Where did the Karl meme come from?

Among many other things, the Internet is also remarkable for the fact that things suddenly appear on it, which in the shortest possible time capture the minds of millions. Among them is the meme about Karl – an emotional dialogue between a father and his son, in which the father places special emphasis on some fact.

This meme gained popularity in Ukraine in the winter of 2015. He appeared much earlier, and not in the form we are used to seeing him. The frames of this comic are taken from the series The Walking Dead, namely from the scene of the fourth episode of the third season. It happens in the 42nd minute. According to the plot, the main character of the series, Rick Grimes, learns that his wife Lori died during childbirth. After that, he becomes hysterical, and his son Karl stands silently, as shown in the comic. It is noteworthy that in the original video, Rick does not approach Carl, so the creators of the template decided to create such an illusion by simply increasing the size of Rick in each new frame. It turned out quite strange.

After the release of this series in early 2013, a parody video called Rick Finds Out That Carl is Gay immediately appeared on YouTube.

In the form of a comic, the meme appeared in late 2013, when Buzzfeed published the article “19 of the best parenting jokes from Rick Grimes”. It was then that this meme took its modern form.

Sometimes a comic differs from the “canonical” look

Sometimes other characters appear there

And it happens that these characters appear in other comics