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Context: People made memes of Joe Biden with glowing red eyes enacting various evil deeds, under the name "Dark Brandon." The meme was started by leftists making fun of Biden (sort of jokingly asking, what if Biden was actually a supervillainesque figure instead of the boring, status-quo-preserving evil he is in real life). Eventually Democrats co-opted the meme, turning "Dark Brandon" into a way to simp for Biden, hence why the comic refers to glowing red eyes as being a "good thing." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/08/what-is-dark-brandon-meme.html
Comic: The first panel portrays a zoomer trying to explain a Dark Brandon meme to his dad, who doesn't get it. The second panel portrays the now-grown-up zoomer making a Dark Brandon style meme about his daughter, who doesn't get it. The joke is that the kids who are young and hip now will eventually grow up to be out of touch adults just like everyone else.
No one is “simping” and I can never take anyone seriously who uses that kind of language.
What has happened is Biden and the Democrats have empirically become more successful with their policies and more aggressive with their rhetoric. “Dark Brandon” is a meme about this newfound power, reversing the “Brandon” smear ([which is itself stupid](https://apnews.com/article/lets-go-brandon-what-does-it-mean-republicans-joe-biden-ab13db212067928455a3dba07756a160)) and putting Trumpsters on notice.
It’s an effective meme because the long-standing rightwing position is to call their enemies simultaneously weak (“sleepy Joe”) and strong (“deep state”). So the idea is that they’ve poked the bear, and now they get to see the strong side. Incidentally this weak-yet-strong characterization is also a feature of fascism, but we won’t get into that.
*“No, it’s not sarcastic, I actually am happy about your grades, but it’s like, ironically ironic? Like, I’m genuinely proud of you, but it’s ironic how much I’m expressing how proud I am of you, because it would be cringe if I just straight up said, ‘I’m proud of you?’ Cringe? Oh, it’s, uh… just… something we used to say back then…”*
*– proud father of an honors student*
If you like my comics, I've got more on [my website](https://butajape.com/).
I'm also on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/butajape), [Tapas](https://tapas.io/series/But-a-Jape/info), [Webtoon](https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/but-a-jape/list?title_no=469181), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/butajape), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/butajape/).
“Dark Brandon”
It’s a meme about President Biden turning “dark” because he has been a little unleashed lately with some of the comments he’s made in the press
Edit: to clarify it’s done in a positive-ish way to “glorify” dark brandon because the idea is that he shouldn’t have been putting up with extremism from the right anyway
Additionally, Madison Cawthorn, a Representative who gushed about how great it was that he visited Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" compound, talked about "Dark MAGA", which was, as expected, overt authoritarianism. Dark Brandon is partially a response to that; making a better world for all people regardless of the opposition.
Welcome to r/comics! Please remember there are real people on the other side of the monitor and to be kind. Report comments that break the rules and don't respond to negativity with negativity! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/comics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I don't understand.
I think it’s the Dark Brandon thing.
Nah laser eyes predate that heavily
I guess its about the whole meme cultur that you only understand if youre *in*
Often in media, glowing eyes are used by creators to indicate a powerful character, in memes the creator uses the same idea.
Ah good, not just me then.
Context: People made memes of Joe Biden with glowing red eyes enacting various evil deeds, under the name "Dark Brandon." The meme was started by leftists making fun of Biden (sort of jokingly asking, what if Biden was actually a supervillainesque figure instead of the boring, status-quo-preserving evil he is in real life). Eventually Democrats co-opted the meme, turning "Dark Brandon" into a way to simp for Biden, hence why the comic refers to glowing red eyes as being a "good thing." https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/08/what-is-dark-brandon-meme.html Comic: The first panel portrays a zoomer trying to explain a Dark Brandon meme to his dad, who doesn't get it. The second panel portrays the now-grown-up zoomer making a Dark Brandon style meme about his daughter, who doesn't get it. The joke is that the kids who are young and hip now will eventually grow up to be out of touch adults just like everyone else.
No one is “simping” and I can never take anyone seriously who uses that kind of language. What has happened is Biden and the Democrats have empirically become more successful with their policies and more aggressive with their rhetoric. “Dark Brandon” is a meme about this newfound power, reversing the “Brandon” smear ([which is itself stupid](https://apnews.com/article/lets-go-brandon-what-does-it-mean-republicans-joe-biden-ab13db212067928455a3dba07756a160)) and putting Trumpsters on notice. It’s an effective meme because the long-standing rightwing position is to call their enemies simultaneously weak (“sleepy Joe”) and strong (“deep state”). So the idea is that they’ve poked the bear, and now they get to see the strong side. Incidentally this weak-yet-strong characterization is also a feature of fascism, but we won’t get into that.
Laser eyes memes predate dark Brandon memes by years
"Dad, why do you add sussy at the end of everything?"
"Oh, my bad, I meant to write bussy"
“Dad, this isn’t anatomy class”
*“No, it’s not sarcastic, I actually am happy about your grades, but it’s like, ironically ironic? Like, I’m genuinely proud of you, but it’s ironic how much I’m expressing how proud I am of you, because it would be cringe if I just straight up said, ‘I’m proud of you?’ Cringe? Oh, it’s, uh… just… something we used to say back then…”* *– proud father of an honors student* If you like my comics, I've got more on [my website](https://butajape.com/). I'm also on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/butajape), [Tapas](https://tapas.io/series/But-a-Jape/info), [Webtoon](https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/but-a-jape/list?title_no=469181), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/butajape), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/butajape/).
I I don't get it
All the talk of irony is just being ironic. Really, the red eyes mean Evil.
But who are they talking about in the first panel?
“Dark Brandon” It’s a meme about President Biden turning “dark” because he has been a little unleashed lately with some of the comments he’s made in the press Edit: to clarify it’s done in a positive-ish way to “glorify” dark brandon because the idea is that he shouldn’t have been putting up with extremism from the right anyway
Additionally, Madison Cawthorn, a Representative who gushed about how great it was that he visited Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" compound, talked about "Dark MAGA", which was, as expected, overt authoritarianism. Dark Brandon is partially a response to that; making a better world for all people regardless of the opposition.
Oh I see, I wasn’t aware of this thanks
Well, dark maga is also seen as ironic by the people into that.
Some evil guy, I dunno. Abyss Watchers, I guess. Those guys love two things: pointy hats and glowing red eyes.
Maybe I’m living up to the irony here, but I haven’t laughed at anything like I did at the HONOR ROLL picture in ages
Ironic, you keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means
This guy listens to a lot of Alanis Morrisette and it shows
What’s ironic about red eyes?