Cursed 2017 ‘Zootopia’ Comic Is Back for Halloween

I’m a furry, and I don’t know if I ever needed to see the return of the infamous Zootopia abortion comic. But it’s Halloween 2023, and we now live in a world where the government’s parens patriae rights matter more than a woman’s safety. So, six years after the comic initially went viral and caused a caecotroph storm on social media, it’s returned to remind us that we live in a post-Roe v. Wade world.

This week on TikTok, it’s been all about All Hallows’ Eve as people share their Halloween 2023 costumes with followers on social media. While costumes of the year’s popular memes are generally common with the social media crowd, one TikTok user, @crabsgosnibsnab, decided to dip into the most cursed memes of the past and dress up as the Zootopia abortion comic from 2017. 

Other TikTokers went wild in response and the post has over 1,000 comments at the time of this writing. One person commented that it was “the most iconic couples costume” they’d ever seen,” whereas another derided the costumes for not being “lore accurate.” However, many commenters also expressed confusion about what the Zootopia abortion clinic costumes even were, as it was their first time learning about what may be one of the most infamous furry webcomics ever, “I Will Survive” by DeviantArtist William Borba.

What is the Zootopia abortion comic, anyway?

The Walt Disney Company’s animated work has long appealed to the furry community. Ask any number of furries what sparked their interest in anthropomorphic animals, and they will likely start babbling reverently about a fox in favor of wealth redistribution (Robin Hood), a fish with anxiety (Nemo), or a mouse with boobs (Gadget Hackwrench). While the Internet may once again be remembering the furry fandom’s fandom of the franchise, Zootopia’s animal denizens have been well-represented in the community since the first film was announced.

According to unconfirmed furry lore I’ve heard/read, The Walt Disney Company initially reached out to the fandom directly in order to promote Zootopia. And real or not, the rumor of Disney’s alleged direct marketing scheme worked. Furries rented out entire movie theaters in celebration of the film’s 2016 release, and it’s still fairly easy to find watch parties to this day. The film had such an impact that you can go to any furry convention today and still see numerous people in fursuits resembling Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. You know what, scratch that. Go to any convention, and you will see a furry duo, with one donning gray and pink bunny ears and the other in red fox ears. However, what you won’t see is anyone cosplaying as Borba’s “I Will Survive,” labeled by Zootopia News Network as the “most controversial comic the fandom has ever seen” (and that’s saying something).

First published in March 2017, “I Will Survive” has since become an exploitable, or meme template, after X (Twitter) user and Onion Labs copywriter Eric Munn discovered the comic and posted it on the platform. In this alternate reality, Officer Hopps discovers that she’s pregnant with her and Nick’s baby and wants to have an abortion out of concern for the baby’s health and the future of her career. But Nick doesn’t want anything to do with it. “I beg you—please let your light continue to shine through him or her,” he pleads before deciding to leave Judy (although not for good as we learn in the much less publicized sequel).

In the fervor that followed Munn’s original post, meme fans engaged with and satirized the original story, mocking it for seemingly taking an anti-abortion stance. Fair. However, there were also many, many furry-phobic articles published deriding the webcomic as the “end of innocence” and “creepily fetishistic” (cough, cough, The A.V. Club, cough, cough). Not cool, man. While there are many appropriately bad takes of “I Will Survive,” making the furry fandom seem abnormal is not the way. Outdated furry opinions: So long, farewell, and thanks for all the fish!

(featured image: TikTok/crabsgosnibsnab)