Edgy or offensive? How these early-2000s internet creators kept webcomics alive

It’s an average day on the internet in 2005: your friends are changing their status on MSN Messenger, a new Salad Fingers episode has landed, and everyone is blogging.

But look, something new – a comic strip about a stick-figure with alcoholism. What is this twisted, yet hilarious, creation?

It is the work of Cyanide and Happiness (C&H), a US-based dark comedy webcomics group and one of the unofficial founders of meme culture.

Rob DenBleyker (left), Kris Wilson (centre) and Adam Nusrallah of quirky webcomics group Cyanide and Happiness.Credit: Eddie Jim

Originally developed by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick and Matt Melvin, C&H comics have few boundaries – topics such as religion, abortion, murder, even necrophilia, all feature. Yet, despite their bleak and potentially offensive content, they were attracting over a million daily views by 2012.

“C&H has this shit-post kind of attitude; we’ve always been meme by nature. That was pretty new and rare [in 2005],” Wilson says. “We’re never intentionally trying to be edgy or offensive, but I think that’s a big reason why C&H resonates with people. It’s joking about everyone for the sake of it, making fun of everything.”

Now, nearly two decades later, the internet has changed. Webcomics are arguably well past their peak, with short-form videos and influencer content dominating. But C&H is still releasing new comics every day and will be in Melbourne for Oz Comic-Con this month.

“We’re constantly trying to reinvent the way we distribute our comics,” DenBleyker says. “We try to adapt to the internet instead of fight against it. The majority of our audience doesn’t even go to our website any more. They read our comics on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. As long as people are reading our comics, we’re happy. It doesn’t matter where.”

Unlike many websites in the early 2000s, C&H was not precious. It allowed fans to share and remix its comics – which is what meme culture (making interesting or amusing images or videos and distributing them online) is all about.

“Some of the most popular versions of our comics aren’t even ours. They’re from other people who’ve changed the text, and it went viral,” DenBleyker says.

This helped C&H quickly gain exposure early on, as social media platforms like MySpace were taking off, and also to remain relevant over time.

Branching out also helped, says Adam Nusrallah, producer and head of creative development at C&H’s parent company, Explosm. Aside from the daily webcomics, C&H has also produced four tabletop card games, a television show, a video game and countless visual shorts.

“This has broadened our audience as a whole, which in turn has brought more people back around to the origin point [the webcomics],” he says.

“We’re also going really hard with brand collaborations … We’ve worked with Gamer Supps, an energy drink company. They released a whole bunch of trading cards, which went crazy, and C&H was one of their guest creator cards.”

Beyond shifting mediums, C&H has also adapted the content. It began “Depressing Comic Week” as a “creative exercise” in 2009. For a week, all punchlines and humour are removed from the comics, leaning instead on upsetting “anti-jokes”, some of which cover topics such as generational bullying, cancer and war.

Rob DenBleyker, Kris Wilson and Adam Nusrallah outside the Oz Comic-Con venue.Credit: Eddie Jim

“We’re writing jokes all the time, but then joke time is over,” Wilson says. “Those comics helped us build out the universe. We have characters who are absurd, but then after the fun, it gets serious, sad and depressing.”

The group acknowledges some of the comics, whether depressing or twisted, can sting. But they insist it’s nothing new.

“Shock humour has been around since the dawn of time … The internet didn’t invent dirty humour, it just made it more mainstream and easy for people to find the stuff that makes them laugh,” DenBleyker notes.

Nusrallah agrees, adding that “edgy humour” can be freeing. “Many want to say things, share things, or have an opinion. This kind of humour helps gives them a voice without being offensive.”

Since 2005, C&H has had to adapt significantly to keep up with the ever-evolving beast that is the internet. A core member even left the group (Matt Melvin). However, regardless of any changes, they remain confident webcomics are here to stay.

“The business of webcomics is constantly changing, but they’re never going away,” DenBleyker says. “A comic strip is the smallest unit of a joke. Now, there’s Instagram and TikTok where people are finding new ways to make or re-share comics. It works really well because it’s the same type of humour, minimal effort, and it gets the joke across. I think we’re going to see more people innovating like that.”

Cyanide and Happiness will feature at Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne on June 7 and 8.

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