Meg Kearney Talks Hit Reblog and Comixology Originals

Megan Kearney is a Toronto-based cartoonist. Megan’s work has appeared in publications from Dark Horse, Bedside Press, Fairylogue Press and in various anthologies. She currently manages Comic Book Embassy, a cheerful co-work studio based in Toronto’s Chinatown, and writes for Disney Princess.

Kearney contributed to Beside Press’ (Fashion in Action, Window Horses), The Secret Loves of Geek Girls anthology and recently juggled writing and art duties for their Comixology Originals series: Hit Reblog: Comics That Caught Fire. 

Hit Reblog showcases the viral sensations of the webcomics world and the true stories behind their creators. Follow the ups and downs of internet fame, from IP theft to book deals, and all the trials of becoming an overnight sensation after gaining 10,000 reblogs in a single night. Learn about the origins behind the hit comic strips “This is Fine”, “All Houses Matter”, “No Take, Only Throw”, and frequently-viral webcomics such as Owlturd, Cyanide and Happiness, False Knees, and Poorly Drawn Lines.

Major Spoilers caught up with Kearney to talk about working on Hit Reblog.

You can read Major Spoiler’s previous interview with Bedside Press founder Hope Nicholson here!

MAJOR SPOILERS: What was the genesis of your involvement with Hit Reblog? It’s the first story in the book and I want to know if real life was as hilarious as it is on the page?

MEG KEARNEY: Hope contacted me at some point in 2017 to talk about working on a project for Comixology. She’d been given a lot of creative freedom to come up with a concept for their new line and wanted to talk to me about memes, because I had a background in them. That sounds like a lie, but before I became a full-time comic artist I worked for a very tiny mobile game company and sunk far too much time into developing a meme trivia game that never saw the light of day. I condensed the better part of a year into five or six pages, so a lot of it is presented in a pretty glib fashion, but all of the beats did happen — making our lists, vetting creators, running the razor’s edge with deadlines… I had a new baby, and so I was limited to nap-time and nights as my only work time. I did actually draw a portion of the book with an infant literally strapped to me, because it was the only way he wouldn’t cry. What the book would actually look like morphed a lot over this period, and I learned quite a bit about what processes work best and which ones are less than ideal! Hope kept things running and on track with spreadsheets and handling correspondence with creators and our research team, for which I will be forever grateful.

MK: I love memes. I love the little jolt of recognition, the feeling of being involved in an in-joke, the curious way things evolve and become almost abstract… But I think it’s important that people do get credit for their work. Some of these comics wind up so divorced from their origin that people assume nobody owns them and they get monetized or repurposed in ways their creators would never approve of. Sometimes people wind up being the butt of a joke, and that’s well and good if they’re on board for it, but the internet can be pretty cruel. I hope we’ve humanized the creators behind these comics and that people who read the book will remember them the next time a meme crosses their dash.

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