diff --git a/ipykernel/comm/comm.py b/ipykernel/comm/comm.py
index 1f9a39d70..d6463219d 100644
--- a/ipykernel/comm/comm.py
+++ b/ipykernel/comm/comm.py
@@ -4,21 +4,14 @@
 # Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
 
 import traitlets.config
-from comm.base_comm import BaseComm
-
 from ipykernel.jsonutil import json_clean
 from ipykernel.kernelbase import Kernel
 
+import comm.base_comm
 
-class Comm(traitlets.config.LoggingConfigurable, BaseComm):
-    """Class for communicating between a Frontend and a Kernel"""
-
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        self.kernel = None
-        # Comm takes positional arguments, LoggingConfigurable does not, so we explicitly forward arguments
-        traitlets.config.LoggingConfigurable.__init__(self, **kwargs)
-        BaseComm.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
 
+# this is the class that will be created if we do comm.create_comm
+class BaseComm(comm.base_comm.BaseComm):
     def publish_msg(self, msg_type, data=None, metadata=None, buffers=None, **keys):
         """Helper for sending a comm message on IOPub"""
         if not Kernel.initialized():
@@ -42,4 +35,15 @@ def publish_msg(self, msg_type, data=None, metadata=None, buffers=None, **keys):
         )
 
 
+# but for backwards compatibility, we need to inherit from LoggingConfigurable
+class Comm(traitlets.config.LoggingConfigurable, BaseComm):
+    """Class for communicating between a Frontend and a Kernel"""
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        self.kernel = None
+        # Comm takes positional arguments, LoggingConfigurable does not, so we explicitly forward arguments
+        traitlets.config.LoggingConfigurable.__init__(self, **kwargs)
+        BaseComm.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
+
+
 __all__ = ["Comm"]
diff --git a/ipykernel/ipkernel.py b/ipykernel/ipkernel.py
index c16cc0ed5..26475f30f 100644
--- a/ipykernel/ipkernel.py
+++ b/ipykernel/ipkernel.py
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@
 
 def create_comm(*args, **kwargs):
     """Create a new Comm."""
-    return Comm(*args, **kwargs)
+    from .comm.comm import BaseComm
+    return BaseComm(*args, **kwargs)
 
 
 comm.create_comm = create_comm