Memetic: The Apocalyptic Trilogy Deluxe Edition

by James Tynion IV, Eryk Donovan (artist)

In Memetic, a weaponized meme leads to the utter annihilation of the human race within 72 hours. The root of this apocalypse is a single image on the internet, a "meme" in the popular sense. A meme that changes everything. In Cognetic, a powerful psychic being that once controlled one-third of the world's population as a part of its hivemind, returns to humanity in modern-day New York City. Meanwhile, the young assistant to the Director of the FBI may be the only one who can save humanity, but at a terrible, terrible cost. In Eugenic, a new vision of humanity’s future arrives. When a plague ravages the world, one scientist discovers the cure and becomes the savior of mankind. Hope is restored, and the world rebuilds. But then people who took the cure begin having children who are… unnatural, and the definition of “normal” is forever altered. This deluxe hardcover collection not only contains the trilogy of self-contained horror comics from the GLAAD Award-nominated team of James Tynion IV (Something is Killing the Children, Detective Comics) and Eryk Donovan ( The Hellblazer), but acts as a precursor to the creative titan that would take the comics world by storm with the Slaughterverse, w0rldtr33, and The Nice House At The Lake. Collects Memetic #1-3, Cognetic #1-3, Eugenic #1-3.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2024

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Apocalyptic Trilogy is honestly just a thought exercise writ large, and we're fortunate that it was James Tynion IV taking part in the exercise otherwise this would all be deadly dull. As is, even if each three-issue apocalypse is generally engaging, they all feel padded.

First up, a meme-pocalypse in which people see a cute sloth image (see the book's cover), feel happy, then become murderous screamers 12 hours later. In this tale, we at least follow two narratives: one young man who's immune to the meme and a group of military/government leaders who are trying to find a cure. It's engaging, if mostly predictable until the odd conclusion. Did not expect the screamers to create human-flesh towers.

Then, a mind control-pocalypse. It's basically Kieron Gillen's The Power Fantasy and similar works, but with a lot less effort. Pass.

Finally, a eugenics-pocalypse. This one was the most interesting, but again, mostly from that "thought exercise" standpoint. Scary that Tynion thought this one up in 2015, because it features a flu-like plague decimating the human race in 2022. Yikes. A vaccine is found only in the 2030s, and the vaccine has a terrible side effect (see: eugenics). Each issue jumps forward in time to play out the dark future (that is likely to repeat).

[James Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all three! They established three exciting premises and truly explored them from beginning to end.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of three three issue mini-series in which the world ends in one way or another, by James Tynion IV and Eryk Donovan.

Memetic is probably the most well-known of the three, because of the sloth. A meme literally drives the world insane to the point of summoning aliens. Cogenetic involves a group of colour-coded cavemen from prehistoric times who can take over other people's minds. And then Eugenic shows the results of a eugenics program (who'd have thought?) as the world is overtaken by a new race and humans become second class citizens.

These are all...kinda depressing, actually? I think that's probably the point, and Tynion's got some interesting things to say with each story, but collecting them all here so they can be read together is a big downer. They're all good stories, but I think it's just a bit too much of a concentration of sad for me.

The art's not entirely to my taste either. Eryk Donovan does well with the character interactions, but when the action gets big and bombastic he suffers as his art becomes a lot sketchier.

And because I can't fit this thought in anywhere else - Why are there apparently so many flesh golems when the world ends?

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foi com Memetic que descobri a voz algo quirky de Tynion, que entretanto se tornou argumentista para as majors. Memetic é uma pura aventura de FC apocalíptica, onde um artista liberta no espaço online uma imagem memética de uma preguiça, que irá contaminar a humanidade e provocar a sua aniquilição, sem que haja salvação possível. Para além de divertida, teve o mérito adicional de surgir numa altura em que a cultura dos memes online ainda se estava a desenvolver. Esta edição ainda incluo as igualmente catastróficas Cognitic e Eugenic. Em Cognitic assistimos a uma luta entre entidades meméticas alienígenas conscientes que se incoporaram no cérebro humano ao longo de milénios. Eugenic vai ainda mais longe. Uma vacina desenvolvida para combater uma pandemia global leva, intencionalmente, ao nascimento de bebés deformados que formarão uma nova espécie humana, com os humanos de genética natural condenados à extinção numa aparente utopia futurista. Ideias incisivas que se transformam em histórias intrigantes, são as marcas desta edição.

[Rebecca Alexx · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is three miniseries together in one book. I think the stories and art improved with each story. As they are all different end of the world scenarios this is a depressing read.

Memetic was my least favourite. I didn’t like the art. For some reason I found the art a bit jarring and just couldn’t gel with it. I didn’t get invested in the characters. I didn’t really care what happened to them. The start of the story was interesting but I didn’t like how it ended. But there was a cute sloth.

Cognetic was more sci-fi in nature. I enjoyed this more and cared more for the characters. They felt more human and emotional. I liked the premise of this story more too. The art didn’t seem as jarring. I don’t know if I was acclimatising or it got better.

Eugenic was my favourite. I read through this story faster. I wanted to know what happened next. This story jumped around each issue which was interesting. As there were vast time jumps I wasnt following one character but seeing the larger picture.

[Crimmas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m admittedly biased because the artist is a friend of mine, but I do love these stories and how each one (Memetic, Cognetic, Eugenic) expands the scope of the original idea. It’s also bit of a time-capsule for 2010’s America in ways I can really enjoy. And the third story, Eugenic, stands out in my mind as a personal high point in indie comics. Reiterating the whole trilogy, Eugenic breaks the singular arc format of the first three and instead becomes its OWN trilogy-within-a-trilogy to cap the whole thing off. Each chapter is hundreds of years apart, asking in direct terms what humanity really is, in such a concise and interesting way that the first two stories make the third an all-time payoff in storytelling for me, personally. I was perfectly happy with my shelf-worn paperbacks but this large, beautiful hardcover feels much more deserving and is incredibly well-designed.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn.

Tiny Onion can write. I feel like I could dissect these stories and the underlying themes and never reach a natural stopping point. The first and last stories are the most powerful, as they could actually happen. The middle one approaches Lovecraft territory but doesn't firmly set the footing. From a realistic storytelling pov, it's the weakest, but it's still entertaining. It reminded me of BRZRKR in some ways (and showed what brzrkr could have done with added narrative depth).

The last story sat with me the most after the Mockingbird reference. We want to celebrate our differences. We don't want our differences to define us. We want recognition. We don't want segregation. We want diversity. We don't want equal opportunity. We're all over the place. But what if we were all the same? What would that monotony do?

I love the way Tynion's brain works.

[Bo Dixen Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three apocalyptic stories in a Twilight zoney kind of way.

Very fun end of the worlds.