Jul 15, 2025 02:57 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1091144
INTRO: Once upon a time – way back in the twentieth century – people got their laughs from reading comics in the newspaper. Today, many of us get our chuckles by seeing (and sharing) humorous memes online.
But are these two cultural phenomena really that different? In a new article, comics scholar Michelle Ann Abate argues that memes are an important new type of digital comic.
“Memes use a lot of the same visual and verbal elements that go into a comic, and those elements function in a very similar way. So yes, memes should absolutely be considered a type of comic,” said Abate, a professor of literature for children and young adults at The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology.
Abate wrote about memes as comics in the spring 2025 issue of INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society.
Abate said she started thinking about the connection between the two art forms when she noticed that she was sharing lots of memes in group chats with friends where she was also posting single-panel comics.
“It occurred to me that they have that same interplay of visual and verbal elements,” she said.
In both comics and memes, the text and the image would not make much sense without the other. The elements work together to produce the humor.
Of course, with comics, the artist normally produces both the drawing and the language. In memes, people use a base image – known as an “image macro” – and add their own commentary.
Using a pre-existing visual as the basis for a meme is “akin to sampling in music,” Abate said.
“Someone takes that base content and repurposes it, reimagines it, and develops it into an original piece of art.”
Some of those base images have been used many thousands of times and become a cultural phenomenon: for instance, the “Distracted boyfriend,” “Batman Slapping Robin” or “American Chopper.”
While memes are a relatively recent development, comics themselves have long used pre-existing images to provide others with the opportunity to add their own original language and create their own unique cartoon panel... (MORE - details, no ads)
INTRO: Once upon a time – way back in the twentieth century – people got their laughs from reading comics in the newspaper. Today, many of us get our chuckles by seeing (and sharing) humorous memes online.
But are these two cultural phenomena really that different? In a new article, comics scholar Michelle Ann Abate argues that memes are an important new type of digital comic.
“Memes use a lot of the same visual and verbal elements that go into a comic, and those elements function in a very similar way. So yes, memes should absolutely be considered a type of comic,” said Abate, a professor of literature for children and young adults at The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology.
Abate wrote about memes as comics in the spring 2025 issue of INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society.
Abate said she started thinking about the connection between the two art forms when she noticed that she was sharing lots of memes in group chats with friends where she was also posting single-panel comics.
“It occurred to me that they have that same interplay of visual and verbal elements,” she said.
In both comics and memes, the text and the image would not make much sense without the other. The elements work together to produce the humor.
Of course, with comics, the artist normally produces both the drawing and the language. In memes, people use a base image – known as an “image macro” – and add their own commentary.
Using a pre-existing visual as the basis for a meme is “akin to sampling in music,” Abate said.
“Someone takes that base content and repurposes it, reimagines it, and develops it into an original piece of art.”
Some of those base images have been used many thousands of times and become a cultural phenomenon: for instance, the “Distracted boyfriend,” “Batman Slapping Robin” or “American Chopper.”
While memes are a relatively recent development, comics themselves have long used pre-existing images to provide others with the opportunity to add their own original language and create their own unique cartoon panel... (MORE - details, no ads)
