The Bubblegum Gentleman

About

The Bubblegum Gentleman is a character from a webcomic created by comic book artist @Cheesymanfredo in 2022. The comic shows the difference between "silly superpowers" as depicted in Western comics versus manga. The comic has inspired voice-acting interpretations and fan art in the years following its virality.

Origin

On November 9th, 2022, X^[1] user and comic book artist @Cheesymanfredo posted an original comic differentiating between how "silly superpowers" are treated in Western comics versus manga, gathering over 76,000 likes in a year (seen below).

Spread

The image was reposted several times in the months following its release, including a November 12th, 2022 post /r/animememes^[2] that gathered over 10,000 upvotes, and a May 10th, 2023 post to /r/memes^[3] that gathered over 20,000 upvotes in a year.

On March 29th, 2023, YouTuber^[6] FinalZephyr posted a video voice acting @Cheesymanfredo's original comic, gathering over 900,000 views in a year (seen below).

On February 28th, 2024, X^[4] user @Pandaandwolf posted an edit of the meme placing Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter in the "manga" panel section as an example of an actual manga character with gum powers (seen below, left). On March 29th, 2024, X^[5] user @thedarkcartoon posted fanart of the Bubblegum Gentleman in the style of a Silver Age Western comic. The post gathered over 15,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, right)

On April 14th, 2024, @Cheesymanfredo^[7] posted different interpretations of his original Bubblegum Gentleman character, showing what he could have looked like through different decades of American comics, cartoons and TV shows. The post gathered over 28,000 likes in two days (seen below).

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References