july 8–21, 2019 | new york 63STEP 4
... PAY ATTENTION TO HOW
IT’S USED AND CASH IN
WHERE YOU CAN
As the months and years
went on, it appeared with
increasing frequency
elsewhere on the web. Green
didn’t much mind. It wasn’t
associated with anything
particularly repugnant.
He made a little money off
an Adult Swim interstitial
that animated the strip,
and his internet-savvy
fans seemed to be good
at letting memers know
who created the original.
STEP 6
REMAIN VIGILANT (AND
LISTEN TO YOUR FANS)
Green has been his own best
advocate in the fight for his
dog’s future. When The Daily
Show posted an edited
version of the meme with the
show’s watermark on the
image in 2017, he lashed out
at it directly. “I did talk to
them, and they’re like, ‘We
really want to use it.’ I was
like, ‘Well, I really want you
to pay me.’ ” Plus, “I have
really good fans looking out
for me, to the point where I
get emails maybe once a
month about, ‘Hey,
someone’s selling “This Is
Fine” on Etsy’” He issues
takedown requests at
e-commerce sites like Etsy
STEP 5 and Redbubble all the time.
BUT WHEN IT
GETS CO-OPTED,
BE READYOn July 25, 2016, the social-
media team behind the
official Republican Party
Twitter account appropriated
those first two panels of
“On Fire” for a tweet about
the atmosphere during the
first day of the Democratic
National Convention in
Philadelphia. Green’s feelings
crystallized: “Oh man.
Keep my name out of your
mouth,” he recalls thinking.
He quickly published a cri
de coeur titled “This Is Not
Fine,” in which Question
Hound realizes that his house
is burning down; he puts
the fire out while screaming
and, ultimately, sits in horror
amid the ashen ruins.STEP 7
STEAL FROM
THOSE WHO TRY TO
STEAL FROM YOU
He harnessed his folk-hero
status to launch a Kickstarter
for a Question Hound plush
toy (“to ease our pain”), and
you can buy one for $25.
“I can write to Redbubble or
Etsy or any other place to ask
them to take something down,
but I think the best way to
try and take it back yourself
is to steal other people’s
ideas,” he says with a laugh.
“Like, oh, they wanted a tote
bag with this on it? Then I’ll
make a tote bag with that on
it. I’ll stop them. They want
a shirt print with just the two
panels on it, so they go to Etsy
to make a dumb version of
the print. Then here”—that
is, on his store at merch site
TopatoCo—“we offer a print
with just the two panels or we
offer a shirt with just the two
panels because that’s all people
fucking want.” Okay, fine.
ARTWORK COURTESY OF KC GREEN