# This Is Fine > This Is Fine is a 2013 reaction image from KC Green's webcomic showing an anthropomorphic dog calmly sipping coffee in a burning room saying 'This is fine' to express denial. "This Is Fine" is a two-panel reaction image from KC Green's 2013 webcomic "On Fire," showing an anthropomorphic dog calmly sipping coffee in a burning room while saying "This is fine." Born from Green's personal struggles with depression and antidepressants, the comic became one of the most widely shared memes of the 2010s, used as shorthand for denial or forced calm in the face of obvious disaster[1]. The Atlantic called it "a work of near-endless interpretability," and its relevance kept growing through political crises, pandemics, and everyday stress for over a decade[13]. ## Origin KC Green published the comic on January 9, 2013, as Gunshow comic #648, titled "On Fire" with the alt text "The Pills Are Working"[4]. Green was 25 at the time, living alone in Massachusetts, far from his family in Oklahoma[1]. He had recently started taking antidepressants and was scared the medication would change who he was as an artist[1]. "I was still struggling with myself, with getting my anti-depressants and stuff right," Green told The Verge in 2016. "You know, every now and then you have these off days where shit is worse, but you're trying to ignore it"[7]. The comic wasn't planned as anything special. Green had a self-imposed schedule for Gunshow updates and needed to get a strip out. "It kind of feels like you just have to ignore all the insanity around you like a burning house," he told NPR. "And the comic just ended up writing itself after that"[2]. - **Platform:** K Chronicles comic strip - **Creator:** KC Green (artist) - **Date:** 2010 (original comic), 2016 (meme format) ## Overview The meme is built from the first two panels of a six-panel webcomic. In the first panel, a yellow cartoon dog wearing a small bowler hat sits at a kitchen table holding a coffee mug while flames climb the walls around him. In the second panel, the view zooms in slightly as the dog smiles and says, "This is fine"[4]. The full comic goes darker from there: the dog keeps reassuring himself ("I'm okay with the events that are unfolding currently"), takes a drink, and slowly melts from the heat until his eyes fall out of their sockets[7]. But the meme version stops at those first two panels, keeping the tone in a sweet spot between denial and dark comedy. The dog's official name is Question Hound, a recurring character in Green's Gunshow webcomic series[2]. Green's drawings have also spawned other well-known memes including "Dick Butt" and "Staredad"[4]. ## How It Spread The comic's first two panels showed up on 4chan's /vr/ (retro games) board on April 26, 2013[4]. The bigger push came on January 10, 2014, when Reddit user theonefoster posted those same two panels to /r/funny with the title "Accurate representation of me dealing with university stress"[4]. Green first noticed the meme spreading on Instagram, where college students shared it as finals approached[1]. "When finals week starts... this is fine. When everyone's yelling at you and you're supposed to keep a smile on at your work... this is fine," Green recalled[2]. A September 2014 post by user SPIDER_MAN on Reddit's /r/Funny pulled over 1,400 upvotes and 4,300 more on Imgur[4]. From there, usage snowballed across Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook through 2015 and into 2016. Every new crisis gave the meme fresh oxygen. As The Verge noted in May 2016, the phrase "This is fine" had effectively changed meaning on social media: it no longer meant things were actually fine[7]. ## How to Use The meme works in two registers: pointing out someone else's obvious denial of a crisis, or self-deprecating acknowledgment of your own inability to deal with a problem. 1. For caption format: write a setup describing a bad situation ('Me watching my code deploy to production with zero tests') and attach the 'This is Fine' image as the punchline 2. For reply format: when someone posts distressing news, reply with just the image or the words 'This is fine' 3. For text-only: use the phrase 'This is fine' on its own — it now carries the full meme meaning even without the image 4. For edit format: replace the dog with other characters or change the fire to represent specific disasters, though the unedited version is the most commonly shared ## Cultural Impact Adult Swim paid Green to animate the full comic as a channel bumper, with Dana Snyder providing the voice. They produced 10 total animated bumpers based on different Gunshow comics[7]. The "This Is Fine" animation aired on the network in early 2016. The meme became a go-to reference during every major crisis of the 2010s and 2020s. SB Nation used it to caption devastating sports moments, calling it "the perfect meme for sports" because of how often athletes must accept forces beyond their control[6]. Dictionary.com added an entry for "This is fine" explaining its ironic usage[12]. In January 2023, both NPR and The Atlantic published retrospectives for the meme's 10th anniversary. The Atlantic described it as "the meme that defined a decade" and traced how its meaning had shifted from personal self-deprecation to a broader commentary on political inaction and institutional failure[13]. Green built a real business around the meme through his TopatoCo store, selling prints, shirts, mugs, and the crowd-funded Question Hound plush toy[7]. "I basically try to monopolize this one image, because, hey, if people want it, I could use it," he told The Verge[7]. A "This Is Fine" Funko Pop figure also went into production[2]. ## Fun Facts - The dog's full name is Question Hound, and he still appears in Green's ongoing webcomic Funny Online Animals[2]. - Green compared the meme to the "Hang in there" kitten poster, noting both tap into a basic human impulse to keep going when everything is falling apart[7]. - The original comic's alt text reads "The Pills Are Working," a direct reference to Green's antidepressant journey[4]. - Green split his Adult Swim animation pay with Shmorky, the animator who brought the bumpers to life[7]. - When the GOP tweeted the meme in 2016, The Nib's counter-tweet with Green's elephant version got 50% more retweets than the original[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is "This Is Fine"? "This Is Fine" is a two-panel reaction image from KC Green's webcomic "On Fire," showing a dog calmly drinking coffee in a burning room while saying "This is fine." It's used to express ironic denial or forced calm during bad situations[7]. ### Where did "This Is Fine" come from? KC Green published the original six-panel comic on January 9, 2013, as part of his Gunshow webcomic series, comic #648[4]. ### What does "This Is Fine" mean? The phrase is used ironically. When someone shares the meme, they're acknowledging that a situation is clearly terrible while pretending (or joking about pretending) everything is okay[12]. ### How do you use "This Is Fine"? Pair the image with a description of something going wrong, whether personal (exam stress, work chaos) or global (political crises, disasters). The image can also stand alone as a reply to bad news[12]. ### Is "This Is Fine" still popular? As of its 10th anniversary in January 2023, both NPR and The Atlantic published retrospectives confirming it was "somehow more relevant than ever," making it one of the longest-lived internet memes[13]. ### Who is the dog in "This Is Fine"? The character's name is Question Hound, a recurring figure in KC Green's Gunshow webcomic. He also appears in Green's newer series Funny Online Animals[2]. ### Why does the meme only show two panels when the original has six? Green himself explained it: "He doesn't melt. It's easier to sell the first two than the entire panel where the dog melts into nothingness." The truncated version keeps the tone lighter and more shareable[3]. ### What happened when the GOP tweeted "This Is Fine"? On July 25, 2016, the Republican National Committee tweeted the meme during the Democratic National Convention. Green publicly asked them to delete it, and political cartoon site The Nib responded with a Green-drawn version featuring the GOP elephant instead of the dog[5]. ### Did KC Green make money from the meme? Yes. Green sells merchandise through TopatoCo (prints, shirts, mugs), received payment from Adult Swim for animated bumpers, and ran a successful Kickstarter for a Question Hound plush toy[7]. ### What inspired KC Green to draw the original comic? Green was 25 and had recently started taking antidepressants. He was worried the medication would change him, and the comic reflected his feeling of trying to ignore the chaos of life while dealing with his mental health[1]. ### What is "This Is Not Fine"? A 2016 sequel by Green published on The Nib, where the dog breaks out of his calm, screams "THIS IS NOT FINE!!", and puts out the fire. Green said all of 2016 inspired it[3]. ### Did a senator really reference the meme? Yes. On August 1, 2018, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) quoted the meme during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian election interference, saying "That's not fine"[11]. ### Is there a "This Is Fine" video game? Developer Nick Kaman released a free browser game in November 2016 where players control the dog and put out fires with a heart-spraying extinguisher. It was played over 10,000 times in its first month[8]. ## References 1. [Artist behind 'This is fine' meme can't escape it 10 years later — and he's fine with that | CBC Radio]() 2. ['This is fine' creator reflects on 10 years of the comic meme : NPR]() 3. [The man who created ‘this is fine’ now says ‘this is not fine’ | The Verge]() 4. [This Is Fine - Know Your Meme]() 5. [How the ‘This is fine’ meme has come to define a decade of disaster – The i Paper]() 6. [Here’s Why Webcomics Fans Have Been Piling on the GOP Twitter Account | | Observer]() 7. [Sports’ greatest heartaches are all improved with the ‘This is Fine’ meme | SB Nation]() 8. [this+is+fine | Tumblr]() 9. [This Is Fine creator explains the timelessness of his meme | The Verge]() 10. ['This Is Fine' Is a Coping Mechanism for 2016]() 11. [This Is Fine by Nick Kaman]() 12. [How the GOP ruined “This is fine” dog.]() 13. [Senator References the "This Is Fine" Meme in Election Interference Hearing]() 14. [A U.S. Senator Just Invoked the Popular 'This Is Fine' Meme | TIME]() 15. [This is fine Meme — Origin, Meaning, History | MemesGuy]() 16. [This is fine | Memes | Dictionary.com]() 17. [This Is Fine | Meme Reference]() 18. [“This Is Fine” Meme: The Relatable Hound That Stuck With Us For Good? | Bored Panda]() 19. [The Origin and Impact of “This Is Fine” Dog - Memehead]() 20. ['This Is Fine': The Meme That Defined a Decade - The Atlantic]() 21. [Gunshow - On Fire]() 22. [this+is+fine+meme | Tumblr]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/this-is-fine Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library