About
Rage Comics are series of web comics with characters, sometimes referred to as “rage faces”, that are often created with simple drawing software such as MS Paint. The comics are typically used to tell stories about real life experiences, and end with a humorous punchline. It has become increasingly popular to create the comics using web applications often referred to as “rage comic generators” or “rage makers”.
Origin
The first amateur made comics date back to 2008 on 4chan’s /b/ board with the introduction of FFFUUUU Rageguy 4-panes. As the name suggests, the comics’ stories were mostly about circumstances that lead to anger or rage. While most “rage faces” are not used to express rage, the name has been used due to their Rageguy origins.
Spread
In January 2009, Reddit launched the “FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU” subreddit (widely known as “f7u12”)[1]. This allowed users to submit their own original rage comics, which resulted in the creation of a large number of new characters. Some of the earliest notable examples were the Everything went better than expected and F*ck Yea characters. A full catalogue of rage faces can be found in the Dan Awesome’s Ragemaker site[2].
Rage Makers
As a result of the popularity of rage comics and the need for an easier method for their creation, several “rage makers” have been developed. The most popular makers are the Memebase Ragebuilder[3] and Dan Awesome’s Ragemaker[4].
Advice Animals
Some ragefaces found their way to become successful Advice Animal-style image macros. The most successful examples are Forever Alone and Y U No Guy. Generators can be found on QuickMeme[5][6] and MemeGenerator[7][8].
Terminology
Rage comics tend to use distinct terminology in certain cases.
Le X
Most rage comic creators tend to add a “le” at the beginning of a sentence which signifies an action or as a replacement for the word “the”. Example usage is “le walking around the house” and “le browsing knowyourmeme”.
The origin of the usage of the “le” word in rage comics dates back to the early days of rage comics, with this comic:
Derp
The “Derp” and “herp” are generally words used online to signify stupidity (see DERP). In rage comics, the words are used in two different ways. They can be used as placeholder expressions to unimportant dialogs or conditions and also to give names to characters in a comic:
Like a Boss/Baws
The Like a Boss phrase is a reference to a music video by Lonely Island (see Like a Boss). In the context of rage comics, the phrase is used to mean “in a daring way”.
Brief History of Rage Comics
*: Rageguy is a character commonly used to express serious disappointment, exasperation or displeasure in any given situation.
Origin: Comic strip about the “toilet splashback” experience, first posted on 4chan in August 2008, using a template provided by the original poster.
*: Trollface, a.k.a. “Coolface” is a character used to imply one’s intention to troll another.
Origin: MSPaint comic about the essentially pointless nature of trolling on 4Chan’s /v/, posted by a DeviantArt user named Whynne on September 19th 2008.
*: Cereal Guy is a stick figure character commonly used on discussion forums as a multi-purpose reaction face.
Origin: Cartoon strip about a couple’s argument posted on SomethingAwful Forums by graphic designer Bob Averill in 2007.
*: Okay Guy is a character who always complies by saying “okay” in various circumstances where most Ragecomics characters would be inclined to disagree or react negatively.
Origin: Original Reddit thread posted on August 24th, 2010; still researching
*: Fuck Yea Guy is a self-complacent looking character used to express pride or victorious sentiments, like when you wake up a few seconds before the morning alarm goes off.
Origin: Posted via /b/ board on February 11, 2010.
*: Forever Alone Guy is a lonesome character that is used to express loneliness and disappointment with life. Creators of this variety of rage comic occasionally alter one word or both of the words “forever alone” for a more humorous effect.
Origin: still researching.
*: “Y U NO” Guy is a character using SMS shorthands and carefree grammar as a way to bring someone’s attention on a particular subject or issue.
Origin: Comes from Gantz’ Chapter 55: Naked King (裸の王様), a Japanese sci-fi manga originally released in February 2002.
*: “Me Gusta” Guy is a character that is typically used to respond to an awkward or disgusting event with “Me Gusta,” which means “it pleases me” in Spanish (often understood as “I like it” in English).
Origin: Created by Redditor “Insert” in March of 2010.
See Also
External References
[1] Reddit – fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu
[2] Dan Awesome Ragemaker – Rage faces
[3] Memebase – Rage Builder
[4] Dan Awesome – Rage Maker
[5] QuickMeme – Forever Alone
[6] MemeGenerator – Forever Alone