Memetic #1

by James Tynion IV, Eryk Donovan & Adam Guzowski

This summer a picture of a sloth giving the thumbs up made its circulation on the internet. It was later revealed to be a teaser to a new mini-series from BOOM! Studios called Memetic. The first issue of Memetic hits shelves this week and that sloth pic holds a dark secret no one could have anticipated.

Memetic is a pretty entertaining story that used some smart promotion to build a little hype. In Memetic, writer James Tynion IV plays with the idea of a meme being used as a weapon. The whole concept is interesting but it also straddles the line into corny territory. Yet, once you read this first issue, any apprehension you may have had is washed away. Internet culture is tough to properly portray in comics. There have been some recent attempts at incorporating aspects of the internet into their story which have fell flat. Tynion, however, nailed it perfectly with this first issue of Memetic. Even using the Facebook timeline format for the bonus extras at the end was a nice touch.

Having not been familiar with Eryk Donovan’s work before this, his artistic approach fits Memetic‘s zany story. His pages have a realistic approach since Memetic takes place in the present modern world.  But there is also this mischievous fun tone that exudes from his work. Along with Adam Guzowski’s gloomy palette, Memetic had a very grim artistic vibe that gave you an uneasy feeling. This book looked great, especially the strip of Obama’s final appearance towards the end. No lie, it made me chuckle a little.

Memetic was a surprisingly fun first issue. Let’s also not forget that this issue is a whopping 48 pages. After reading this over-sized first issue I then realized that this was only a three issue mini-series. With only two issues left, there isn’t much room to slow down. The last two issues will also be over-sized. Let’s just hope they make as big an impact as this first issue did.