The arrival of the Internet has significantly transformed cartooning as a profession, providing cartoonists with innovative tools and new platforms for publishing and distribution. This digital evolution also saw the emergence of viral memes in the late 1990s. In her recent paper published in INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, Michelle Ann Abate, an English professor at The Ohio State University, contends that memes—particularly image macros—represent a novel form of digital comics, emphasizing the cognitive and creative processes involved in their use.
“My research has primarily focused on graphic novels and comics,” Abate shared with Ars. “I’ve authored multiple works exploring various dimensions of comics, ranging from Charles Schulz’s Peanuts to The Far Side, Little Lulu, Ziggy, and The Family Circus. My engagement with comics has spanned many genres and historical contexts for years.”
Her latest work, titled Singular Sensations: A Cultural History of One-Panel Comics in the United States, began during her research in 2020, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, I found myself reading and sharing a lot of single-panel comics with friends, and we were frequently exchanging memes as well,” she explained. “One day, I realized that the differences between the single-panel comics I was sharing and the memes were minimal. In terms of their function and the interplay between verbal and visual elements, there is significantly more continuity than difference.”
Driven by this realization, Abate decided to analyze the relationship between memes and comics more thoroughly. The term “meme,” which was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, predates the Internet by several decades. Dawkins described it as a “unit of cultural transmission or a unit of information,” encompassing ideas, catchphrases, tunes, trends, and even architectural designs.
In the contemporary context, a “meme” refers to a piece of online content that gains traction and spreads virally among users. These can take the form of single images combined with customized text, such as “Distracted Boyfriend“, “This Is Fine“, or “Batman Slapping Robin“. Memes can also consist of multi-panel formats like “American Chopper“. According to Abate, “Memes may represent gestures, activities, or videos like the Wednesday dance or the ice bucket challenge. They have become so ingrained in our culture that imagining a world without them feels almost impossible.”
Abate believes that Internet memes are intrinsically linked to sequential art forms like comics, indicating a progression in the genre. Both mediums utilize visual and verbal elements cohesively to create humor.
Typically, comic artists generate both the visuals and the text, while memes adapt existing images with new captions. While some may view this as appropriation, Abate highlights that cartoonists, including Charles Schulz, have historically employed static prefabricated elements, such as stencils, to replicate images—a method similarly utilized in works like Dinosaur Comics. Moreover, meme humor revolves around the audience’s recognition of the image’s original context rather than obscuring it. She likens this practice to music sampling; the final product remains a unique piece of art.
Notably, the cartoon caption contest featured in The New Yorker, where a single-panel comic is presented without dialogue and readers contribute their own captions, functions as a meme generator. “This practice is often viewed as a sophisticated form of crowdsourcing humor,” Abate remarked. “The magazine supplies the template image, and everyone contributes their own text or captions, effectively creating memes. If only the winner’s submission were published, readers would be disappointed because the enjoyment lies in the array of clever and humorous contributions.”
Memes not only reflect the comic genre but also alter its formatting considering their online nature. Multi-panel memes often appear vertically, catering to the scrolling habits of mobile users—much like the “American Chopper” meme.
According to Abate, this vertical arrangement encourages readers to pause and contemplate the exchange of ideas presented in the panels, illustrating that the content conveys a debate rather than mere shouting matches. “If the panels were positioned horizontally, with characters confronting each other side by side, the message of ‘American Chopper’ would come across quite differently,” she stated.
A pad with infinite sheets
Scott McCloud has emerged as a key figure in comic theory, notably through his influential 2000 publication, Reinventing Comics: The Evolution of an Art Form which examines the limitless potential of digital comics, liberated from the confines of print. He refers to this boundless expression as the “infinite canvas,” highlighting the ability for cartoonists to produce works of diverse sizes and formats. Abate asserts that memes possess a different kind of infinite potential.
“McCloud envisions the canvas expansively: a single panel could encompass the size of a city block,” Abate explained. “In print, such a concept is impractical—how could one print, hold, or read such a book? However, in the digital world, it is possible to create an experience that invites exploration using a mouse or a trackpad. This opens up numerous possibilities for storytelling within the medium.”
She elaborated, “While memes aren’t quite as large as city blocks, they resemble an infinite pad of sheets—endless in number and readily available for reuse, adaptation, and circulation. The template can be revisited and reimagined continuously, allowing memes to be both fun and viral.”
What constitutes an effective meme image? Abate has insights on this topic as well. “An effective meme must pair an image with a caption—there must be a textual component,” she posited. “Moreover, the image should be distinctive enough to be recognizably specific, while also being flexible enough for varied adaptations.”
In essence, a successful meme should have the ability to extend its relevance beyond fleeting moments. A recent incident involving a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert exemplifies this principle. When a tech CEO and his company’s “chief people officer” were caught on the Jumbotron, their panicked responses became the subject of numerous memes. Even the Phillies mascots joined in on the fun by reenacting the moment at a baseball game. However, Abate speculates that the longevity of this meme may be limited.
“The moment gained viral traction rapidly,” she noted. “I might be mistaken, but I’m doubtful the Coldplay incident will remain a popular meme a year from now. It comments on a specific cultural event, and eventually, the novelty will wear off. In contrast, memes such as ‘Distracted Boyfriend’ or ‘This is Fine’ maintain their relevance because they are not tied to singular incidents or scandals and can apply to varied political discussions, pop culture events, and cultural phenomena.”
