Gunshow (webcomic)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gunshow is a webcomic by KC Green that ran from 2008 to 2014. It’s a gag-a-day strip with no single ongoing story, covering a wide range of topics and shifting in tone. The comic features recurring characters but tends to stay self-contained, with occasional longer pieces like the notable “Anime Club.”

The work is best known for the “On Fire” strip, which shows an anthropomorphic dog named Question Hound sitting calmly in a room that’s burning and saying, “This is fine.” The first two panels of that strip became a popular internet meme, used to humorously comment on situations that are clearly going wrong. The meme spread widely through Reddit and Imgur in 2014 and has been described as a shorthand for denial or acceptance in the face of disaster. It gained continued attention over the years, with coverage from major outlets like The Verge and The New York Times, and was later incorporated into other media, such as a Fortnite emote in 2023.

The meme and Gunshow’s themes continued to influence culture long after the comic ended. Question Hound’s image has been turned into merchandise, and Green and partners announced a video game inspired by “On Fire” called This is Fine: Maximum Cope, planned with a Kickstarter in 2024. The meme has also seen political use and commentary, including a high-profile moment in 2016 when the GOP quoted the meme in a tweet about the Democratic National Convention, which Green and others criticized. The Nib and other outlets commissioned related work, and the meme has appeared in various global contexts, including recognition by The Atlantic as defining a decade of memes.

Beyond Gunshow, KC Green has created other webcomics such as Back, He Is A Good Boy, and Pinocchio, and he has worked on projects like the Adventure Time episode “The Thin Yellow Line” and the Oni Press graphic novel Graveyard Quest. Gunshow ended in 2014 as Green moved on to new projects and funding from his Patreon supported his continued work. The strip’s lasting impact comes from its mix of humor, relatable moments, and the now-iconic image of a character calmly facing a catastrophe.