Only Sane Man/Comic Books

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Examples of an Only Sane Man in Comic Books include:

  • Subversion in Watchmen: Rorschach considers himself the Only Sane Man, but is batshit insane. In the end it gets double subverted, and it turns out that he was probably right.
    • Dr. Manhattan is an inversion--he's all but omniscient, but his irregular perception of the timeline causes him to seem insane to people with a regular linear perception of time.
    • Both Nite Owls are probably the legitimate examples, especially the first one; they realise how messed all superheroes are, including themselves, but can't do anything about it. They're still the most level-headed capes in the book.
  • Ironically the initial characterization of The DCU's Plastic Man, who was a straight man (with somewhat goofy powers) in a world full of total nutbars. Every incarnation of him since has made him a total nutbar instead.
  • Basically the entire point of normalman, where norm is the only, um, normal man on a planet full of violent superhumans who quite literally get off on crazy "action scenes". The fact that he's a Deadpan Snarker indicates how well he takes his situation.
  • In Twisted ToyFare Theatre, Spider-Man is basically the only person in the entire world with a single lick of common sense. However, this has caused him to become so jaded he flat-out refuses to participate in any kind of action if he can avoid it, for example immediately taking the blue pill to go back to sleep when Morpheus offered to take him to The Matrix.
    • Well, Spider-Man might have company in the "not completely out of his mind" department in Dr. Doom, the series' other main character. Maybe.
  • Sara in Knights of the Dinner Table.
  • In Mortadelo Y Filemon, Filemon is the only main character who occasionally shows a hint of sanity and common sense.
    • Ex. The Black Gang has escaped from their shared prison cell. Filemon: "Ten holes in the wall. Only those idiots could have thought of that." Mortadelo and the Superintendant: "What do you mean?"
    • It's more like a Sanity Ball between Mortadelo, Filemon and the Superintendant. The Superintendant ussually holds it when he has to explain the mission, Mortadelo and Filemon take turns during it.
  • Nodwick frequently plays the role of Only Sane Man to his party, having by far the greatest amount of common sense of the lot and being less bound by the Contractual Genre Blindness that seems to come naturally to adventurers. This happens in almost every standalone story they're in, but by far the most noticeable is the comic's pastiche of [dead link] The Lord of the Rings.
  • It might be a scary thought that the Caged Demonwolf, Devourer of Worlds may be the Only Sane Man of Empowered.
  • Green Lantern seems to be the only person written as remotely sane in All Star Batman and Robin.
  • I Luv Halloween - Finch, a skull-mask wearing little kid who stuffs razor blades into apples as revenge for getting an apple for Halloween and sets a woman's head on fire, is actually the most level-headed and rational (next to Devil-lad) of the amoral cast of trick-or-treaters.
  • Asterix and Panoramix are the only two in their town who occasionally show a hint of sanity and common sense.
  • The Joker is a mass-murdering, antisocial lunatic. However, his deductive reasoning and scientific knowledge are dangerously functional, his ability to predict the outcome of situations is often only foiled by abstract principles, and he even drops hints of understanding that the universe he lives in is fictional. Writer pending, of course.
  • Zibarro from All-Star Superman is a very literal Only Sane Man: He's the only Bizarro on the planet who acts like a normal person, instead of a deranged backwards-speaking manchild.
    • If you're not aware, Zibarro was what happened when Bizarro Superman decided everyone on Earth should have a Bizarro-clone; Superman lives on Earth, so he has Bizarro Superman, but Bizarro lives on Earth, so he has Bizarro Bizarro: Zibarro.
  • Franklin from the Peanuts comics: he is the only character not to have some sort of quirk or obsession. He is also the only person to point out exactly how weird everyone else in Charlie Brown's neighbourhood is.
  • Wallace Wells, Kim Pine and Stacey Pilgrim are by far the most consistently sane characters in the Scott Pilgrim series.
  • In the Giffen-DeMatteis-Helfer Justice League, J'onn J'onnz was this for the Justice League of America, while Captain Atom was for the Justice League of Europe.
  • Deadpool sometimes has a sidekick named Weasel, a gadgeteer that builds some of his equipment for him. During Deadpool's time with the Great Lakes Avengers this was especially prominent.
  • Batman's trusted Battle Butler Alfred often has his moments. Either he'll just snark or suggest Bruce actually eat something.
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