.)
  • The Hat Guy from Xkcd is a good example, as shown by these strips (given that he's an Expy of Aram). The Hat Guy's new girlfriend/archenemy also follows this trope.
    • As the Secretary arc proved, he has a long history of assholery. Proves he's something of a Jackass of all trades.
  • Dominic, from UG Madness. He has a rival, Permission Sam, who's possibly even more of a Jerkass.
  • Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name's Doc Worth, despite his fanbase, has been shown so far to be little but combative, crude and all-around sleazy. Classic Jerkass material.
  • Despite the original intention of his being a straight-man, Zexion of Ansem Retort has grown to be the comic's most prominent jerk ass in a comic full of them. He's helped hijack a plane, embezzled tax payer money on hookers, planted explosives in his patients and generally ruined the lives of most everyone around him. The only person that seems to enjoy Zexion's company is Axel, a psychotic mass murderer (that saved Zexion from impeachment by Phoenix Wright by threatening the judge and jury... after killing three previous juries).
    • Axel and Darth Maul. Yes, THAT Darth Maul. Namine and Aerith help Zexion in his administration though.
  • Misfile
    • Cassiel is willing to beat an innocent party goer over the head and strip her naked to get into a party to make life difficult for Ash, and destroy Rumisiel. Maybe it's that her uncle is Lucifer that makes her act that way or maybe it's because no one will let her forget it.
    • Sheldon is an egotistical, arrogant and manipulative jerk who abuses his old friends' trust, even stating outright that they're just 'dumb muscle'. He also seems out to claim as much influence as a driver as possible, kicking people off their own roads in racing gambles and using his muscle to ensure they stay off. Also doesn't take kindly to losing a race/bet - when Ash beats him, he smashes his own car up with a rock to make it look like he was on the receiving end of cheating. Fortunately, he's given a Humiliation Conga he won't soon forget.
    • Heather has made it her mission in life to destroy Ash because her crush liked Ash better. So far she has failed miserably in all her attempts, which usually amount to beating Ash by proxy.
  • Aeris from VG Cats. She's always been a big fan of the Double Standard, and a jerkass for quite some time now, even if she did have to put up with the annoying and sometimes equally jerkassed Leo. But her latest appearance in the comic, where she went back in time to violently assault Leo's mother so that she could murder Leo by aborting him when he was a fetus may have pushed her beyond the Moral Event Horizon. For some reason, Scott Ramsoomair got offended when people disagreed with her actions. Leo got better...
  • Trigger-happy Men in Black Agent Jerry in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob. As essentially a recurring villain or at least obstacle, Jerry isn't supposed to arouse much audience sympathy. At least Agent Ben gets along with him.
  • The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Fan Web Comic by Q-Ice portrayed Nanoha, Hayate, and Vivio as this. Vivio is especially fun since she managed to be a Jerkass to Jerkass Nanoha when she went back to the past.
  • Both Yeager and Artax from Nodwick spend most of their time as dicks. Occasionally they show brief hints of the Jerk with a Heart of Gold when Piffany is in danger...but they spend the rest of their time planning horrible fates for Nodwick, as entertainment. This kind of treatment for a henchman is all-but-expected.
  • Topato Potato from Wigu, who lives in a dimension whose survival depends on how much Magical Adventures in Space merchandise Wigu Tinkle purchases, and is willing to do anything, from beating his father to blowing up entire timelines to keep Wigu interested and buying. He would likely be even more of a Jerkass if his partner, Sheriff Pony, didn't serve as his conscience, if not a particularly successful one.
  • Every character in Sore Thumbs except Sawyer and his bear is this.
  • Rayne from Least I Could Do most certainly qualifies. Self-centered, self-absorbed and prone to assholery at the drop of a hat for his own amusement. He frequently crosses over into Jerk with a Heart of Gold territory.
  • Jamie from Khaos.
  • Master Fei of How I Killed Your Master; he's a very Cynical Mentor on good days, and just plain nasty on the rest.
  • Zii, from Ménage à 3. Let's see... letting people hanging dry for personal and petty interests?. Check. Use other people as scapegoat for said interest?. Check. not receiving any punishment whatsoever? Ahh... check. Worst of all, we are probably supposed to side with her.
  • Girls with Slingshots has many jerkasses in its cast, but the absolute queen of them all is Candy, who early on attempts to rape Chris and refuses to forgive him for daring to resist and escape, goes out of her way to sabotage her supposed best friend Jameson's relationship with his girlfriend Maureen because she's in love with him herself, and eventually becomes a professional dominatrix, which is probably the least jerky thing she's done. Her hatred for Maureen culminates in her attempting to sabotage her wedding to Jameson. It backfires. Gloriously.
  • Toadsuke from Supah Nario Bros crosses into Jerkass territory from time to time.
  • Pete from Darths and Droids. It came to a head during his stint as substitute GM. Witness his attempt to justify his actions (including turning his character R2-D2 into a complete Marty Stu) - and the others calling him out - here.
  • Half the characters of Squid Ninja, at one point of or other. Even Ikago, although he's usually more Jerk with a Heart of Gold than anything else.
  • Chex from Checkerboard Nightmare. He seems to be incapable of empathy, and have a loose grasp on reality in general. He only seems to get away with it because of Rule of Funny.
  • Homestuck
    • Snowman from the Intermission sequence is known by the Villain Protagonist as a "HUGE BITCH BLUH BLUH". It helps that she can tease him with impunity while he isn't allowed to kill her, for fear of ending the universe.
    • The Trolls are characterized as a race of Jerkasses. Except that some of them are kinder than others.
      • Karkat is characterized as an angry and misanthropic Jerkass, (theoretically) like everyone else of his kind.
      • Vriska is a particularly horrible example of a Jerkass, because the first thing we see of her is the incident in which she runs Tavros off a cliff with mind control. The fandom cheered when Karkat chewed her out.
      • Eridan is quite the Jerkass- not only is he hugely self-obsessed and just generally obnoxious, but he is also a strong proponent of killing all the lowbloods. Which he eventually partially succeeds at doing.
  • Nazi Germany in Scandinavia and The World, especially compared to his modern counterpart, who's the atoning woobie.
  • Solid Snake in Brawl in the Family.
  • Ethan from Ctrl+Alt+Del.
  • Angelika from Our Little Adventure, though she's becoming less so as the story progresses.
  • Patrik of Sarab.
  • In Soul Symphony, Charlie's rants about how his bitter rival, Tom Mustaine, is one. He even wears sunglasses indoors.
  • Elf Blood has Gipsy, a human sorceress who generally treats everyone like crap unless they hold some sort of authority over her.
  • Si-Hoo from Orange Marmalade. At his first appearance (technically second) it could easily pass as him being a Jerkass With a Heart of Gold who's simply misunderstood. Chapter 45 rolled around the corner and, no, he cannot be saved. All of the fans screamed: "he's a douche". He's dancing on a Moral Event Horizon For the Lulz. His call to Ma-ri, the main character (Iron Woobie, troubled teen) is "Hey, bitch!" and taunts her with the idea of ruining her life, while laughin.
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