Goodbye Friend

Submission 16,085

Part of a series on Mr. Lovenstein. [View Related Entries]

About

Goodbye Friend is a series of four-panel exploitable webcomics based on a comic by artist Mr. Lovenstein. The comic features a character who pays a sniper to follow him with orders to execute if they ever do anything embarrassing. Online, people replace the characters embarrassment with various things, leading to the final panel in which the character says to their companion, "Goodbye friend."

Origin

On January 23rd, 2018, Mr. Lovenstein^[1] published a four-panel webcomic about two friends. In the first panel, the fuchsia-colored character asks their blue-colored friend, "What's up with that red dot on your head?" The blue-colored character answers, "I hired a sniper to put me out of my misery if I ever do something painfully embarrassing." The third panel features the blue character tripping on a flight of stares. The final panel shows the blue character saying "Goodbye friend" as the fuchsia character watches in horror. When posted to Facebook ^[2] the comic received more than 9,900 reactions and 2,000 shares in two days.

Spread

The following day, Redditor ^[3] MrLovens uploaded the comic to the /r/comics subreddit, where it received more than 42,000 points (87% upvoted) and 345 comments.

Later that day, Redditor^[4] PM_ME_YOUR_RECORDS posted a template of a meme format in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit, removing the third panel. The post (shown below, left) received more than 33,000 points (85% upvoted) and 675 comments.

Shortly after, Redditor^[5] MemeKrabs published the first known instance of the meme on the /r/dankmemes subreddit. Using the template from /r/MemeEconomy, this version replaced the third panel with the infamous Nintendo WiiMote strap warning screen. The post (shown below, center) received more than 130 points (86% upvoted).

Later that day, as variations began to appear on /r/dankmemes, Redditor^[6] BigolPhatD published a version of a botch handshake in the third panel, where in which one side attempts a handshake, while the other attempts a fist bump. The post (shown below, right) received more than 1,500 points (91% upvoted) in less than 24 hours.