4chan's hyper crisis and anonymous authenticity

Tim Bavlnka popculturebomb.com [email protected]

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10-01-10

This is a work in progress in many ways. Firstly, it isn’t perfect in terms of editing. It should be

mostly fine, but I am willing take my blows for writing style and poor spelling and grammar.

Secondly, it is a part of a greater and constantly developing project that I’m working on, which

will eventually become a chapter in my thesis. Thirdly, this was originally a folklore project, so

it isn’t particularly theoretical, but that is something I’m working on as well. Some things need

more emphasis and detail.

This was presented at Purdue University’s “Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and

Animation” conference on September 4th

, 2010.

The integrated images are used under Fair Use, but are potentially limited in terms of resolution,

as some images are quite large in dimension. I tried to make sure each fit appropriately and

legibly, but that isn’t the case for some.

I am putting this online, today in particular, because it is 4chan’s 7th

birthday. The /co/ board also

reached its 20,000,000th

post on September 15th

, 2010. We’ll see where things go from here…

-Tim


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/Co/operation and /Co/munity in /Co/mics: 4chan’s Hypercrisis and Anonymous

Authenticity

One of the fasting growing and most notorious internet communities currently is

4chan.org. Hundreds of thousands of users access this website per month, and partake in a

variety of group events, activities and discussions, while developing a close-knit community.

Unlike trendy social networking websites like Facebook.com, the users of 4chan are almost

entirely anonymous. Though a user may have no idea who another user might be, where they are

located, their age, race, or gender, the users have created an authentic folk group with a deeply

complex system of traditions and practices. One of the sub-groups of 4chan are the members of

the “Comics & Cartoons” board, who share favorite images, create fan art, develop their own

style of collective humor, and have deep discussions over the texts they care about. The members

of this group have recently created a fictional comic book event known as “Hypercrisis.”

Through this process the users of the site are developing a complex understanding of their texts,

institutionalizing a collective knowledge about fictional stories, developing a future mythology

outside of a formal published record, and constructing elaborate image-maps of complex

thought-processes for the greater understanding of the group. The anonymous nature of the group

leads to a complex authenticity to the users, giving them free forum for thoughts, ideas,

statements, and interactions. Their anonymous authenticity is supported by the complexity of the

Hypercrisis, as the user-constructed analysis follows a logical progression in development and

has an unusual complexity, speaking to the consistency of the group, the closeness of the

community, and to the users’ relationship to their internet environment.


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4chan.org was started in 2003 by Christopher Poole, known online as “moot.1” The site is

an image board, which focuses primarily on discussion threads of image and texts in rapidly

updating conversation. The code, format, and name of the site are based on an extremely popular

Japanese image board known as 2chan2. Similar to message boards, image boards structure their

communication around threads, or single enclosed conversations. To create a thread on an image

board, an image must be uploaded along with text by the original poster. Though the original

image and the topic are generally related, the text and the image do not necessarily have anything

to do with each other, nor does one have any importance over the other, as this process is

required as a part of the website’s code. 4chan is divided into 6 main sections (Japanese Culture,

Interests, Creative, Adult, Other, Misc), each with several sub-categories which make up a

specific board of discussion, 49 specific image boards in total3.

1 Bilton

2 Bilton

3 http://www.4chan.org

http://www.4chan.org/


4

The earliest version of 4chan.org was originally made public to 20 users, friends of moot.

The website has developed considerably and has exploded in popularity; current traffic statistics

report 8.2 million unique users, with 600 million page loads every month4. The process of

communication on 4chan involves individual threads to be created by users and other users

respond to it. The more responses that are generated, the more it gets bumped up to the top of the

specific board’s front page, which lists 10 unique threads per page, and has anywhere from 10-15

active pages, depending on the specific board’s popularity. Each thread has an image limit of

130, so length of conversation tends to be limited to the amount of images are uploaded in the

thread, though some conversations are extended to new threads when a limit is reached.

Regardless of how popular thread is, every one has a specific lifespan. Also emphasizing the

importance of new conversations, each thread has a limit to how many times it can be bumped to

the top of the page5. Conversations may continue after that, but the page will slowly be moved to

the bottom of the list, and eventually be automatically deleted. 4chan’s administrative staff is

also able to delete threads based on personal criteria. Currently, 4chan has an average of 800,000

posts in a single day6. At the time of writing, 4chan currently has 457,260,936 total posts, and

55,903 online users7.

On 4chan, the “Comics & Cartoons” board focuses specifically on Western comics

(generally superhero comics) and Cartoons (much of 4chan is related to Japanese culture and

there is a specific board for Anime and Manga, in contrast). This specific board is known as

“/co/” as that is how it appears in the site’s URL – “http://boards.4chan.org/co/”. The board is

limited to 150 threads (10 per page, with 15 pages total), and is considered by many of the users

4 Bilton

5 http://www.4chan.org/faq

6 Bilton

7 http://www.4chan.org/ - this changes every time you access 4chan’s front page.

http://www.4chan.org/faq

http://www.4chan.org/


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to be generally “work safe,” and is designated as such visually – the background color is blue

and boards with that specific theme are associated with “work safe” content8. The users of /co/

are referred to as “/co/mrades;” each board community has a specific and collectively agreed

upon name for its members9. The original source for the name is unknown and the history of the

name is unimportant to the community – it is used without debate.

One of the more noticeable parts of 4chan, besides the content, is the fact that the vast

majority of the users are anonymous in identity and that anonymous protesting isn’t simply

popular, but it is encouraged. The site’s founder, Christopher Poole, has been one of the more

outspoken voices of the importance of anonymous internet activity, individual privacy, and

against the ideology of naturalizing persistent and permanent internet identity. Besides being the

founder of 4chan, Poole was also nominated as a part of Time Magazine’s 200 most influential

people of the year10

(2009) and has participated in TED’s (Technology, Entertainment, Design –

a nonprofit group dedicated to “ideas worth spreading”) 2009 conference11

. Regardless of his

youth and the notorious nature of his website, Poole has been getting serious attention from

8 http://www.4chan.org/faq - “Safe for work” content is never guaranteed on 4chan – proceed with caution.

9 4chan’s most popular board, “random” or /b/, refers to themselves as /b/tards (Schartwz 1), while the “Toy” board

refers to the members as “/toy/soldiers.” 10

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1883644,00.html – To speak of the power of

the community, not only did the 4chan collective vote him into the top spot, but they also got the first 25 spots to

spell out a 4chan related a meme with the first letters of the names of all those nominated. 11

http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/provocation_rou.php - Again, emphasizng the power of 4chan as a group, Poole: “I

asked 4chan what I should say at TED. And I got 12,000 responses in about 24 hrs. But I can't read to you anything

they said.” The first nine of 14 comments on this page are requesting TED to upload “m00t’s” speech, which was

eventually put up by a fan on Youtube, and quickly taken down for copyright infringement by TED (a group for the

free exchange of ideas and information), though can now be found in very poor quality here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYtlvQ-xRCA . Update: The official version has now been posted, months later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_1UEAGCo30

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1883644,00.html

http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/provocation_rou.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYtlvQ-xRCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_1UEAGCo30


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major media outlets, not simply for 4chan, but also for his thoughts on anonymous internet usage

and its relationship to privacy, identity, and community. During an interview with CNN, Poole

stated:

“We’ve just moved more and more toward persistent user identity. Your online

identity lives in…[several] places now. You’ve got a Twitter, you’ve got a

Facebook. I guess you used to have a MySpace. So people are just putting loads

of information about themselves in these places, and we’re becoming very

comfortable with sharing very intimate details about our life. It’s just

everything12

.”

Poole and the users behind 4chan’s boards reject the notion of a “persistent user identity”

ideology and focus on the continuation of an anonymous environment. Poole later expands on

this idea by defending 4chan’s anonymous nature, “With the anonymous system, you’ve got a

place where people are uninhibited…You’re getting very truthful conversation. And you judge

somebody by the content of what they are saying and not their username, not their registration

date.” 4chan’s creation of an authentic folk group is unique in this context, as no one knows

anyone else, people can be any age, race, gender, and etc, and be from any location. One may not

interact with any specific person more than once a discussion, nor would one have any

knowledge about the limitless collection of board users. This flips some of the defining

elements13

of folklore on an axis, rejecting a “face-to-face interaction” and traditional ideas of

“consistency.” The users of 4chan definitely have interaction, but the process negates the idea of

“face-to-face” identity and the importance of the knowledge of the identity of members to a

group. The idea of traditional “consistency” is negated as a specific user has no idea who they

12

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/02/22/chris.poole.4chan/index.html 13

George, Jones 1

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/02/22/chris.poole.4chan/index.html


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are interacting with at any given time or whether or not that a particular user is prevalent

throughout a single thread or during the entire experience. And yet, it works.

Poole’s comments above allude to a more authentic form of communication in its

anonymity, getting the users to not only express exactly what is on their minds, but also read the

unfiltered thoughts of others. The vast majority of participants are anonymous, but occasionally

there are members who have set up specific user names. The /co/mrades of 4chan represent a

very close knit folk group. Though the users of 4chan do not know each other, they are actively

participating in a social network, and the members of /co/ represent a select group of users who

chose to engage in a selective, communal off-shoot of the main 4chan page (/b/). The work-safe

environment of /co/ allows people to browse and participate in the threads of the image board

more comfortably than some of the more extreme areas of 4chan. Because of this, the

community can be more consistent in its continued usage. The users even use a slogan to help

emphasize the communal relationship of the board, often posting the meme that “/co/ is love,”

alluding to the boards generally positive atmosphere.


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On a technical level, 4chan uses a basic bulletin board service (BBS). A similarly

programmed content management system, Shiichan Anonymous BBS,14

is better known for its

statements on anonymous internet activity rather than its code. The programmers behind this

system state that the anonymous system is better for fostering content for several different

reasons. The anonymous ideology suggests that a site’s registration of users keeps out good

posters, as the process of filling out forms may turn them off. Registration lets bad posters in, as

people with “no lives” will have nothing better to do than to sign up for a site; registration

attracts trolls (disruptive users), as there are permanent identities to pester; and that anonymity

counters vanity, as there lacks an elitism towards specific users, only what is actually posted.

This ideology of authentic communication is central to the success of image board sites like

4chan. Community can make anonymity work and thus, a folk community can exists

anonymously.

Because of the anonymous nature of the site, and the limited lifespan of content, 4chan is

admittedly difficult to research. Content is constantly updating or disappearing; a fresh thread

could fall back into the pages within a few seconds. Due to the nature of the research, I am

focusing on archived threads as opposed to active content. These thread archives were done by

member’s of the community, many of which are stored on the third-party site 4chanarchive.org,

though several are simply user-made thread archives. These can be accessed by searching

through 4chanarchive.org or by using 4chan’s own search engine. 4chan’s search has specific

limitations, however. Searchable content is based entirely on links to third-party content hosts,

such as Rapidshare.com, Mediafire.com or Megaupload.com. These sites allow any user to

upload a file of varying size and have it stored online to link to other users. 4chan users take

advantage of this service in full, and link to thousands of files a day on the various boards. These

14

http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan

http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan


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links are what is archived through 4chan’s search engine. Currently there are seven searchable

links for “Hypercrisis,” none of which are the original three threads that I am researching – such

is the chaotic nature of 4chan. The threads I am using, titled “Morrison Theory 1, 2, 3” were

linked at various times through out the past few months and have been saved for my own offline

readings. These are the core threads that became /co/’s Hypercrisis theory and were originally

posted on 11-28-09, 11-29-09 and 12-01-09. Each thread started at roughly 3am and lasted

ranging from noon to 4pm.

Besides the complex understanding of comic books, these threads are massive in terms of

original content, as the three threads I use for research total in 172 printable pages. This speaks

to the nature of the folk group, as the specific community is responsible for the existence of this

content, and not 4chan itself. A collective group of users must submit a thread to be saved on

4chanarchive and/or someone must go through effort to wait for a thread to come to an end, and

save it for further use. In a general sense, the group determines what is important, and what is

eventually shared with others throughout the life of the site.

For the sake of quoting, I will be using post numbers instead of names (unless otherwise

noted) and referring to the number of the thread I am using. Due to the complexity of the content

involved, I have chosen to include a select set of images at the end of the paper, which will be

put in order of how they are mentioned throughout the rest of this essay. I’ve also chosen to

speak as little on the actual comics and ideas personated throughout (besides necessary

explanations), in order to focus on the folkloric process represented on /co/. Though it may seem

necessary to have an unusually strong background in comics, I am focusing more on the

community’s process as opposed to what the /co/mrades are saying. If the images, events,


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characters, or concepts are confusing, I believe that that it speaks to the nature of the complexity

of the event and to the strength of the group.

What exactly is DC’s Hypercrisis? Technically, it does not exist. Famed and prolific

comic writer Grant Morrison proposed the original idea to DC comics, which was ultimately

rejected15

. His idea had several very large scale events happening over the entirety of DC’s

universe of comics, and all tying in to one main plot. This idea never got approved, and original

plots exist in rumor and vague interview segments. This is where /co/ comes in. Members of /co/

began noticing specific events from various Grant Morrison comics, mainly from his DC event

series Final Crisis (2008), Batman: R.I.P., and his current Batman and Robin series. Ironically,

Final Crisis was originally frowned upon by the /co/ collective for being meaningless in the

grand-scheme of the DC universe, though upon further inspection, it has become one of the main

sources of research by the /co/mrades and to their group theory discussion. Though Morrison has

discussed that Hypercrisis has lived on in his other work, he has never mentioned to what extent

15

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010928-Grant-Final-Crisis.html - one of the few sources to talk about

Hypercrisis in a published context.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010928-Grant-Final-Crisis.html


11

or to what end. What the Hypercrisis represents on /co/ is not just a textual analysis, but also a

participatory event – a group dialogic process. Users are connecting vague passages, panels,

quotes, ideas, and etc. across various books, and trying to discover a hidden meaning and

possible future. The /co/mrades are creating a theoretical mythology for the DC universe that is

completely unrelated to the actual published narratives at DC, and may or may not represent

what will actually happen in the future of these comics. They are putting together a very large

puzzle which may or may not have any specific solution. But whether or not this supposed grand

idea is “real,” formally planned on the side of DC Comics, or has an eventual solution related to

the /co/ established Hypercrisis is irrelevant to the actual process of community participation that

is going on at the site.

There are several processes going on in these threads. The main community processes

include active participation – people analyzing texts, piecing together clues, discussing ideas,

asking questions, among other things. There is also a level of passive participation – people

mostly talking about how cool various ideas are; expressing amazement, confusion, and other

emotions over what is going on in the thread. This passive participation is generally

supplemented with what are known on /co/ as “reaction images.” These are basic images, from a

variety of sources, of characters’ faces when they are very visibly expressing an emotion, and

they are used to express the emotion of the user posting them. Within the first thread we see

images of characters’ faces in wide-eyed stares, shock, sarcastic smiles, heads exploding in

amazement, wide-mouthed grins, characters surrounded by question marks, and characters high

on drugs. Each of these posts tends to highlight the conversation rather than adding to it. The

third process is trolling – these are users who are trying to end the conversation on the thread,

disrupted it in any way possible, aggravate other users, or simply to be annoying. Trolling is


12

quite common on 4chan, but the fact that there is a limited amount of trolling in these threads

also speaks to the power of the community and to the folkloric relationship of those participating,

as /co/ is working together in this process with limited distraction.’

Users have uploaded images of cartoon characters obsessed conspiracy theories, linking the

nonsensical thought connections of the paranoid to that of the active users. Eventually, this was

brought into the mainstream discussion by the active participants, as they created images that

mapped out their ideas with a self-awareness of their characterization of paranoia. This negated

much of the trolling, and has kept the main process a close-knit group of discussants.

The majority of posts are of the first two types, with a focus on active over passive

participation. This idea of necessary group participation supports the comparative lack of

unrelated or unnecessary images in these threads. For example, in the first Hypercrisis thread,

there are 253 posts and only 59 images. As 4chan is an image board, there is an ideology of

posting an image with nearly every post. The fact that this ratio is so small alludes to more

discussion and less sharing of macros and memes. However, there are up to 149 other


13

conversations going on at /co/ at any time, the fact that these threads get to roughly 300 posts,

and lasting for several hours, it is easy to say that there is a collective focus on the Hypercrisis

when discussed on /co/.

The first Hypercrisis thread, known in my archived thread as “Morrison Theory 1,” began

with a post by one of the self-identified /co/mrades known as “Friendly Neighborhood English

Major,” which is both a comic book pun16

and associates his posts with his identity as an

academic, or at least someone who reads comics in more than a casual way. It is hard to separate

the idea that someone with a moniker among anonymous users started an idea that united so

many, giving added weight to the assumed identity, but then again, no one really knows who is

behind said moniker – even the identifiable members have a layer of anonymity. The first post is

simply to help clarify a question that many users have had about Batman, and why he was not

around during a specific comic event. This later developed into ideas about Batman and how he

supposedly died. The idea of his death is later developed into the standard thought about how he

has been sent back in time, and how he is manipulating the current events from the past. Other

general theories include: the purpose of Batman’s clones and the importance of Batman’s

psychological torture; the true identity of The Black Glove; who Darksied is possessing and how

his Omega Sanction weapon works; Nekron’s power source; the importance of cave drawings;

the possible connection between a universal monitor and a herald of the Indigo Lanterns, and

others.17

The range of ideas pondered within the first thread that is listed above highlights the

complexity of material that is being discussed. These thoughts are coming from several different

sources: Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Blackest Night: Batman, Batman & Robin, Batman: R.I.P.,

16

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 17

None of this is supposed to make sense to a non-reader. It is strictly speaking of the complexity of theories.


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Batman: Last Rights, 52, Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, Death of the New Gods,

and DC Universe #0. Though this is simply the first batch of discussions these texts remain some

of the core materials for analysis, focusing heavily on Final Crisis and how it interacts with the

rest continuity of the DC universe.

(Eventual official reading list.)

Immediately this demonstrates several things about the group on /co/. This first set of comics

range from 2006-2009, so there is a heavy emphasis on contemporary media and supporting the


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industry – the users on /co/ are fans, foremost. Secondly, as post number 13000226 states, “I…I

think I need to re-read Final Crisis,” there is an implied communal competency surrounding the

texts in question. People are assumed to have more than just casually read a comic, but to have

processed the content in a critical way and played with the ideas in continuity. Not living up to

the standard of critical analysis on /co/ can be dangerous, post number 13000844 states, “Good

god. You guys have an amazing ability to invent stuff from nothing. To totally invent story lines

that aren’t there. To create connections in order to save Morrison’s shit from being irrelevant

trash.”

Though this can be interpreted simply as trolling other users, the user in question also is stating

that some users chose to read comics for enjoyment. This post is replied by post number

13000862, “When this all turns out to be true, your face is going to be so red.”

They are stating that not only are they having fun with the texts, but also a collective belief that

they are onto something big.

Where the first thread represents a deep textual analysis of contemporary texts and

drawing basic connections between works while developing ideas, the second thread starts

something far more complex. The first post in thread two involves a compiled image18

of 10

panels from two different comic series, and comparing symbols and dialogue in Batman and

18

Figure 1


16

Green Lantern comics in order to create a connection between two seemingly unrelated

characters and stories into one larger narrative.

This bricolage of panels becomes a reoccurring trend throughout the Hypercrisis discussions.

This is continued with an image discussing the source of power for an evil character by

compiling an image19

from three different series all alluding to what has become known as “The

Forever Pit.”

19

Figure 2


17


18

This process of image-map creation is continued throughout all newer threads, and gets

increasingly more elaborate. One image20

focuses on the diary entries of a therapist in Grant

Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: Serious House on Serious Earth (1989), which describe a specific

patient.

20

Figure 3


19

The user applies Freudian psychoanalysis to help established a greater understanding of the

history of events in Morrison’s work, and how they connect to other books. Another user

connects the appearances of a minor character in Batman comics, General Slaycroft, who has

appeared only in three minor stories: Robin Dies at Dawn (1963), Batman: Venom (1991), and

Batman #673 (2008).


20

This image21

opens up 45 years of comic history to be considered for interpretation, and collects

the appearances and pertinent information surrounding this seemingly forgettable army general

and his relationship to the purpose of the greater narrative.

Another trend in Hypercrisis thread 2 is a connection to other literary works. A user

points out the cryptic slogan of a character, "Vengeance Arms Against His Red Right Hand,"

connecting this idea between different books he has appeared in and the overall message of

vengeance that is prevalent with so many DC characters. This is expanded on by other users to

draw connections to John Milton’s Paradise Lost and these literary allusions lead to a greater

understanding of the overall theme of specific characters. Post number 13021733 states:

This allusion gives us some insights into the mindset of the Red Hood. In addition

to the reference to the Penitente Brotherhood, it suggests that the character may

have a god-complex--or, at the very least, a belief in divine justification for his

violent acts in a manner that's not dissimilar to the crusades of the middle ages.

Here the user is connecting the tone and allegories Milton’s work not just to a single character,

but to a greater sense of characterization tough the comics of DC.

21

Figure 4


21

This process of literary connections is further expanded by other users as the puzzle of

the identity of a new masked character, Oberon Sexton (who refers to himself as a grave digger),

is discussed using Shakespearian code. To quote a user created image22

, “Oberon – King of the

Faries. Sexton – a church groundskeeper. A clown who is also a sexton and a gravedigger

appears in the play Hamlet23

.” This is connecting the idea that The Joker (The Clown Prince of

Crime) is Oberon Sexton. The Shakespeare connections also continue around Oberon by

informing other users that Oberon is a character in Midsummer Nights Dream and in the play

discusses white pansy flowers, which can also be seen in other books in DC comics as a source

of hope.

22

Figure 5 23

Original emphasis


22

Beyond this, specific users are also making literary analysis connections on the structure

of Morrison’s own work. Users have pointed out that Morrison uses repeating images, literary

technique, and plot structures through out other works, as post number 13021475 discusses the

importance of a minor character being discussed, “Although not DCU related, he is kind of

analogous to Tom O’Bedlam from The Invisibles24

.” As this process of group discovery and

discussion is developing across multiple threads over multiple days, it is growing increasingly

elaborate. The process of understanding is taking on new levels, by using user-constructed

images, connecting comics to literary tropes, and an increasingly large pool of texts to discuss

and analyze.

In Hypercrisis thread 3, something new has developed. Included in this thread is a

completely original image25

detailing out the levels of power and control over the entirety of

DC’s comic universe, ranging from Neil Gaiman’s Endless characters (characters based on

universal ideas), to the spectrum of Lantern groups (which has been a recent event in the DC

universe, constructed by writer Geoff Johns, each Lantern group representing a different core

emotion), and the Seven Soldiers of Victory (an obscure 1940’s super team that was revamped

by Grant Morrison in 2005).

24

A series by Grant Morrison from 1994-1996 published by Veritgo Comics. 25

Figure 6


23

This is significant because we see people drawing a greater collective understanding of the

structures of abstract power within the fictional universe based on three entirely unrelated comic

series by three entirely different creators as well as the creation of original media in order to help

explain events, as opposed to bricolage. There is also a stronger focus on more conceptual

artistic elements, as people are analyzing symbols, icons, scars, cave paintings, tattoos, and other

diegetic markers relevant to the narratives. The image26

in discussion connects the abstract ideas

of historical shamanistic imagery importance to the iconography of DC’s super heroes.

26

Figure 7


24

As discussion develops, the analysis becomes increasingly more abstract. Moving away

from theoretical plot points, the /co/mrades are focusing on deconstructing an entire fictional

religion within DC comics, which focuses around the unholy Bible of Crime. Through this, the

users are analyzing the conceptual nature of evil in this fictional universe of DC’s 70 years of

published texts, and how it has developed through these events unleashed by Grant Morrison,

and what it means to the future development of DC’s comics. This has less to do with analyzing

texts, and more to do with critical thought on the concept of intertextual-universal realities and

beliefs.


25


26

To demonstrate this, I will paraphrase posts 15210837, 15211030, and 15211044, all main ideas

by a single user:

Now this is meta, so I can’t find quotes to back it up…but I think Morrison is

trying to fold the New Gods and the demons of Earth into a single “thing.” Final

Crisis killed the concept of death, and Darksied may have pulled the non-

Apocalips demons into the Forever Pit with him – the Forever Pit either replacing

or becoming one with Hell. If the Forever Pit merged with Hell….becoming the

physical underpinning for the metaphor (so to speak) or one of the associated

realms (DC Hell has multiple dub-annexes…almost dimensions unto themselves)

I could buy that passing unnoticed. Given that Darksied was in the process of

being transformed into an IDEA when he fell, you could argue that any aspect of

supreme evil in the DCU could be called an aspect of Darksied – it is entirely fair

to call him “The Devil.” 27

The ideas of the users are growing collectively more abstract, and yet the group succeeds at

explaining these concepts to each other, and continuing to connect them to the texts in

discussion.

One user begins to tie in the beliefs of Morrison, as he is a practicing magician, post

15221279 suggests, “You’ll realize that just like QEWEQ28

[a sentient micro-universe] is a

Thelematic model for the DCU, the DCU is a Thelemic model for OUR universe, and Grant is

trying to change the nature of the Human experience of the Universe – instilling a “Silver Age”

attitude in the whole human race29

.”

27

Figure 8 28

Figure 9 An infant, cube shaped universe Morrison created sometime in the 1990s. 29

Figure 10


27

Though this idea seems entirely absurd to those unfamiliar with Morrison’s work and beliefs, the

user is actually referencing ideas that Morrison has spoken about publically. Morrison has stated

that through the process of infusing his writing with his magic, that he can change reality based

on the fictional stories he creates, bringing fiction into our reality30

. This develops the

Hypercrisis process outside the world of the texts, as participants are now gathering ideas about

the creators and connecting it to universe of the reader(s).

This process of communal in-depth multi-text analysis and discussion started in late

November 2009, and has spawned nine “officially” titled and archived Hypercrisis threads of

various different topics, approaches and ideas, with the most recent major thread archived on

April 24, 2010.

30

Disinformation Conference, 2000: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6148569602584070911#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6148569602584070911


28

The “official” total discussion so far has lasted a total of 2,458 posts and 577 images related to

active discussion, passive discussion, or trolling. Minor Hypercrisis threads are posted

continually, in order to help other members to catch up on recent ideas; summarize major

theories from previous threads, and continuing general discussion. The Hypercrisis discussion

has recently moved to a Facebook group called “Hypercrisis31

,” but currently only has 15

members – perhaps speaking to the unwillingness for 4chan users to move away from an

31

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=121738831169955

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=121738831169955


29

anonymous discussion environment, and their unwillingness to move this folk group created

theory away from the folk environment.

/Co/’s current theories surround the return of Bruce Wayne, and have begun to connect

him with both The Phantom Stranger and Orion of the New Gods. This theory is both backed up

by iconography and by thematic analysis, linking Batman and the relationship with the Dr.

Hurt/“Thomas Wayne” character of R.I.P. with the relationship between Darksied and his son

Orion.


30

As well as the universal-games-theory, in which it is noted that several main DC characters are

seen playing simple games (cards, chess, etc.) for hugely important reasons.

One could attempt to argue that the groups on 4chan should not be considered a

traditional folk group, because their anonymity negates a provable consistency – the existence of

the Hypercrisis discussion suggests otherwise. Without consistency in group, there is little

chance that something so elaborately constructed and positively supported by /co/ could flourish

for such a length of time. The users continue to make these threads, practicing repetition in their

collective, complex collaboration on these comics. The group believes that they are uncovering

the truth as to what will be happening in DC’s future comics, but will any of this happen in print?

Are any of their thoughts valid or in actual development at DC? I would argue that /co/ does not

care. The /co/mrades are enjoying the process and having fun with the rest of the group

members. They can back up their claims through an incredible series of discussions, user made

image maps of analysis, and an immense knowledge of the past events in DC comics. They are

constructing their own future mythology based on the past 70 years of DC’s library by focusing a

collective group analysis around a series of core texts, almost entirely written by one man –

Grant Morrison. They are participating in a playful activity, furthering their group identity into a

collective project. The group unrelated individuals is establishing their own required reading list

of comics that members should be familiar with, and constructing a collective knowledge about

these texts to be developed, discussed, and played with for the future. This serves as a communal

activity with a greater importance than the majority of the threads on 4chan, and because of that,

it strengthens the group bond of /co/ and helps to develop the identity of the community.


31

Works Cited

4chan. 4chan. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. <http://www.4chan.org/>.

Bilton, Nick. "One on One: Christopher Poole, Founder of 4chan - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com."

Technology - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com. The New York Times Company, 19 Mar. 2010.

Web. 21 Apr. 2010. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/one-on-one-christopher-

poole-founder-of-4chan/>.

Brady, Matt. "Newsarama.com : Grant Morrison: Final Crisis Exit Interview, Part 1."

Newsarama | Comic Book News, TV, Movies. TechMediaNetwork.com, 28 Jan. 2009.

Web. 26 Apr. 2010. <http://www.newsarama.com/comics/010928-Grant-Final-

Crisis.html>.

"FAQ." 4chan. 4chan. Web. 23 Apr. 2010. <http://www.4chan.org/faq>.

Georges, Robert A., and Michael O. Jones. Folklorisitics: An Introduction. Bloomington and

Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1995. Print.

Metzger, Richard, and Craig Melville, dirs. "DVD Extra - Disinfo.Con - Grant Morrison."

Disinfo Nation. Television.

"Provocation: Roundup of TED2010, Session 5." TED Blog. TED, 11 Feb. 2010. Web. 26 Apr.

2010. <http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/provocation_rou.php>.

Raferty, Brian. "Full List - The 2009 TIME 100 Finalists - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis,

Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Time Inc. Web. 25 Apr.

2010.

<http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1883644,00.html>.

"Shiichan Anonymous BBS - the Forum Software's Official Home Page." Wakaba.c3.cx. 2004.

Web. 25 Apr. 2010. <http://wakaba.c3.cx/shii/shiichan>.


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Sutter, John D. "4chan Founder Defends Online Pranks - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking

News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Cable News Network, 22

Feb. 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.

<http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/02/22/chris.poole.4chan/index.html>.

4chan's hyper crisis and anonymous authenticity

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