History BrownNote / ComicBooks

--->'''Judge Fear:''' [[{{Catchphrase}} Gaaaaaze into the face of Fear!]]\\

** ''ComicBook/NewGods'': The Anti-Life Equation as introduced by Creator/JackKirby was initially a mysterious "thing" which would somehow allow Darkseid to dominate all of life. Creator/GrantMorrison, in their ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'' and ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', explicitly revealed that it is a fundamental mathematical proof that life is not worth living, thus allowing the wielder to destroy the wills of any being by simply exposing them to it.[[note]]There also exists the Life Equation, which is the fundamental proof that life ''is'' worth living. [[spoiler:The heroes use the Life Equation to counter the Anti-Life near the end of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.]][[/note]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Cossacks}}'', the [[OldSoldier old Cossack warrior]] Sachko uses a whistle that humans can't hear, but horse can, and it's so painful to their ears that they can run out of control and dismount the rider.

* ''ComicBook/{{MINDMGMT}}'' has multiple examples, ranging from [[SubliminalAdvertising messages inserted into advertisements that only psychic agents can see]] to Assassination Letters and Versus Verses, who kill anyone who reads or hears them, respectively.

* In ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire: The Gallimaufry'', there is a game called "Martian Charades", in which a human performs a series of ritualized gestures at an audience of aliens. The gestures have all been clinically proven to be hysterically funny to almost every race in the cosmos except humans themselves. The alien who can keep a straight face the longest is the winner. Moreover, the sight of an audience of multivariate aliens falling all over itself in laughter tends to make the performing human sick. Making the human sick is considered an important secondary goal of the game. (All of this was suggested in a fan letter after Foglio mentioned "Martian Charades" in an issue of ''Buck Godot'', and Foglio embraced it as canon.)

* Venus of the ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas'' can affect minds with her song. Usually she puts them in a state of pleasure, but when [[spoiler:she found out that she wasn't a goddess, but actually a Siren]], her wail created a massive depression field.
* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' has Cacofonix the Bard, a DreadfulMusician whose singing is so feared, a running gag is for him to be bound and gagged while the rest are having a party. His singing is so bad, it can send legionnaires and even HornyVikings into mental breakdown, send wild beasts and even a ''dragon'' running away in fear. It might even anger the ''gods'' themselves, given that he had his treehouse zapped by a bolt of lightning and caused rain to fall just from his singing. Even when he was singing ''[[BeyondTheImpossible indoors]]''.

* In the one-shot ''Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum'', the Hamburger Lady believes that her face is so deformed that anyone not already insane can't look upon it. Dr Arkham tries to prove her wrong by looking at her face... and is later implied to have gone insane because of it. [[spoiler: Except that she was a figment of his imagination.]]

* From ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'', Fone Bone's reading voice causes mild drowsiness for human listeners, and debilitating pain for rat creatures. This is probably mostly because he always reads ''Literature/MobyDick''.
* In Creator/PhilFoglio's ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire: The Gallimaufry,'' there is a game called "Martian Charades", in which a human performs a series of ritualized gestures at an audience of aliens. The gestures have all been clinically proven to be hysterically funny to almost every race in the cosmos except humans themselves. The alien who can keep a straight face the longest is the winner. Moreover, the sight of an audience of multivariate aliens falling all over itself in laughter tends to make the performing human sick. Making the human sick is considered an important secondary goal of the game. (All of this was suggested in a fan letter after Foglio mentioned "Martian Charades" in an issue of ''Buck Godot,'' and Foglio embraced it as canon.)
* ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost''

* Amelia Mintz from ''ComicBook/{{Chew}}'' is a saboscrivner, meaning that she can write or talk about food so vividly that it can cause people to actually taste it. Usually she uses it to do her job (she's a food critic). However, when terrorists try to take over the building, she proceeds to describe a particularly nasty meal, sending them to the hospital. Later, it was revealed that her power aren't completely developed, and at its full potential it could [[spoiler:induce fatal food poisoning.]] Eventually she [[spoiler:uses it to write a manuscript which would kill anyone, who recently ate chicken.]]
* This also occurred in Ellis' ''City of Silence'', where a hacker overrides every TV channel so demons can "relate all the secrets of hell on live TV". Hearing these secrets drives viewers insane... except for the protagonists, who "knew it all already" on account of [[spoiler: being natives of hell]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' has a face horrifying enough to make [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Big Bertha]] throw up at the mere sight of it when he unmasks.
* In the [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Disney comic]] "Zio Paperone e lo slogan invincibile", John D. Rockerduck hears of an ancient "slogan", a Scottish phrase which supposedly leaves a lasting impression upon anyone who hears it. He proceeds to acquire it and proceeds to incorporate it in a grand advertising campaign for all his products. Too late, he finds out that it's a "slogan" in the old sense... namely, a Scottish clan's BattleCry. It leaves an "impression" upon its listeners all right--anyone who hears it instantly goes into blind panic. Not only Rockerduck is forced to pay a [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill ridiculously large fine]], all his potential customers get conditioned into instinctively fearing his products.
* {{ComicBook/Enigma}} features "The Interior League", a supervillain team who sneaks into peoples homes and... rearranges their furniture. In such a way that when viewing it, the owner goes stark raving mad and murders their whole family.
* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis
** Pied Piper, usually a mostly harmless reformed villain in Franchise/TheDCU, turns out to be able to cause a Brown Note effect with his flute, as demonstrated in ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis''. Not only does he [[YourHeadAsplode kill Desaad]] with it, he ''takes out Apokolips''. And he does it using the music of Music/{{Queen}}. Pied Piper could do this because he was one of the rare humans who possessed the entire Anti-Life Equation inside his mind.
** In that same event, Comicbook/{{Superman}} destroyed Darkseid by creating a sound that disrupted his energy form.
* [[Franchise/TheDCU DCU]] villain Johnny Sorrow's face instantly kills anyone who sees it.

* ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency''.
** Used with more grounding in reality in the fifth issue, Disturbing subaudible frequencies are a major element of the mystery explored in this issue, and one character mentions the original Brown Note myth.
** Also used in ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency'' #3 with an alien invasion in the form of a signal that contains an alien society in its entirety. Exposure is dangerous even in the form of programming code on a computer screen. Merely reading the code makes an agent's eyes bleed as she struggles to keep the information from reprogramming her mind.
* A ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' story seemed to be about this when people celebrating a [[AttackOfTheTownFestival revived pagan festival]] became many interesting shades of crazy while some scientists were conducting mysterious tests at a nearby facility [[spoiler: it turns out that [[AFeteWorseThanDeath the festival itself was the cause]], since the scientists' equipment was not only unplugged but ''never worked to begin with'']].
* The face of Dinu from the the [[MarvelUniverse Marvel]] comic ''ComicBook/TheInhumans'' is so ugly all who see it die.
* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'':
** The series must be the chief proponent of the trope, filled with "superdimensional" sounds and words with both positive and negative effects. There's sounds that cause rapid cancer, sounds that opens your consciousness similarly to an explosive, permanent LSD trip, sounds that make you throw up but only if you're a secret agent with multiple cover stories and at one point a hyperdimensional villain is ''defeated by the word "POP"''. (It makes him go pop.)
** ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' even posits that ''the alphabet itself'' is a Brown Note, the true name of a powerful demon that the Conspiracy uses to restrict human minds by inculcating the name as a sort of mantra in children.
* Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'':
** The comic had a sonic virus that melted off its child victims' skin right down to their bones and animated their skeletons. It spread through the screams of the adult witnesses.
** On a more mundane level, [[ShellShockedVeteran the sheer trauma of dealing with the mess the virus made]] was a major contributing factor to the Plutonian [[SanitySlippage going over the edge]].

* Judge Fear (one of a group of undead {{Evil Counterpart}}s) in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' has the ability to kill anyone who looks at his face through sheer terror, typically by lifting his helmet while delivering his catchphrase. [[spoiler:The title character is sufficiently badass to shrug it off and cave his face in with his bare hands.]]
-->'''Judge Fear:''' [[{{Catchphrase}} Gaaaaaze into the face of Fear!]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Dredd:''' Gaze into the fist of Dredd!]]

** The strip featured "Lena the Hyena", who was supposed to be so ugly that the sight of her face would cause insanity in Dogpatch residents ''and the reader'', so her face wasn't shown at first. Eventually there was a contest to decide what she looked like.[[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/lena.jpg Basil Wolverton won.]] Lena later made a cameo in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' (as a sex offender in Toontown).
** Stupefyin' Jones was the opposite. She was so stunningly beautiful that any male who looked at her would freeze, rooted to the spot. (She was a deadly hazard for any confirmed bachelor on Sadie Hawkins Day, and she would often use her powers then on purpose, [[ForTheEvulz simply for fun]].) Her cousin Available Jones (who was always available -- for a price) wasn't above providing her power for a fee if anyone needed someone subdued.
* In Mike Carey's ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'', a primordial Jin En Mok creature in human guise punishes a janitor, who disturbed his train of thought, by giving him a gold coin bearing "the sigil Calx." As the janitor stares transfixed at the sigil, the Jin En Mok tells him that he will look at it more often each day, with a corresponding increase in pain and pleasure, until he dies within a year.
* Creator/MarvelComics villain Angar the Screamer had the power to cause nightmarish hallucinations by screaming. He would then rob his victims while they were paralyzed with horror. Amnesia would set in after the effect faded, leaving the victims wondering where they'd left their wallets.
* The three-part comic series ''Memetic'' involves the viral spread of a picture of a sloth giving a thumbs up, which causes anyone who sees it to experience a wave of euphoria [[spoiler:and turn into a screaming zombie not twelve hours later. Among other things.]]

* In Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'' mythos (and consequently Franchise/TheDCU), there is the ''Anti-Life Equation'', initially a mysterious "thing" which would somehow allow Darkseid to dominate all of life. Creator/GrantMorrison, in their ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'' and ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', explicitly revealed that it is a fundamental mathematical proof that life is not worth living, thus allowing the wielder to destroy the wills of any being by simply exposing them to it. [[note]] There also exists the Life Equation, which is the fundamental proof that life ''is'' worth living. [[spoiler:The heroes use the Life Equation to counter the Anti-Life near the end of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.]][[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}'': Looking the Curator in the eye turns the viewer to stone, which the Curator then treats as part of an exhibit along with his other victims.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' #45, Ishtar is a [[GodInHumanForm goddess in human form]] working as an exotic dancer, and apparently she's been holding back the full extent of her dancing talents. After a visit from Dream and Delirium, she stops holding back. Her last dance kills the audience and burns the strip club to the ground.

* Jeannette of ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' is a centuries old banshee who can make people relive her botched execution with her song. Franchise/WonderWoman, of all people, experienced it firsthand, and the fact that it didn't cause any permanent damage is itself a miracle.
* In ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' and shown in greater detail in the ''Siege'' mini-series, the Shield finally raises up and roars something so powerful it stuns everyone and causes their ears to pop. A translator able to piece together what he said revealed a three-word, five-syllable phrase: [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour "It's Clobberin' Time!"]]]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' has the Mind Virus, a magical infection which was created by an evil wizard who wanted to instill unquestioning obedience to himself and only himself in his slaves. It is a living idea that spreads simply by being communicated to its victims and takes root by allowing its victim to feel only pleasure and no pain. Even [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the wizard himself ended up succumbing to it]]. The only people who were immune to it were children and an old wizard who had to damage [[EarAche his own ears in order to protect himself from it.]]
* One issue of ''Peter Parker, the Spectacular ComicBook/SpiderMan'' gave Kraven the Hunter a girlfriend named Calypso, who could play the drums in such a way that it interfered with Peter's spider-sense.
* When Marvel Comics had the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' license, they did a ''Deep Space Nine'' Dominion War crossover involving ''Deep Space Nine'', the TNG crew and (barely, for obvious reasons) Kes from Voyager, set during the Dominion War, where the Dominion tried to incapacitate all the telepaths from the Alpha Quadrant with what amounted to an earworm. It flipped your brain, so friends were enemies and enemies friends. When Bashir and Beverly Crusher figured it out, they fought it back with another earworm. (TNG telepaths ''liked'' sharing thoughts on the aether.)

* One of ''ComicBook/ThargsFutureShocks'' from ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' written by Creator/AlanMoore gave a spin on the alien parasite, ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers''-type tale by suggesting that an alien life form could even be as abstract as an idea. One such "idea" takes over the mind of a person once he/she is told the "idea" by someone already possessed by it.

** It has a literal brown note in the form of the bowel disruptor gun, which has settings including "loose", "watery" and "prolapse". And more creative later settings like "Intestinal Maelstrom", "Unspeakable Gut Horror", "Rectal Volcano", and everyone's favorite, "Shat Into Unconsciousness".
** Also in ''Transmetropolitan'' are the [[{{Blipvert}} buybombs, a momentary flash of concentrated subliminal advertising]] that comes from the TV screen, which then causes those exposed to see the commercials in their dreams as they sleep.
* In ''The Apocalypse Suite'' arc of ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'', the antagonist has constructed an orchestra of the sadistic and suicidal to play a symphony that will end the world. Similarly, The White Violin is capable of making heads explode and bodies tear themselves apart by just barely scraping her strings.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': To look straight at Medusa is to die via being TakenForGranite.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Looking the Curator in the eye turns the viewer to stone, which the Curator then treats as part of an exhibit along with his other victims.

* An old ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost'' comic had a story about a scarecrow so un-scary that the Ghostly Trio gave it the scariest face in existence: a photo of the Ogre of the Black Pool. It was so scary it even scared ghosts! In fact, the only thing it couldn't scare was a sweet little old lady who painted over the scarecrow's face with a friendly one when it came to life and went berserk. (Those old Harvey comics could get ''weird''.)

* Pied Piper, usually a mostly harmless reformed villain in Franchise/TheDCU, turns out to be able to cause a Brown Note effect with his flute, as demonstrated in ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis''. Not only does he [[YourHeadAsplode kill Desaad]] with it, he ''takes out Apokolips''. And he does it using the music of Music/{{Queen}}. Pied Piper could do this because he was one of the rare humans who possessed the entire Anti-Life Equation inside his mind.
** In that same event, Comicbook/{{Superman}} destroyed Darkseid by creating a sound that disrupted his energy form.
* [[Franchise/TheDCU DCU]] villain Johnny Sorrow's face instantly kills anyone who sees it.
** Ditto for the face of Dinu from the the [[MarvelUniverse Marvel]] comic ''ComicBook/TheInhumans''.

* In the [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Disney comic]] "Zio Paperone e lo slogan invincibile", John D. Rockerduck hears of an ancient "slogan", a Scottish phrase which supposedly leaves a lasting impression upon anyone who hears it. He proceeds to acquire it and proceeds to incorporate it in a grand advertising campaign for all his products. Too late, he finds out that it's a "slogan" in the old sense... namely, a Scottish clan's BattleCry. It leaves an "impression" upon its listeners all right--anyone who hears it instantly goes into blind panic. Not only Rockerduck is forced to pay a [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill ridiculously large fine]], all his potential customers get conditioned into instictively fearing his products.

* Creator/WarrenEllis used this trope again, but with more grounding in reality, in the fifth issue of ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency''. Disturbing subaudible frequencies are a major element of the mystery explored in this issue, and one character mentions the original Brown Note myth.

* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' must be the chief proponent of the trope, filled with "superdimensional" sounds and words with both positive and negative effects. There's sounds that cause rapid cancer, sounds that opens your consciousness similarly to an explosive, permanent LSD trip, sounds that make you throw up but only if you're a secret agent with multiple cover stories and at one point a hyperdimensional villain is ''defeated by the word "POP"''. (It makes him go pop.)

* Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' had a sonic virus that melted off its child victims' skin right down to their bones and animated their skeletons. It spread through the screams of the adult witnesses.

* In Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'' mythos (and consequently Franchise/TheDCU), there is the ''Anti-Life Equation'', initially a mysterious "thing" which would somehow allow Darkseid to dominate all of life. Creator/GrantMorrison, in his ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'' and ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', explicitly revealed that it is a fundamental mathematical proof that life is not worth living, thus allowing the wielder to destroy the wills of any being by simply exposing them to it.
** There also exists the Life Equation, which is the fundamental proof that life ''is'' worth living. [[spoiler:The heroes use the Life Equation to counter the Anti-Life near the end of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.]]

* In ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' and shown in greater detail in the ''Siege'' mini-series, the Shield finally raises up roars something so powerful it stuns everyone and causes their ears to pop. A translator able to piece together what he said revealed a three-word, five-syllable phrase: [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour "It's Clobberin' Time!"]]]]

* The comic book ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' has a literal brown note in the form of the bowel disruptor gun, which has settings including "loose", "watery" and "prolapse". And more creative later settings like "Intestinal Maelstrom", "Unspeakable Gut Horror", "Rectal Volcano", and everyone's favorite, "Shat Into Unconsciousness".

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', there's an idea so disturbing that anyone who hears it has to tell someone else, ''and then kill themselves''. It's stopped by having the last victim tell it to a film producer, then be restrained. The producer declares it "too downbeat" and promptly [[CompletelyMissingThePoint rewrites it to be more cheerful]].

* ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' must be the chief proponent of the trope, filled with "superdimensional" sounds and words with both positive and negative effects. There's sounds that cause rapid cancer, sounds that opens your consciousness similarly to an explosive, permanent LSD trip, sounds that make you throw up but only if you're a secret agent with multiple cover stories and at one point a hyperdimensional villain is ''defeated by the word "POP"''. (It makes him go pop.)
** ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' even posits that ''the alphabet itself'' is a Brown Note, the true name of a powerful demon that the Conspiracy uses to restrict human minds by inculcating the name as a sort of mantra in children.
* The comic book ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' has a literal brown note in the form of the bowel disruptor gun, which has settings including "loose", "watery" and "prolapse". And more creative later settings like "Intestinal Maelstrom", "Unspeakable Gut Horror", "Rectal Volcano", and everyone's favorite, "Shat Into Unconsciousness".
** Also in ''Transmetropolitan'' are the [[{{Blipvert}} buybombs, a momentary flash of concentrated subliminal advertising]] that comes from the TV screen, which then causes those exposed to see the commercials in their dreams as they sleep.
* Creator/WarrenEllis used this trope again, but with more grounding in reality, in the fifth issue of ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency''. Disturbing subaudible frequencies are a major element of the mystery explored in this issue, and one character mentions the original Brown Note myth.
** Also used in ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency'' #3 with an alien invasion in the form of a signal that contains an alien society in its entirety. Exposure is dangerous even in the form of programming code on a computer screen. Merely reading the code makes an agent's eyes bleed as she struggles to keep the information from reprogramming her mind.
* This also occurred in Ellis' ''City of Silence'', where a hacker overrides every TV channel so demons can "relate all the secrets of hell on live TV". Hearing these secrets drives viewers insane... except for the protagonists, who "knew it all already" on account of [[spoiler: being natives of hell]].

* {{ComicBook/Enigma}} features "The Interior League", a supervillain team who sneaks into peoples homes and... rearranges their furniture. In such a way that when viewing it, the owner goes stark raving mad and murders their whole family.
* In Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'' mythos (and consequently Franchise/TheDCU), there is the ''Anti-Life Equation'', initially a mysterious "thing" which would somehow allow Darkseid to dominate all of life. Creator/GrantMorrison, in his ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'' and ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', explicitly revealed that it is a fundamental mathematical proof that life is not worth living, thus allowing the wielder to destroy the wills of any being by simply exposing them to it.
** There also exists the Life Equation, which is the fundamental proof that life ''is'' worth living. [[spoiler:The heroes use the Life Equation to counter the Anti-Life near the end of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.]]
* Pied Piper, usually a mostly harmless reformed villain in Franchise/TheDCU, turns out to be able to cause a Brown Note effect with his flute, as demonstrated in ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis''. Not only does he [[YourHeadAsplode kill Desaad]] with it, he ''takes out Apokolips''. And he does it using the music of Music/{{Queen}}. Pied Piper could do this because he was one of the rare humans who possessed the entire Anti-Life Equation inside his mind.
** In that same event, Comicbook/{{Superman}} destroyed Darkseid by creating a sound that disrupted his energy form.
* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Looking the Curator in the eye turns the viewer to stone, which the Curator then treats as part of an exhibit along with his other victims.

** Speaking of Harvey, ghost boos. They frighten practically ''everything'', even [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu gods and demons!]] (To be fair, though, demons in the Harvey-verse aren't [[OurDemonsAreDifferent exactly terrifying.]]) Even a ghost ''[[YourMindMakesItReal thinking]]'' [[YourMindMakesItReal the word "boo" could scare people]], provided that ghost could communicate telepathically. Subverted when Fatso claimed to be scary enough to cause the sun to go out. He took his skeptical brothers out on a sunny day and ''[[TheLastStraw very quietly]]'' [[TheLastStraw whispered "Boo"]] - and the sun turned black! The two other brothers panicked ("He's scared the sun dark!") until Fatso assured them that the sun would be bright again when it no longer felt frightened. He then went back into the house and [[BreakingTheFourthWall admitted to the reader]] that he had known the exact moment when a solar eclipse would occur.

* From ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'', Fone Bone's reading voice causes mild drowsiness for human listeners, and debilitating pain for rat creatures. This is probably mostly because he always reads ''Literature/MobyDick''.
* In Mike Carey's ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'', a primordial Jin En Mok creature in human guise punishes a janitor, who disturbed his train of thought, by giving him a gold coin bearing "the sigil Calx." As the janitor stares transfixed at the sigil, the Jin En Mok tells him that he will look at it more often each day, with a corresponding increase in pain and pleasure, until he dies within a year.
* When Marvel Comics had the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' license, they did a ''Deep Space Nine'' Dominion War crossover involving ''Deep Space Nine'', the TNG crew and (barely, for obvious reasons) Kes from Voyager, set during the Dominion War, where the Dominion tried to incapacitate all the telepaths from the Alpha Quadrant with what amounted to an earworm. It flipped your brain, so friends were enemies and enemies friends. When Bashir and Beverly Crusher figured it out, they fought it back with another earworm. (TNG telepaths ''liked'' sharing thoughts on the aether.)

** Stupefyin' Jones was the opposite. She was so stunningly beautiful that any male who looked at her would freeze, rooted to the spot. (She was a deadly hazard for any confirmed bachelor on Sadie Hawkins Day, and she would often use her powers then on purpose, [[ForTheEvulz simply for fun]].) Her cousin Available Jones (who was always available - for a price) wasn't above providing her power for a fee if anyone needed someone subdued.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' #45, Ishtar is a [[GodInHumanForm goddess in human form]] working as an exotic dancer, and apparently she's been holding back the full extent of her dancing talents. After a visit from Dream and Delirium, she stops holding back. Her last dance kills the audience and burns the strip club to the ground.
* In ''The Apocalypse Suite'' arc of ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'', the antagonist has constructed an orchestra of the sadistic and suicidal to play a symphony that will end the world. Similarly, The White Violin is capable of making heads explode and bodies tear themselves apart by just barely scraping her strings.
* In Creator/PhilFoglio's ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire: The Gallimaufry,'' there is a game called "Martian Charades", in which a human performs a series of ritualized gestures at an audience of aliens. The gestures have all been clinically proven to be hysterically funny to almost every race in the cosmos except humans themselves. The alien who can keep a straight face the longest is the winner. Moreover, the sight of an audience of multivariate aliens falling all over itself in laughter tends to make the performing human sick. Making the human sick is considered an important secondary goal of the game. (All of this was suggested in a fan letter after Foglio mentioned "Martian Charades" in an issue of ''Buck Godot,'' and Foglio embraced it as canon.)

* Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' had a sonic virus that melted off its child victims' skin right down to their bones and animated their skeletons. It spread through the screams of the adult witnesses.
** On a more mundane level, [[ShellShockedVeteran the sheer trauma of dealing with the mess the virus made]] was a major contributing factor to the Plutonian [[SanitySlippage going over the edge]].
** Orian, a demonic hunter, is summoned by merely reading (not aloud) a mystic sigil. He arrives in our world by ripping his way out through the victim's mouth.
* A ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' story seemed to be about this when people celebrating a [[AttackOfTheTownFestival revived pagan festival]] became many interesting shades of crazy while some scientists were conducting mysterious tests at a nearby facility [[spoiler: it turns out that [[AFeteWorseThanDeath the festival itself was the cause]], since the scientists' equipment was not only unplugged but ''never worked to begin with'']].
* In the one-shot ''Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum'', the Hamburger Lady believes that her face is so deformed that anyone not already insane can't look upon it. Dr Arkham tries to prove her wrong by looking at her face... and is later implied to have gone insane because of it. [[spoiler: Except that she was a figment of his imagination.]]
* One of ''ComicBook/ThargsFutureShocks'' from ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' written by Creator/AlanMoore gave a spin on the alien parasite, ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers''-type tale by suggesting that an alien life form could even be as abstract as an idea. One such "idea" takes over the mind of a person once he/she is told the "idea" by someone already possessed by it.
* In ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'', the rival band "Crash and the Boys" has [[ThePowerOfRock a song that is so epic]], it knocks the audience unconscious for twenty to thirty minutes. (Its title is "Last Song Kills Audience".)

* Again in the DC Comics world, the Accomplished Perfect Physician of the Great Ten (the Chinese Justice League) is capable of both healing diseases and CREATING EARTHQUAKES, among several other things, by making special vocal sounds he learned in his training.

* Venus of the ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas'' can affect minds with her song. Usually she puts them in a state of pleasure, but when [[spoiler:she found out that she wasn't a goddess, but actually a Siren]], her wail created a massive depression field.
* In ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'', swearing forcefully (usually but not always when done by Sergeant Snorkel) can have effects such as stunning people or killing flowers. Not to be confused with the times when Sarge shouts so loudly the sheer volume or wind of it has a physical effect.
* Judge Fear (one of a group of undead {{Evil Counterpart}}s) in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' has the ability to kill anyone who looks at his face through sheer terror, typically by lifting his helmet while delivering his catchphrase. [[spoiler:The title character is sufficiently badass to shrug it off and cave his face in with his bare hands.]]
-->'''Judge Fear:''' [[{{Catchphrase}} Gaaaaaze into the face of Fear!]]\\
[[spoiler:'''Dredd:''' Gaze into the fist of Dredd!]]
* Jeannette of ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' is a centuries old banshee who can make people relive her botched execution with her song. Franchise/WonderWoman, of all people, experienced it firsthand, and the fact that it didn't cause any permanent damage is itself a miracle.
* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Iznogoud once enlists the help of a woman so ugly that seeing her face without a veil causes people to be frozen in horror -- literally (as in, they instantly become encased in a block of ice -- the woman uses her power [[MundaneUtility to keep her sherbet fresh]]). The reader never gets to see her face; [[BreakingTheFourthWall she offers to do so in the last panel]], which is followed by a note saying that the pencil writer did not complete this panel and gave a "frigid reception" to the people sent to retrieve it.

* In the [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Disney comic]] "Zio Paperone e lo slogan invincibile", John D. Rockerduck hears of an ancient "slogan", a Scottish phrase which supposedly leaves a lasting impression upon anyone who hears it. He proceeds to acquire it and proceeds to incorporate it in a grand advertising campaign for all his products. Too late, he finds out that it's a "slogan" in the old sense... namely, a Scottish clan's BattleCry. It leaves an "impression" upon its listeners all right--anyone who hears it instantly goes into blind panic. Not only Rockerduck is forced to pay a [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill ridiculously large fine]], all his potential customers get conditioned into instictively fearing his products.
* In ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' and shown in greater detail in the ''Siege'' mini-series, the Shield finally raises up roars something so powerful it stuns everyone and causes their ears to pop. A translator able to piece together what he said revealed a three-word, five-syllable phrase: [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/FantasticFour "It's Clobberin' Time!"]]]]
* The Comics/YokoTsuno album ''The Devil's Organ'' has the titular instrument, a gigantic OminousPipeOrgan capable of producing sounds of sufficient intensity and low frequency to drive people to insanity or death.
* The three-part comic series ''Memetic'' involves the viral spread of a picture of a sloth giving a thumbs up, which causes anyone who sees it to experience a wave of euphoria [[spoiler:and turn into a screaming zombie not twelve hours later. Among other things.]]
* Amelia Mintz from ''ComicBook/{{Chew}}'' is a saboscrivner, meaning that she can write or talk about food so vividly that it can cause people to actually taste it. Usually she uses it to do her job (she's a food critic). However, when terrorists try to take over the building, she proceeds to describe a particularly nasty meal, sending them to the hospital. Later, it was revealed that her power aren't completely developed, and at its full potential it could [[spoiler:induce fatal food poisoning.]] Eventually she [[spoiler:uses it to write a manuscript which would kill anyone, who recently ate chicken.]]
* In ''ComicBook/TankVixens'', reading Gedda's diary is enough to make Firen and Sonya forget how FTL travel works.
* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' has a face horrifying enough to make [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Big Bertha]] throw up at the mere sight of it when he unmasks.
* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'' once tuned a violin so badly that playing it paralyzed the audience. His [[BizarreInstrument Gaffophone]] can also have a number of strange effects when certain notes are played, including unscrewing light bulbs, making wallpaper come loose and causing plumbing to fail.
* ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' has the Mind Virus, a magical infection which was created by an evil wizard who wanted to instill unquestioning obedience to himself and only himself in his slaves. It is a living idea that spreads simply by being communicated to its victims and takes root by allowing its victim to feel only pleasure and no pain. Even [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the wizard himself ended up succumbing to it]]. The only people who were immune to it were children and an old wizard who had to damage [[EarAche his own ears in order to protect himself from it.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' has Cacofonix the Bard, a DreadfulMusician whose singing is so feared, a running gag is for him to be bound and gagged while the rest are having a party. His singing is so bad, it can send legionnaires and even HornyVikings into mental breakdown, send wild beasts and even a ''dragon'' running away in fear. It might even anger the ''gods'' themselves, given that he had his treehouse zapped by a bolt of lightning and caused rain to fall just from his singing. Even when he was singing ''[[BeyondTheImpossible indoors]]''.

** The annual has an ancient being called a Metrotitian. The screams of this being can only be heard or interpreted by comatose people or Transformers with [[TheChosenOne a Matrix connection]]. That's not what qualifies it for this trope. What qualifies it for this trope is the discovery that [[spoiler: it's screams raise the dead]].
** A recurring plot point involves a musical score called The Empyrean Suite. The music itself is fairly harmless when played on it's own. However it has connections to something absolutely ''horrifying''; [[NothingIsScarier so horrifying that upon learning the music's significance, Chromedome refuses to ever speak of it again and expresses his hope that Skids never learns the truth behind for the sake of his sanity]]. Turns out [[spoiler: Skids had been tricked into building a smelting furnace for Autobot [=POWs=] in Grindcore prison. The Empyrean Suite was the music played to drown out the screams.]]

* Amelia Mintz from ''ComicBook/{{Chew}}'' is a saboscrivner, meaning that she can write or talk about food so vividly that it can cause people to actually taste it. Usually she uses it to do her job (she's a food critic). However, when terrorists try to take over the building, she proceeds to describe a particularly nasty meal, sending them to the hospital.
** Later it was revealed, that her power aren't completely developed and at it's full potential it could [[spoiler:induce fatal food poisoning.]] Eventually she [[spoiler:uses it to write manuscript, which would kill anyone, who recently ate chicken.]]

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': To look straight at Medusa is to die via being TakenForGranite.

* ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' has the Mind Virus, a magical infection which was created by an evil wizard who wanted to instill unquestioning obedience to himself and only himself in his slaves. It is a living idea that spreads simply by being communicated to its victims and takes root by allowing its victim to feel only pleasure and no pain. Even [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the wizard himself ended up succumbing to it]]. The only people who were immune to it were children and an old wizard who had to damage [[EarAche his own ears in order to protect himself from it.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' has the Mind Virus, a magical infection which was created by an evil wizard who wanted to instill unquestioning obedience to himself and only himself in his slaves. It is a living idea that spreads simply by being communicated to its victims and takes root by allowing its victim to feel only pleasure and no pain. Even [[HoistByHisOwnPertard the wizard himself ended up succumbing to it]]. The only people who were immune to it were children and an old wizard who had to damage [[EarAche his own ears in order to protect himself from it.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'' has the Mind Virus, a magical infection which was created by an evil wizard who wanted to instill unquestioning obedience to himself and only himself in his slaves. It is a living idea that spreads simply by being communicated to its victims and takes root by allowing its victim to feel only pleasure and no pain.

* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'' once tuned a violin so badly that playing it paralyzed the audience. His [[BizarreInstrument Gaffophone]] can also have a number of strange effects when certain notes are played, including unscrewing light bulbs, making wallpaper come loose and causing plumbing to fail.

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' has a face horrifying enough to make [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Big Bertha]] throw up at the mere sight of it when he unmasks.

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' has a face horrifying enough to make [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Big Bertha]] throw up at the mere sight of it when he unmasks.
* One comic strip in ''National Lampoon'' was about Dierdre Callahan, the ugliest little girl in the world. She was very ugly when she was born, became even uglier after a botched cosmetic surgery, and then after ''another'' failed surgery she became so unspeakably hideous that anyone who saw her face would either go insane and kill themselves, or have their eyes burned out of their heads. She wore a bag over her head most of the time, but when it was off her face was covered with a box that said "TOO HIDEOUS FOR PUBLICATION."

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' has a face horrifying enough to make [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Big Bertha]] throw up at the mere sight of it when he unmasks.