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

The Age

2 days ago

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.
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 is all about.