History AlternateHistory / ComicBooks

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* The Creator/ImageComics book Elsewhere is this, presenting a world where both Amelia Earhart and D. B. Cooper are transported into another world and go on an adventure to free said world from a ruthless warlord. Later taken even further as [[spoiler:said world has been used by the US Government to create and distribute medicines that do not exist in our world]].

* UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar conquered Gaul (modern France), defeated Vercingetorix and annexed the territory to the Roman Empire. All of it? Yes. All of it. ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' is based on an alternate history scenario: Caesar defeated only ''most'' of the gauls, with the exception of an UndefeatableLittleVillage that resists, then and ever, the invader. All the conventional Roman warfare is useless, because the village druid created a magic potion that gives SuperStrength. All Asterix stories are either about a futile attempt of Rome to conquer this village in some non-standard way, or Asterix and Obelix making a visit to some other ancient civilization (all of them, however, were just humoristic expies of modern countries, rather than realistic portrayals of their ancient counterparts).

* ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'': [[spoiler:On account of the intervention of the superheroes, on ''both'' sides, the Vietnam War drags on and continues until 1977. However Nixon apparently still resigned. Actual nuclear bombs drop in TheEighties furthermore as the Cold War gets hot during the Secret Wars. By TheNineties, America had won the "Russian War" with the help of its superheroes and Tony Stark's weapons.]]

** The existence of costumed vigilantes (and one actual superpowered being) in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' caused several major differences from real-world history (e.g. the United States won the Vietnam War; UsefulNotes/RichardNixon is still President in 1985; the threat of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar going hot is all too real even in the late 80s; electric-powered cars became commonplace in the US). [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also]], since superheroes are real, comic books as a medium were instead dominated by pirate stories.
*** The DistantSequel comic ''ComicBook/Rorschach2020'' takes place in the same continuity as ''Watchmen'', but 35 years later. In this history's 2020, Vietnam became America's 51st state, Creator/RobertRedford has been serving as president for his fifth term, people still use pagers and landline phones as smartphones and the internet don't seem to exist, and [[Series/Watchmen2019 the events that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma]] [[BroadStrokes may or may not have happened.]] Perhaps the strangest additions (and surprisingly most relevant) are the allusions to several real-world comic creators: [[Creator/SteveDitko a man named William Myerson]] created a famous comic book-based franchise called [[Franchise/SpiderMan "Pontius Pirate"]] in the sixties, then spent his later years writing heavily political diatribes, including [[ComicBook/MrA "The Citizen"]].

* ''ComicBook/JourJ'' has this has the premise of each volume. What if the Cuban Missile crisis had gone hot? [[spoiler: France and England become the world's only superpowers after the USSR is destroyed and what's left of the US falls apart.]] What if France had preemptively bombed Nazi Germany's military buildup? [[spoiler:France becomes a fascist regime and goes to war with England.]] What if Spain was still a Muslim kingdom when Christopher Columbus sets out? [[spoiler:The expedition is killed by the descendants of Viking settlers.]] What if the Titanic hadn't sunk on its maiden voyage? [[spoiler:It still sinks two decades later, taking Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler with it.]] What if the Germans had taken Paris in World War 1? [[spoiler:The French send assassins to kill the Tsar before he can pull Russia out of the conflict, who end up killing the future Lenin and Stalin.]]

* Back around 1994, the Epic Comics series ''Lawdog'' revolved around the idea of travel, sometimes accidental, between alternate histories and alternate worlds, and a square-jawed tough cop who patrols the roads between the worlds and tries to protect the more civilized and peaceful Earths from things like invasion by technologically advanced Nazis who won World War II in some timelines, or contamination by aggressive and dangerous lifeforms from an Earth where evolution took some very different turns one or two billion years back.
* Some of the comics that Creator/AlanMoore created for America's Best Comics and DC Comics lean toward Alternate History. ComicBook/TomStrong, for example, lives in a city designed by architect Creator/WinsorMcCay (in our world, the cartoonist creator of ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo''.)
** The existence of costumed vigilantes (and one actual superpowered being) in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' caused several major differences from real-world history (e.g. the United States won the Vietnam War; UsefulNotes/RichardNixon is still President in 1985; the threat of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar going hot is all too real even in the late 80s; electric-powered cars became commonplace in the US). [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also]], since superheroes are real, comic books as a medium were instead dominated by pirate stories.
*** The DistantSequel comic ''ComicBook/Rorschach2020'' takes place in the same continuity as ''Watchmen'', but 35 years later. In this history's 2020, Vietnam became America's 51st state, Creator/RobertRedford has been serving as president for his fifth term, people still use pagers and landline phones as smartphones and the internet don't seem to exist, and [[Series/Watchmen2019 the events that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma]] [[BroadStrokes may or may not have happened.]] Perhaps the strangest additions (and surprisingly most relevant) are the allusions to several real-world comic creators: [[Creator/SteveDitko a man named William Myerson]] created a famous comic book-based franchise called [[Franchise/SpiderMan "Pontius Pirate"]] in the sixties, then spent his later years writing heavily political diatribes, including [[ComicBook/MrA "The Citizen"]].
** ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' initially starts out as a steampunk crossover of characters of Victorian literature, but in following volumes all of fiction begins to intertwine with actual history. Half-fairie [[Literature/TheFaerieQueene Queen Gloriana]] rules instead of Elizabeth I, postwar Britain sees the rise and fall of the [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Ingsoc regime]] and there's a war in [[Series/TheWestWing Qumar ]] in the Noughties.
* ''ComicBook/GiveMeLiberty'', by Dave Gibbons and Creator/FrankMiller, about the United States under the more and more authoritarian Republican president Erwin Rexall, which [[DividedStatesOfAmerica eventually fall apart]] after an assassination attempt leaves him in a coma.
* DC Comics' ''[[Creator/TangentComics Tangent]]'' books take place in a world where the Cuban Missile Crisis ends in Florida and Cuba nuking each other at roughly the same moment, turning the Cold War hot. The resulting world, compared to ours, is ahead of the times technologically (paper books are seen as antiquated and quaint) but behind the times culturally (the hippie movement has only recently begun). Despite being published by DC, this alternate reality was ''not'' a divergent DC universe; Amazons, the Justice Society, Gotham City, there's nary a concept from the DCU to be seen. This is due to the premise of the world, which takes DCU names and applies them to entirely different concepts.
* ''ComicBook/{{Arrowsmith}}'', by Creator/KurtBusiek and Carlos Pacheco, is a fantasy take on this trope. At the forging of the Peace of Charlemagne (the Pax Nicephori in the real world), the various hidden magical races of the world decided to make their existence openly known to humanity, also joining in the peace treaty. The United States of America is actually the United States of Columbia in this series, which takes place during this world's version of World War I. Dryads, trolls, dwarves, etc. live among humanity, magic co-exists side-by-side with technology. The Industrial Revolution is causing a magical revolution, as spells become mass-produced for the first time in human history.
* ''ComicBook/OmegaComplex'' is set in a world in which US president John F Kennedy wasn't assassinated; he ends the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar and gets elected for a second term, during which he sponsors research into the effects of radiation on humans.
* Vertigo's ''ComicBook/{{DMZ}}'' is a variant that alters recent American history, in that the reaction to 9/11 and the ensuing change in U.S. foreign policy, was a far more violent and self-destructive one anwhat's left of d led to the USA erupting into a second civil war. The end result is a [[CrapSackWorld less than perfect union]], with the resultant factions being the so-called Free States, the United States and the titular DMZ (formerly known as Manhattan).

* Ian Edginton and D'Israreli's ''ComicBook/ScarletTraces'' and ''Scarlet Traces: The Great Game'' are unofficial sequels to ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. Both involve a Great Britain where it became an even greater world power through the reverse engineering of the failed Martian invasion technology, which later leads to a war on UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}. However, the setting is a CrapsackWorld, with many living in poverty, and a increasingly fascist state developing.
* ''ComicBook/JourJ'' has this has the premise of each volume. What if the Cuban Missile crisis had gone hot? [[spoiler: France and England become the world's only superpowers after the USSR is destroyed and what's left of the US falls apart.]] What if France had preemptively bombed Nazi Germany's military buildup? [[spoiler:France becomes a fascist regime and goes to war with England.]] What if Spain was still a Muslim kingdom when Christopher Columbus sets out? [[spoiler:The expedition is killed by the descendants of Viking settlers.]] What if the Titanic hadn't sunk on its maiden voyage? [[spoiler:It still sinks two decades later, taking Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler with it.]] What if the Germans had taken Paris in World War 1? [[spoiler:The French send assassins to kill the Tsar before he can pull Russia out of the conflict, who end up killing the future Lenin and Stalin.]]
* ''ComicBook/MinistryOfSpace'' by Creator/WarrenEllis is an alternate history in which the UK captures all the WWII German rocket scientists before the US and USSR can. Thanks to this and the iron will of Space Ministry head John Dashwood (who funds research with stolen Nazi gold), the UK space program reaches the moon by 1960, and has colonies on Mars and the asteroid belt before the end of the 20th century, but equal rights for non-whites is unheard of.
* PatMills' ''[[ComicBook/{{Savage}} Invasion]]'', which ran in the 80s, was a straightforward story in which the USSR is conquered by the renegade Volgan republic which then launches an invasion of all Western Europe in the then [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture near future]] of 1990. When the series was resurrected in the 2000s and set in what had become modern times, it was simply declared an alternate history in which, during the 90s, Russian dissidents break away and form the Volgan republic, which then manages to conquer all of Russia, and thus the events of ''Invasion'' occur in the 90s. Each StoryArc of ''Savage'' opens with the words "Another Britain" to reinforce this.
* ''ComicBook/{{Block 109}}''. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is killed in 1941. UsefulNotes/NaziGermany wins the war against the Western Allies but is losing the war against USSR. Features Hitler's dreamed capital of Germania, some StupidJetpackHitler stuff such as Nazi nuclear weapons, futuristic aicrafts, futuristic soldiers in armors, mechas and even [[SyntheticPlague zombie-making virus]].
* ''{{ComicBook/Lilith}}'': The titular heroine gradually alters history. First in small ways, leaving an almost unnoticeable effect on history, and then in major ways. Like averting the assassination of [[spoiler: Emperor Commodus]], and reversing the outcome of the Battle of [[spoiler: Sekigahara]].

* MiloManara's ''Borgia'' series is more or less faithful to history, but the last book goes off the rails: the King of France dies in the eruption of the Vesuvius, Savonarola is sodomized to death by the Pope on a bed of spikes, Cesar Borgia conquers cities with Creator/LeonardoDaVinci's working superweapons and flying machines, etc. Though the end sort of snaps back with the death of Cesar in Spain.
* The ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'' series obviously diverged from our history at some point before the 1940's : Tibet rose as a superpower (the Yellow Empire) at that time, accumulating enough super-weapons to conquer the world through a Blitzkrieg World War Three, before being defeated by a world Resistance movement led by the British Empire thanks to their superior super-weapons. Then, during the 1950's, the Soviet Union almost managed to conquer the West thanks to Soviet Super Science and even though its plan was foiled at the last moment, it's very likely it would have resulted in World War Four. However, the series has very little continuity and those wide technological and geopolitical divergences are not really taken into account in other episodes.
* In ''{{ComicBook/Uber}}'', the Nazis successfully create an army of near-unstoppable superhumans – but only in April 1945, when Germany was already an utter ruin. Thus, as one character describes it, it's not so much a story of "Germany winning" as one of "everybody losing". The course of World War 2 rapidly changes as the series progresses, with a new German offensive on the Eastern Front, the destruction of most of Paris, and the partial defeat of the US Navy by Japanese superhumans.
* ''Mini Comics Included'' features the Literary Commandos; in their world, just about every celebrated writer in history is, uh, ''not'' a writer (except for Charles Dickens, who is a OneBookAuthor and whose only book is crappy and long forgotten). No, instead they're either members of the elite Literary Commandos, who guard the timestream, or among the cadre of villains who threaten it. Members of the LC include the taciturn archer Marksman Twain, the cunning ranger Virginia Wolf, and the massive wrestler Thomas Pain.
* ''ComicBook/TheRoyalsMastersOfWar'', has the presence of super powered royalty though [[InSpiteOfANail much remains similar to real life history]]. Their intervention in the Second World War, however, makes more drastic deviations from our timeline. [[spoiler:With the war ending with the bombing of Hitler's bunker in Berlin by the RAF, guided by one of the British Royals.]]

* ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' runs on this trope: [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]] had his mind altered to not only be a ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} agent, but also believe that the Nazis were actually winning and the Allies created the Cosmic Cube to alter history and have it so that they won instead. When he takes over the United States, one of the changes he does in have the history books changed to have his view of history inserted.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Chassis}}'': History deviates during UsefulNotes/TheGreatWar. ThePlague known as 'The Virus' or the 'Perfect Plague' swept across the world in 1915; forcing hasty peace talks and and an end to the war in 1916. A Global Unification Congress (GUC), consisting of the world leaders present at the peace conference, is established to find a cure for the plague. By the time a cure is found in 1917, 80 million people have dies worldwide. The money and effort put into finding a cure rapidly advance the development of science and technology. Lower world population figures make it easier to deal with poverty and food shortages on a global level, averting the Great Depression and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. By 1949, the GUC has rebuilt Europe, there is not a sign of global aggression in sight, births are at an all time high, Eleanor Roosevelt is president of the USA, and [[FlyingCar the Aerorun]] is the number one sport in the world.
* ''ComicBook/TheLastWest'' takes place in a world where the first atomic bomb test was a failure, leading to the US abandoning its quest for atomic weapons and all scientific and technological progress halting in 1945.
* ''ComicBook/BakerStreet'' is set in an alternate-universe London where World War II never happened and the Victorian influence on British society continued into the 1980s. Supporting material mentions that Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia, but was foiled from any further expansion by an alliance between the UK, France, Russia and America.
* ''ComicBook/JFKSecretOps'': In this comic's timeline, John F. Kennedy survived the bullet to the head he took on November 22nd, 1963. From there he started hunting down everyone who was involved in his assassination attempt at the behest of his government.

* Much like the aforementioned ''Spider-Man: Life Story'', ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'' avoids ComicBookTime and actually shows a universe where the Justice Society fought in World War II, Hal Jordan served in the Korean War, and Superman and Wonder Woman helped out with Korea, among other changes. ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' added to this by revealing that UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy was never killed in this universe.

** The existence of costumed vigilantes (and one actual superpowered being) in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' caused several major differences from real-world history (e.g. the United States won the Vietnam War; UsefulNotes/RichardNixon is still President in 1985; the threat of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar going hot is all too real even in the late 80s; electric-powered cars became commonplace in the US).

* ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'': [[spoiler:On account of the intervention of the superheroes, on ''both'' sides, the Vietnam War drags on and continues until 1977. However Nixon apparently still resigned. Actual nuclear bombs drop in TheEighties furthermore as the Cold War gets hot during the Secret Wars. By TheNineties, America had won the "Russian War" with the help of its superheroes and Tony Stark's weapons.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has a point of divergence in World War II, when a formula that can turn people into superhumans is invented and immediately, unsuccessfully weaponized. The ongoing attempts to turn superheroes into something that can be used in war instead results in the superheroes being the focus of a massive media empire. The main deviations are the presence of [[EvilInc Vought-American]] throughout the twentieth century, Robert Kennedy winning the presidency, George W. Bush dying in a chainsaw accident before his political career manifested and the destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge [[spoiler:due to a botched rescue attempt by the Seven]] instead of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has a point of divergence in World War II, when a formula that can turn people into superhumans is invented and immediately, unsuccessfully weaponized. The ongoing attempts to turn superheroes into something that can be used in war instead results in the superheroes being the focus of a massive media empire. Most notably, an attempt by a powerful but completely untrained group of superheroes to board the plane that knocked down the World Trade Center causes the same plane to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge instead.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'': [[spoiler:On account of the intervention of the superheroes, on ''both'' sides, the Vietnam War drags on and continues until 1977. However Nixon apparently still resigned. Actual nuclear bombs drop in TheEighties furthermore as the Cold War gets hot during the Secret Wars. By TheNineties, America had won the "Russian War" with the help of its superheroes and Tony Stark's weapons.]]
* In ''ComicBook/WonderWomanOdyssey'' Themyscira was destroyed when Diana was a young child, leading to the death of Hippolyta and Diana being raised in exile with surviving Amazons.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'': [[spoiler:On account of the intervention of the superheroes, on ''both'' sides, the Vietnam War drags on and continues until 1977. However Nixon apparently still resigned. Actual nuclear bombs drop in TheEighties furthermore as the Cold War gets hot during the Secret Wars. By TheNineties, America had won the "Russian War" with the help of its superheroes and Tony Stark's weapons.]]

* ''ComicBook/JFKSecretOps'': In this comic's timeline, John F. Kennedy survived the bullet to the head he took on November 22nd, 1963. From there he started hunting down everyone who was involved in his assassination attempt at the behest of his government.

* ''ComicBook/BakerStreet'' is set in an alternate-universe London where World War II never happened and the Victorian influence on British society continued into the 1980s. Supporting material mentions that Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia, but was foiled from any further expansion by an alliance between the UK, France, Russia and America.

* ''ComicBook/TheLastWest'' takes place in a world where the first atomic bomb test was a failure, leading to the US abandoning its quest for atomic weapons and all scientific and technological progress halting in 1945.

* ''ComicBook/{{Chassis}}'': History deviates during UsefulNotes/TheGreatWar. ThePlague known as 'The Virus' or the 'Perfect Plague' swept across the world in 1915; forcing hasty peace talks and and an end to the war in 1916. A Global Unification Congress (GUC), consisting of the world leaders present at the peace conference, is established to find a cure for the plague. By the time a cure is found in 1917, 80 million people have dies worldwide. The money and effort put into finding a cure rapidly advance the development of science and technology. Lower world population figures make it easier to deal with poverty and food shortages on a global level, averting the Great Depression and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. By 1949, the GUC has rebuilt Europe, there is not a sign of global aggression in sight, births are at an all time high, Elanor Roosevelt is president of the USA, and [[FlyingCar the Aerorun]] is the number one sport in the world.

* ''ComicBook/{{Chassis}}'': History deviates during Useful/TheGreatWar. ThePlague known as 'The Virus' or the 'Perfect Plague' swept across the world in 1915; forcing hasty peace talks and and an end to the war in 1916. A Global Unification Congress (GUC), consisting of the world leaders present at the peace conference, is established to find a cure for the plague. By the time a cure is found in 1917, 80 million people have dies worldwide. The money and effort put into finding a cure rapidly advance the development of science and technology. Lower world population figures make it easier to deal with poverty and food shortages on a global level, averting the Great Depression and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. By 1949, the GUC has rebuilt Europe, there is not a sign of global agression in sight, births are at an all time high, Elanor Roosevelt is president of the USA, and [[FlyingCar the Aerorun]] is the number one sport in the world.

* The graphic novel ''Rome West'' runs on this, as its premise is a Roman fleet being blown far off course by a storm and arriving in the future site of the real world NYC. From there, they strike alliances with the local tribes and create a new Roman Republic which comes to dominate North America, except for small colonial purchases by the British and Dutch (the Spanish being driven off after the Western Romans capture Columbus' crew and reverse engineer their guns). Among other things also demonstrated in the wider world, the Byzantine Empire lasts until the late 20th century, Spain and China fight a colonial war in Australia, and the Panama Canal gets dug by the Western Romans in the 16th century.