‘Tomics’ creator shares his thoughts on humor, comics and the Catholic faith

Recently I was able to ask Tom Gould, creator and artist of “Tomics Comics” about the inspiration for his work and the role of humor in evangelization.

If you haven’t seen his work, check it out through the links at the bottom of this article.

How did you get into creating Catholic comic strips?

I went to a small Catholic college, and between classes, I would draw short cartoons on the whiteboards when no one was looking.  I usually connected these cartoons to school events or recent topics from class so that my peers could easily understand and enjoy them.  Because it was a Catholic school, and because many of our classes were linked to theology or philosophy, my cartoons would often center around Catholicism.  Once I graduated, a fellow student (Matt Martinusen, creator of “The Catholic Card Game”) started a blog for young Catholic men and asked me to provide weekly comics for it.  Alas, the blog and its writers dissolved after some time, so when it was just me and him left, he encouraged me to keep the comics going as their own thing, and I happily did just that.

Are there any particular comic strips that you use for inspiration or that you enjoyed throughout your life?

My dad shared some of his books of older comic strips with me and my siblings when I was young.  I always loved “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz for its wholesome stories and down-to-earth characters, and of course “Calvin & Hobbes” by Bill Watterson for the more wild humor and dynamic art.  I think those are the ones that really shaped how I think of comic strips as a medium.

What is your creative process like? How do you come up with your ideas?

The first phase is looking for a mental springboard: something that’ll inspire a joke.  I usually go through the USCCB’s online calendar of daily readings and look through the Sunday readings for the upcoming month.  I prefer drawing cartoons that’ll reference what people hear in church that week, but sometimes the readings don’t lend themselves to parody as easily.  If that’s the case, I’ll look up feast days or holidays that are coming soon and use those as starting places instead.

Once I have my springboards, I brainstorm.  This usually takes the form of pacing for a long time and rolling my chosen topics around in my head, looking for spots where a chance for a joke pops out at me.  I have a few rules about things I won’t joke about for reverence’s sake, but I don’t worry about that while I brainstorm.  I just let ideas hop around in my head, and once I feel like I’ve got something that’ll make a good comic, I’ll write it down and keep thinking.  It’s hard to explain exactly where the ideas come from, so hopefully God’s in there somewhere.

Once I have enough jokes for the month, I sit down and start drawing.  This is the most mechanical part of the process, so I usually turn on some music or a video while I work to fill the silence and keep me from getting distracted by my thoughts.

What role do you think humor has in evangelization?

I think humor is a unifying force that makes it much easier to spread the faith without looking preachy to your friends.  It can be hard to share your religion when all you have to work with are the Bible and the writings of saints and theologians and doctors.  To an outsider, that stuff has no value because they don’t already believe what’s being shared.

On the other had, you don’t necessarily need to understand the full context of a Bible verse to find the humor in an apostle making a lame pun, or Jesus accidentally multiplying His food as a child.  Most people have a passing knowledge of biblical stories like Creation, or the Flood, or the Nativity, so they can understand jokes that tap into those stories.  Most people also love jokes, so they’re more likely to read a bite-sized cartoon strip than the articles of a long-dead saint.  Additionally, if a reader doesn’t quite get the joke, or simply wants to know more about the story being referenced, they’ll often look up (or at least ask about) the story in question to satisfy their own curiosity.  Once someone gets further into the faith, that’s when you can share the writings of saints and theologians and doctors, because those introduce a deeper level of understanding, but humor can be the warm introduction that melts away bias and makes deeper exploration possible.

Of course, for all the good that humor can do, valuing humor more than the faith can lead to irreverence and even sacrilege, which can keep people from taking the faith seriously. Like most things, it’s a balancing act: How can I make something fun that respects the stories being parodied, but also makes even the most callous millennial feel welcome to share in the fun?  I won’t say I’ve found the perfect balance just yet, but I like to hope I’m working steadily towards it.

What are your hopes and dreams for the future of Tomics Comics?

I want them to be something that brings people together for a good-natured laugh.  If they end up being a decent source of income, that’d be a cool bonus, but I really do enjoy drawing them just for the fun of it.  I’d like to be able to publish more collections and maybe even some longer stories someday, but we’ll see.

Where can people find your comics?

You can find Tomics on most major social media sites:

Philip Kosloski

Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.