We’ve all done it. When we had far more important things to do, we’ve instead scrolled through our social media platform of choice and giggled at pictures of animals layered with Impact font. (I’m partial to Bad Joke Eel myself.)
But what if a meme were more than a fun distraction? Kicking off a three-part miniseries from BOOM!, “Memetic” finds the horrific potential in the everyday.
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Eryk DonovanWHY WE LOVE IT: After launching James Tynion IV’s The Woods to much acclaim, we were eager to see what other ideas he had. When James—one of our favorite new voices in comics—pitched us Memetic as a tale of the apocalypse in three parts, we were sold!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT: Memetic is truly an event comic—three oversized, 48-page issues detailing the end of the world over the course of three days, and a wholly unique take on the disaster genre. Much like his work on The Woods, James Tynion IV and fantastic newcomer Eryk Donovan (The House in the Wall) will bring horror to a whole new generation and fans of J-horror films like Uzumaki and The Ring.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: A Meme is an idea that starts with an individual, and then spreads throughout multiple persons and potentially entire societies. Richard Dawkins suggests a meme’s success comes from its effectiveness to the host. But history shows that destructive memes can spread just as rapidly through society. Memetic shows the progression of a weaponized meme that leads to the utter annihilation of the human race within 72 hours. The root of this apocalypse is a single image on the internet, a “meme” in the popular sense. A meme that changes everything.
Aaron’s got other stuff to worry about when an odd meme turns up on Reddit. Others are remarking on how good they feel when they stare at the so-called Good Times Sloth, but he’s just not feeling it. We jump around a bit from there as the meme spreads, and as in “The Woods”, Tynion quickly sets up a diverse ensemble cast. They’ve all got different reasons for being immune – or somehow not yet exposed – to the sloth that’s exhibiting such a pull on people, and these are relayed contextually as we watch them react to the situation at hand. None of this exposition seems to stick in the throat, by the way; Tynion’s knack for choosing just the right moment to switch scenes keeps the story moving along at a good clip for all its 48 pages.
In a comic where you know you’re going to be seeing lots of screens – phones, laptops, TVs – getting a feel for the visceral fear underlying it all is paramount, and Eryk Donovan gets it all across with immediacy. It’s all about the faces, which translate the accumulating sense of dread into dire emotional terms. And while the characters we’re encountering are for the most part introspective and thoughtful, it really feels like we can see the cogs turning in their heads. It helps that the character designs are full of little visual cues that signal past lives. As Donovan remarks in the back matter, Aaron’s got all the hallmarks of a scene kid from 2005. And the former head of military intelligence, Marcus Shaw, has more than enough scars to convince you he knows what he’s talking about.
On the less subtle end of the spectrum, when the awful power of the meme finally is revealed, Donovan draws a pretty convincing homicidal freak-out. Over-the-top body language and empty, bloodshot eyes get across just how vital this transformation is.
All the while, Adam Guzowski’s colours keep to the muted and earthy, which is in line with the overall sense of realism. But the red and cyan hues that punctuate the Good Times Sloth himself are surprisingly effective, imparting a faux-3D effect to the image.
In terms of plot, the crescendo comes on fast, veering into moments of camp. You’re liable to see a certain president succumb to it in the middle of his address to the people, intoning “No… Not yet.” But somewhere between the complete banality of the cause and the visceral reactions we’re seeing among our main characters, the horror hits home. Tynion adds a little twist of the knife: before we’re through, a timeline is established as to how long after exposure the meme will start inflicting harm. Knowing how long a character has before they succumb to it adds a hefty dose of tension, as well as a general idea of how long it will take for this thing to end the world as we know it.
This isn’t the first horror story about a deadly meme. As the comic itself remarks, a meme is just an idea, and within those parameters something like The Ring or your favourite espionage movie would probably quality. But “Memetic” is refreshing. It’s all in the way it integrates the silliness, the “lightness” of many activities on the internet, and turns that simple, harmless aspect of it into something terrifying. While we may have little to fear from our Bad Joke Eels and Actual Advice Mallards, I think we’ve known for a while that the potential is there.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – A dire, addictive read that hits uncomfortably close to home.
