The best stories are those that could happen to anyone. But where Doonesbury characters typically react with wisecracking aplomb, rage comic characters respond with - well, rage. Like Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury strips, there is usually a punch line after the punch line in which the author reacts to the situation. They are more like a Bob Newhart sketch: the laughs come not from replaying the public foolishness of some stranger, but from watching the awkward reaction of the observer, who almost always appears as a character in the strip. In that way, rage comics are not like the average viral YouTube video. The last panel typically features the author, represented by a standard clip-art illustration, either screaming, fuming, throwing up hands in exasperation, or a collapsed-potato face sighing, “O.K.” Most strips focus on some small moment, a true-life anecdote, that sent the author spinning into inexplicable fury or burrowing deep into resignation to keep from exploding. Even if a strip is about something inane the guy in line at McDonald’s said, the punch line isn’t the gaffe, but the author’s confused, awkward reaction, represented by one of several clip-art characters whose what-the-heck expressions of exasperation have punctuated thousands and thousands of others’ strips. There are other sites, like 9gag, that feature rage comics, but Reddit’s f7u12 readers have set a high bar for both originality - within the genre’s limits - and for cruel funniness that rewards making fun of oneself instead of others. But the swearing and bodily functions aren’t for shock value, as in an episode of “South Park.” This is a reflection of how adults talk in the real world.) The full URL is long, so just Google “f7u12.” (This brings up another trait of rage comics: profanity abounds. The best place to do that is a section of Reddit, known as “f7u12.” Since its founding in 2008, it has grown to about 500 to 1,000 comics posted each day and read by up to a quarter million people daily. The best way to understand rage comics is to read a couple of dozen of them. What holds the genre together is a combination of browser-based editing tools that encourage authors to stick to a predefined set of images and text styles and Web sites where readers can “upvote” strips to the top of the slush pile. It is just the first woman’s face - alone, weary and resigned to her friend’s vapidity.ĭespite the growing number of cartoonists, rage comics have maintained a consistent recognizable style: stock art of faces, some twisted in rage or frustration. “I don’t think so,” the other replies, “but I’m glad you finally realized that you need to start a diet!” The stark fourth panel has no dialogue. One asks the other if she has read “The Hunger Games” books. Popular themes are public embarrassment, private shame in the bedroom or bathroom, and most of all, the unbearable burden of dealing with other people’s stupidity.įor example: Two female heads on a white background are talking. Most are the creations of anonymous people seeking not fame, but an audience with whom they can air their dark wit. Today, thousands of rage comics are posted daily. They have created a genre of Internet humor that, unlike the Keyboard Cat or Rickrolling, two famous Internet memes, continues to grow nearly five years after its obscure beginnings. Many people with little to no artistic ability - but with some pretty funny tales - do that in something called rage comics. Or you can head to the Web to assemble and publish a cartoon to share some of that rage. When you get angry, you can lash out or seethe inside.
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