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Jerkass Woobie/Web Comics (view source)

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{{trope}}
* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' has a number of these:
** Vaarsuvius, {{spoiler|especially after using some very nasty black magic to save hir family, and all they do is look at V in utter disgust.}}
** [[The Scrappy]], Miko Miyazaki, however, takes the cake. She's a fanatical [[Lawful Good]] paladin who takes many morally questionable actions ({{spoiler|but doesn't lose her Paladin status until she kills Lord Shojo}}), and has a holier-than-thou attitude that causes her to be almost universally disliked even by her own allies. It's not until {{spoiler|her [[Heel Realization]] / [[Heel Face Door Slam]] / [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]] moment}} that she becomes [[The Woobie]], but {{spoiler|she doesn't even get a [[Died Happily Ever After]] end. "Redemption isn't for everyone"? Ouch!}}
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{{quote| "Geez. That [[Lizard Folk]] is a jackass, but he doesn't deserve this. It's like watching someone duel their own puppy."}}
** Tsukiko has no patience for living beings, only the Undead, and positively bullies Redcloak. But the Monster in the Dark knows that at least half the reason for this is that she's always been treated badly by the living, and she can trust the Undead. As he comments after {{spoiler|Redcloak has her killed and eaten by her "children"}} Tsukiko just wants to be loved.
* ''[[Drow TalesDrowtales]]'' seems to like this one, half the cast seems to suffer symptoms of this. Perhaps most notably:
** [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=67 Syphile], Ariel's abusive older sister.
** [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=0 Sil'lice], who suffers from acute [[Fantastic Racism]].
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** Given that this is a [[Crapsack World]] where even small children are expected to know how to fight to death if need be...
* Jamie in ''[[Khaos Komix]]''. Behaves like a total jerk, which is partly a facade. Somehow, he hasn't completely driven all his friends away. His backstory is especially troubled.
* ''[[Dan and MabsMab's Furry Adventures]]'': Abel. He is strongly implied to have driven all of his previous roommates to insanity, feeds off of [[Bad Powers, Bad People|misery]], and never leaves [[Sarcasm Mode]]. On the other hand, he has a lot of bad luck and [[Deus Angst Machina|his backstory]] is tragic even for a [[Crap Saccharine World]].
* Candy from ''[[Girls Withwith Slingshots]]'': a petty, nasty little (un)professional dominatrix, who was (is?) the closest thing the strip had to a villain...until Jameson (her best and only friend) tells her off due to the increasingly mean pranks she was playing on Jameson's fiancée, Maureen (up to and including [http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/GWS786.html replacing their wedding rings] with [[Dude, Not Funny|baby seal leather cock rings]] ''at the ceremony''). You can't help but feel sorry for her when Jameson tells her to go pound sand. And doubly so when guest star [[Something Positive (Webcomic)|Davan]] - possibly the king of this trope among webcomic characters - calmly but brutally [[Lampshade|lampshades]] her stupidity.
* Veser from ''[[Hanna Is Not a BoysBoy's Name]]''. Conrad also sometimes counts, but he volleys between [[Jerkass Woobie]] and [[The Chew Toy]].
* ''[[String Theory (Webcomicwebcomic)|String Theory]]'' has Dr. Schtein, who is an absolute [[Jerkass]]. The revelation that his mother abused him, his emotional failings, and the fact that he spends the majority of chapters 2 and 3 either ill or beaten up launch him into [[Jerkass Woobie]] territory.
* Speaking of ''[[Something Positive (Webcomic)|Something Positive]]'', the fact that Mike holding this status can be considered [[Character Development]] tells you what an utter asshole he used to be.
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]''
** Zimmy, who viciously lashes out at random people. But then, she's constantly under strain, [[The Insomniac|never sleeps]], and stuck with an [[Power Incontinence|uncontrollable]] ability she expects to last until she dies. And there are two other students she cares about.
** Recently, {{spoiler|Ysengrin, of all forest people}}, was moved close to it.
{{quote| '''[http://gunnerkrigg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board{{=}}general&action{{=}}display{{=}}843{{=}}1#32975 Fan]:''' God, I just want to pet the poor murderous bastard. It's nice to see him evoke an emotion other than fear or anger.}}
** Jeanne. {{spoiler|She's separated from her lover and turned into a human sacrifice by her friends, meets her lover again only for him to be murdered right in front of her, lies at the bottom of a river alone until she dies, and is forced to guard the river as a ghost until her ''soul'' rots away.}} Her reaction to seeing a genuinely happy teenage girl is to assume she's mocking her and try to kill her.
* Luka of ''[[The Meek (Webcomic)|The Meek]]'' is a vengeful [[Badass]] dictator who comes from an extremely misogynistic and warlike culture and has a tumultuous relationship with his wife and children. At the same time, his life has been one long string of [[Break the Cutie]] that's left him physically mutilated, and despite the above, he does seem to genuinely love his family.<br />And unfortunately, as if to prove that [[It Got Worse|things really CAN get worse]], {{spoiler|his beloved wife dies a horrific death right before his eyes}}. This not only sent his Woobie points through the roof, but also seems to have final broke him, and he seems well on the way to {{spoiler|taking the step to being a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]].}}
* Most of the trolls in ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' have some degree of this, considering what they went through during their game session and the consequences of it, but Karkat definitely takes the cake out of all of them. He's unfailingly violent and egotistical, but tends to [[It's All My Fault|beat himself up just as much]], especially when {{spoiler|[[My Greatest Failure|he fails to get Sollux into the Medium]] before the Vast Glub hits.}}
** Then he sees {{spoiler|an alternate universe version of his mentor destroy Prospit right after he finally wakes up, watches his team fall apart, eventually culminating in Eridan killing two of Karkat's friends and blinding another, and the nicest troll of them all goes insane and decides to kill everybody.}} The poor guy really needs to be cut a break. (His comments about [[Foe Yay|certain elements]] of troll romance make it clear that he thinks no one will ever be able to hate him as much as he hates himself.)
** Vriska is another big one. When she's introduced, she's the [[Token Evil Teammate]], a sociopathic [[Smug Snake]] who [[Kick the Dog|does horrible things]] and seems to have few to no redeeming qualities. Then we find out [[Abusive Parents|how she got]] [[Trauma Conga Line|that way]]. Even her obnoxious demeanor can traced back to {{spoiler|repressed guilt and self-loathing}}.
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** [[Big Bad|Fructose Rioflavin]], when his [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100831.html origin is revealed.] Even prior to that, he could inspire some sympathy for his [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20070327.html pitiful desperation over his continual failures.]
** And Galatea certainly [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080719.html has her moments.]
* Gwynn in ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]''. There's probably a lot of [[Your Mileage May Vary]] here, but anyhow...She's ill-tempered, petty, and selfish, and usually has a kind of love-hate relationship with even those who are the closest to her. But as time passes, we also get to see her uncertainties, weak moments, and regrets over being so selfish as well as so aggressive towards others when she was really being defensive because she knew she was in the wrong. She has some really rough times, too, as the story goes on; there was a time when she may have had it harder than the other characters, though by now, almost everyone's gone through enough hell to surpass even that.
 
{{reflist}}
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