what happens next

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Fandom
Name: what happens next
Abbreviation(s): WHN
Creator: maximumgraves
Date(s): 8 November 2021 - present
Medium: webcomic
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: https://whathappensnext.webcomic.ws/comics/1#content-start
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what happens next (subtitle: will shock you) is a webcomic by maximumgraves. It began updating on its own website in November 2021, although early pages were posted to Twitter as early as April 2021.[1] As of October 2024, it has published over 1,000 pages in five chapters.

While the plot of the comic is about a fictional murder, internet scandal, and how these impact the lives of the characters, the plot beats and themes closely reference certain events and trends in fandom, particularly Tumblr fandom.

Canon

at age 15, milo was convicted for his involvement in the murder of haylie gorski. the internet never forgets.

Comic Fury profile [2]

what happens next is a comic about

1. the aftermath of a murder
2. posting on the internet
3. the midwestern united states
4. being gay and transgender

About page [3]

The comic so far is divided into five chapters:

  1. dog names: is more of an outsider-POV, basically some other Extremely Online tumblr person doing a Youtube explainer video of the whole murder incident and fallout on tumblr. dog names was intended to function as a standalone work.
  2. someone else: about the growing friendship and then failure of that friendship between the Explainer Youtuber and Milo (the protagonist/murder-accomplice/etc.), introduces Gage as Griffin's boyfriend
  3. no matter what: and the third part [and the longest] is close-focus on Milo trying to rebuild his life and establish some independence from his controlling family, eventually moving in with Gage
  4. victim impact statement: follows the life of Claire (sister of the murder victim) in the days and years following her sister's murder.
  5. you'll all be sorry: follows Vikki and Xandra

Notable Characters

  • Milo Holliday, accomplice, Tumblr user autisticstarlightglimmer
  • Viktoria "Vikki" Escamilla, YouTuber who interviews Milo
  • Griffin Petty, Milo and Haylie's childhood friend, turned murderer of Haylie and Savannah
  • Gage Ludemann, Griffin's boyfriend, later Milo's roommate, Tumblr user bloodswallows
  • Haylie Gorski, the second murder victim
  • Xandra Blumberg, Vikki's friend
  • Claire Gorski, Haylie's younger sister
  • Audrey Hill, Claire's girlfriend
  • Aaron Wagner, Claire and Audrey's friend
  • Savannah Plunkett, the first murder victim

Fandom

Fans have found the comic's depiction of Tumblr fandom particularly relatable or gutting.

What Happens Next continues to be an insanely good webcomic about true crime culture, tumblr psychology, and the justice system.

like. it has no right being this good and i think anyone who spent significant time online between 2010 and 2016 will see flashes of themselves or people who they’ve known in the characters. especially people who were dabbling in the realms of true crime, horror media, and ‘traumacore’.

which is. kind of horrifying considering that the protagonist is an accessory to murder.

dwellordream [4]

#It doesn't only or even primarily take place on Tumblr those were just the most relevant draws.#... except emotionally. Emotionally it absolutely 100% takes place basically entirely on Tumblr.#I think there are three rough categories of What Happens Next readers --#those who never really recognize the forum. those who recognize the forum by the end of the panel#and those who recognize the forum from the thread title alone.#(I'm in the second category.)#This comic made me wonder how the bone-stealing witch was doing enough to look up the local news articles from the time.#Retrospring link contains the characters' Homestuck kin info.#What Happens Next comic

thetransintransgenic [5]

Other Comments

I’m reading it and enjoying what I understand but I have to say the style makes it really hard for me to understand who’s who and who’s like, involved and like… keeping any of the characters or who they’re meant to be straight. The colors changing every page and some of the designs being fairly similar to each other means I genuinely can’t tell who milo is specifically

just finished what’s gone up it’s funny I was literally a single comic away from it shifting to normal coloring. Still have problems grasping who a lot of the characters who mainly appeared in the early parts and what their relation to milo is but yeah it’s getting good.

starryoak [6]

I read all of what’s been posted so far (artist is currently taking a break for wrist injury reasons) in 20m. Then I reread it. Then I linked it to my tumblr boyfriend and read it a third time over his shoulder. It’s not that it’s Such Good Art (although it’s quite good!) – but that I’m dangerously online but I really fear being terminally online, so consuming Art about the awful, desperate, sad people who form the unpleasant background radiation of my internet experience was amazingly intense.

Note: If you’re a compulsive skimmer like me, it’s worth taking the first ~20 panels slowly to orient yourself on the major characters’ faces and names – I found it hard to visually distinguish the characters until I got used to the style, and the trans major characters have online handles and legal names still in play in the story.

etirabys [7]

#this i feel like this triggered such specific emotions for me#that i think the artist meant for it to#and i congratulate them holy shit u rly did it#u distilled that corner of tumblr into its purest essence#this is horrifying but in such an authentic way bless u for leaving this piece of art#to show future generations what this era/space of tumblr was like#THE AESTHETIC AND CLOTHING CHOICES REALLY GOT ME

tweetsongs [8]

#ref#this definitely looks like it might ping the weird fucked up algrithm my brain uses to decide which things make me insane#update: I read all of it. I was right#nsfm

acerbikitty [9]

#YES THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE WEB COMICS#its very heavy at times but omfg i love it#if u were on here around 2013-2017 this will feel familiar to u

butch-dyke-loving [10]

#love this comic#also#i may be stupid#but having the cast list open in another tab helped a lot when I read it the first time

dontbreakthechain [11]

#oh this is so good#really showcases the issues with true crime in more internet based spaces

howdyfriend [12]

#this is very interesting#do mind the tws before you read#it is. a lot

chahaa-piun-ja [13]

#daaang#heed the content warnings but WOW this is good

epaulettesharks [14]

#read this whole thing this morning#the way it captures tumblr in 2016 is Real

emchovy [15]

#just binge read all of it and holy shit!!!#as someone who loves Tumblr microcommunities and subcultures#seeing them so heavy in the comic and on contrast with the very serious situations the characters are in#that's my fucking jam

petrichorvoices [16]

#okay#binged it#um#I'm fine with a lot of like. stuff#I'm okay with gore#I don't really have anything like any triggers that I worry about?#this made me cry so much#mostly with like. um. self-harm. and uh. stuff about suicide#it's really mostly just in one or two chapters but#yeah#it. this struck cords I didn't know could be struck#major cw for a lot of stuff but it lets you know what in the beginning of chapters#it's good#I liked it

crowyobroyo [17]

#the comic ever#god this is just so like that part of the internet experience coming back to haunt me

redtailfins [18]

#just caught up with this!!#incredible work throughout#lots of environmental storytelling throughout#and a really compelling character study#not sure if that’s the right term tho

why-nathan [19]

#fucking woof#i haven’t been that engrossed in something in awhile#what kind of spell did you put on this OP that was jarring as fucj

lundibix [20]

#wow#this is a really heavy webcomic but this was honestly one of the most viscerally real stories I've read in a long time#I haven't seen a comic depict the nuances of online/tumblr subcultures so perfectly#I'll be thinking about this comic for a very long time#comics#webcomic

skeletonhell [21]

#just finished reading this up to the latest post#and holy shit#hooooly shit#this felt weirdly real#heed the content warnings though!!!

kitthekryptid [22]

#i read this comic in the twitter threads#glad to see its uploaded in an actual webcomic format

internetkatze [23]

#it was a really interesting read about internet culture#it clearly shows all the good bad and ugly of everyone hanging out there without the condescension of some medias about internet#mind the tw tho

anawkwardlady [24]

#this comic is amazing and harrowing i can't stop thinking about it#the synergy of the very late 2010s tumblr art style... magnifique#like ive never read anything that captured this corner of the internet like this#PLEASE HEED THE CONTENT WARNINGS THOUGH HOLY SHIT

glitchedwitch [25]

#cannot reccomend this comic enough#it holds a mirror to so many parts of modern queer culture that I just haven't seen represented before#dark as fuck and messy with nuance but. so good#comic recc

cyberpunkboytoy [26]

#this comic is so so amazing. pinpoint accuracy. PINpoint.#mind the content warnings of course but i 100% recommend it so far#the timeline spans a mushy anachronistic spread of 'when you were in middle school' to 'now'#and it's just got this intense truthfulness to all of it. so much care goes into the blogs and the websites and the shitty asphalt suburbia#and the characters. yeah. i just read through all of what's up so far in one sitting. it's good

twig---verginix [27]

#this comic is Bojack Horseman for tumblerinas#it will rip your heart in two and you will thank it

shinysoroka [28]

#holy shit i've been up until 2am binging this this is INSANELY good#satisfies my craving both for media where everyone sucks#and also for like. internet-epistolary stuff. where so much happens online through tumblr posts and messages and zoom conversations#i love this so much god#the dove is like super dead though. caution advised

dramatic-dolphin [29]

#PLEASE READ WHAT HAPPENS NEXT#IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME#It’s like Bojack Horseman but for people who lied about their age to make tumblr accounts

bone-wagon [30]

#what happens next#this comic makes me physically ill to read! 10/10 would recommend#i will warn you though that if a chapter’s title card has content warnings HEED THEM

valencitaflaherty [31]

#lov this comic#it's on the same level of psychological horror as killing stalking but instead it's about horrible all talk no action tumbeler kids#also similar themes about no perfect victims and being failed by the system

a-waste-of-time-and-hot-glue [32]

#faves#oh my god that was one hell of a ride#do heed the content warnings though there's lots of em

warpednyliummybeloved [33]

#I've been following this on twitter it's very good#and if you were on fandom tumblr in the last ten years... yeah it is very much made for you

shadowofthelamp [34]

#LMFAAAOOOO THE MC DOING THE. CALLING SOME1 A SOCIOPATH THEN APOLOGIZING FOR IT THING#listen listen guys. op. tagstalkers#i rolled in the same circles as milo the mc Back In The Day#i also have aspd#the. AAAA THE AAAAAA#me pointing ITS THE THING!!! THE THING PEOPLE DO THAT PISSES ME OFF!!!!!#cuz ppl like that kinda sorta have a 1000% probability chance of treating me like garbo for getting mad ever#not like. getting mad to an unhealthy ectent#but like. literally my anger issues r good if i need to be an attack dog#but suddenly im being scary if i say theyre kind of. treating me like shit and i dont like it#if i told milo that i didny feel comfortable telling him if he hurts me because he always reacts so horribly no matter how calm i am or how#i say it#hed say that im scary and get mad too often and not listen to anything i had to say#source i knew someone like him#and i am absolutely the bad guy in His version of things which! to be fair!!#we both sucked. i LITERALLY HAD CONDUCT DISORDER#i DID have some insanely bad anger issues#but BUDDY.....#u cant say theyre super cool and fun and enable them UP UNTIL we have a minor disagreement#like. me wishing death on Badshippers graphically is fine but me calmly telling u hey that hurt me is scary?? beSTIIIEEEE#ANYWAY im rambling and if things ended up worse for me and i didnt stablize a little RIIIGHT before the point of no return#i proooobably wouldve ended up as a horrific amalgam of two of these assholes

tulpafcker [35]

#hahahaha#oh boy this hits some personal notes of ancient trauma for me#this hits in ways similar to how playing secret little haven hit#but a loooot darker#SLH had a much more lighthearted tone overall#but this? oh god. goddamn.#i'm a bit fucked sittin thinking about Ye Olden Days of my time on tumblr#i have known. some pretty terrible people.#and some of them i don't think ever got better.#i think they're still just as shitty and manipulative as they always were.#'some' and 'similar' bc like. no one died and no one was manipulated in to rl crime#but it was damaging and scary shit what we *did* go throgh#and the reaction to a lot of it..... some people will look for every reason they can#to not care about your suffering if they buy even the smallest bit#of it being deserved

vaporwavelich [36]

#Honestly I didn't vibe with the art style at first but [meduka I know now jpeg]#Milo's BYF is so funny man#Get off the internet boyo

sadhoc [37]

#this is probably the most poignant comic ive read#as someone whose surrounded by death

plaguedctr [38]

#my review: [trying to laugh off being deeply emotionally affected] ''haha wow this is fucked up''#seriously though read the content warnings and then read them again. and then maybe read the comic?#it's astonishing how very Everybody Sucks Here the cast of this series is and yet it's very easy to sympathize

gynoidgearhead [7]

#the fucking positivity posts and pastel aesthetic weaved between the bullshit. holy shit

moggleboggle [39]

#this was honestly a little unsettling insomuch as seeing a pretty real depiction of how someone goes off the rails#in that no support bad situation worse support lack of resources etc

feralathala [40]

Example Fanworks

Fanart

Fanfic

Other

Resources

Comic Links

Fandom Links

References

  1. ^ "dog names" 1/8, Archived version. Twitter posts of the first ~50 pages of the comic. Posted between 26 April 2021 and 2 June 2021.
  2. ^ what happens next - Webcomic profile - Comic Fury Webcomic Hosting, Archived version. Accessed 18 April 2023.
  3. ^ "About Page". Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  4. ^ Tumblr post by dwellordream. Posted 14 November 2022.
  5. ^ Tumblr post by thetransintransgenic, Archived version. Posted 4 August 2022.
  6. ^ Comments on thetransintransgenic's post. Starryoak posted on 2 October 2022.
  7. ^ a b reply to thetransintransgenic's post by etirabys. Posted 14 August 2022
  8. ^ Reblog by tweetsongs. Posted 25 August 2022.
  9. ^ Reblog by acerbikitty. Posted 25 August 2022.
  10. ^ Reblog by butch-dyke-loving. Posted 29 August 2022.
  11. ^ Reblog by dontbreakthechain. Posted 29 August 2022.
  12. ^ Reblog by howdyfriend. Posted 29 August 2022.
  13. ^ Reblog by chahaa-piun-ja. Posted 29 August 2022.
  14. ^ Reblog by epaulettesharks. Posted 29 August 2022.
  15. ^ Reblog by emchovy. Posted 29 August 2022.
  16. ^ Reblog by petrichorvoices. Posted 29 August 2022.
  17. ^ Reblog by crowyobroyo. Posted 29 August 2022.
  18. ^ Reblog by redtailfins. Posted 29 August 2022.
  19. ^ Reblog by why-nathan. Posted 29 August 2022.
  20. ^ Reblog by lundibix. Posted 29 August 2022.
  21. ^ Reblog by skeletonhell. Posted 29 August 2022.
  22. ^ Reblog by kitthekryptid. Posted 29 August 2022.
  23. ^ Reblog by internetkatze. Posted 29 August 2022.
  24. ^ Reblog by anawkwardlady. Posted 30 August 2022.
  25. ^ Reblog by glitchedwitch. Posted 30 August 2022.
  26. ^ Reblog by cyberpunkboytoy. Posted 8 September 2022.
  27. ^ Reblog by twig---verginix. Posted 6 October 2022.
  28. ^ Reblog by shinysoroka. Posted 18 November 2022.
  29. ^ Reblog by dramatic-dolphin. Posted 18 November 2022.
  30. ^ Reblog by bone-wagon. Posted 19 November 2022.
  31. ^ Reblog by valencitaflaherty. Posted 30 November 2022.
  32. ^ Reblog by a-waste-of-time-and-hot-glue. Posted 2 January 2023.
  33. ^ Reblog by warpednyliummybeloved. Posted 5 January 2023.
  34. ^ Reblog by shadowofthelamp. Posted 9 January 2023.
  35. ^ Reblog by tulpafcker. Posted 9 January 2023.
  36. ^ reblog by vaporwavelich. Posted 9 January 2023.
  37. ^ reblog by sadhoc. Posted 12 January 2023.
  38. ^ Reblog by plaguedctr. Posted 23 February 2023.
  39. ^ reblog by moggleboggle. Posted 28 February 2023.
  40. ^ feralathala's reblog. Posted 3 March 2023.
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