Let’s just put it this way: I love memes. Dank, starter pack, football, garlic bread – I’m not picky, I love them universally. As a creator, I usually play on the safer side – sticking to clean comedy rather than being too edgy (each of them has its pros and cons). Which one’s my favourite meme page you ask? The Age of Empires II – The Age of Memes. (Wolololo – don’t be surprised if your clothes look a different colour). Also, gotta thank Dawkins for providing a theoretical explanation of a meme as a cultural unit that replicates. Got me brownie points in a class once, it did.
Today’s read Memetic is a horror comic book series, a combination of 3 different issues – ‘Day One’, ‘Day Two’ & ‘Day Three’. The book revolves around this mysterious image of a sloth giving everyone a thumbs up acting as a trigger for a zombie apocalypse. Viewing the image provided a soothing feeling before transforming into a sense of overwhelming euphoria turning them into ‘Screamers’ – zombies munching off people left, right, and centre. Unassuming netizens keep sharing the image until it’s a global phenomenon (hey, they managed to crash Reddit completely). Our protagonist, Aaron possesses a few blessings in disguise. He’s partially colour blind which means the image does not affect him as it would typically and he’s also able to avoid the screaming as his hearing is impaired. He manages to avoid the effects of the ‘Good Times Sloth’ but the world has transformed completely, with dead body piles being a constant view. An expert on weaponized memetics, a war veteran, doctor, and armed forces officer combine to form a task force to save the world but everything clearly comes at a cost. Without spoiling it for you, I’m quite intrigued by how the novel ends. The lack of closure is jarring at first but allows for open interpretation as well. James Tynion IV leverages his Batman creds well – doesn’t let the intensity drop throughout.
The read: I needed something with visuals for the day, it’s been one of those tough ones. And what amazing illustrations, really! The panels are well-constructed and the dialogues are quite natural and thus receptive. The characters could do with some more development and I get that ambiguity is a natural hook, but I think we could all do with a little more context about the apocalypse. Readers of Attack on Titan will find a lot of parallels but Memetic can’t compete with that. It does serve its purpose though, wanting to make you feel uncomfortable at the proceedings and the ending panel is an article of its own. Also, really liked the post-story interaction via the self-referential conversations. Pick this up solely for the artwork if you want though, worth it. Here’s a sloth meme to sign off:
13/365.
Trivia: As a means of self-preservation, sloths don’t stink (they don’t sweat at all) thus avoiding being detected by predators. (except the tip of the nose for two-fingered sloths). Their hairy coats are cozy habitats for innumerable colonies of insects, algae, and bugs. Imagine being an ecosystem of its own. (Reference)
Documentation:
Book: Memetic
Author: James Tynion IV, Eryk Donovan
Year of Release: 2015
Publishers: Boom! Studios