In my review of “Francis the comic strip” and the comics of Jason Bach, I mentioned a Catholic comic called “Tomics.” I promised a review of Tomics. Here's the review!
I first saw Tomics, by Tom Gould, a few years ago on Instagram. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. Thick lines, tight lettering and average color work made it blend in with other Instagram comics. I did like the fact that it was a Catholic comic. Although, I guess it doesn't really label itself as such.
The description for Tomics reads “Family friendly fun for the faithful and faithless alike.” Unfortunately, media described in this way usually caters to the faithless and the lukewarm. To this end, Tomics does not disappoint.
In terms of art, Tom Gould lists Charles Schulz and Bill Watterson as influences. I honestly don't see the influences. The character designs resemble any number of cartoons featured on Cartoon Network. Maybe Schulz and Watterson were more of an inspiration to make comics, as opposed to a stylistic inspiration.
A cartooning style that's actually similar to Gould’s is that of the late cartoonist Gary Cangemi. Gary Cangemi is most famous for writing and drawing the pro-life comic “Umbert the Unborn" before his untimely death in 2017. Cangemi and Gould’s comics share similarities in their use of line and character design. (As a side note, I wonder if Gould could start a revival of the Umbert comic. Anyway…)
The art appears to be created digitally. The lines are thick and crisp. Like pork rinds. The art works. There's not the artistry of linework seen in the work of Schulz or Waterson, but it works.
Gould is more accomplished at his color work. He uses color to change tones so that some panels convey different emotional impact. We see this especially when he darkens certain panels for emotional effect. He does a good job using this effect.
The writing is a blend between Veggie tales and My Little Pony (Friendship is Magic). That is to say it's a mix between religious humor and screwball comedy. There's plenty of pun based jokes and pandering to those that love cute art. But, equally, there are plenty of witty jokes and witty story interpretations.
Gould said, in an interview with Voyage Comics, that he has boundaries as to what is reverent. Gould stated that he will not go beyond those boundaries. I think this is laudable. But I also think the boundaries need to be pushed back a little.
When examining these comics, some questions manifest themselves. Gould describes his comic as bible parody. A parody is “an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect” -Oxford reference. This begs the question, since Sacred Scripture is the inerrant word o God, is it ok to parody Sacred Scripture? From my way of thinking, one can do it, but only within certain limits. Veggie Tales is a good example of staying within those limits.
The premise of Veggie Tales is that anthropomorphic vegetables reenact bible stories, ostensibly using the kitchen counter as their stage. Any kind of joke or comedic mistake is assumed to be a product of the actor. It is not assumed to come from the biblical character that the actor portrays.
Tomics, on the other hand, takes the actual biblical characters, and puts words in their mouths that they never said. Tomics, also, has biblical characters do things that they never did. So, for instance, Our Lord is depicted as making puns that he never made. Our Lord is also depicted as playing a gory “guess who” game with St. Thomas. This might not qualify as blasphemous, but it's a poor use of The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity as a character in a story. By doing this, Gould is writing new material for God, himself. Out of reverence, we should tremble to do this. Because of this, this comic might be called offensive to pious ears. For those not familiar, the expression “offensive to pious ears” or “piarum aurium offensiva” refers to when “...verbal expression is such as [to] shock the Catholic sense and delicacy of faith.” (Catholic Encyclopedia). Thankfully, not all of the Tomics comics are the same as this.
Some of Tomics comics feature children having comedic misunderstandings in Sunday school classes or comedic retellings of stories of the Saints. The stories of the saints have summarized dialogue, which is acceptable. Gould paraphrases the words of the saints, but the meaning is intact. These types of comics work much better and are not offensive to pious ears.
There are a few ways Gould could fix his stories about Our Lord. For instance, telling the stories from the perspective of a seven year old reading the Bible might work. The comedy then would, then, be attributed to the imagination a seven year old, as opposed to God Himself.
As I mentioned in a previous article , Jason Bach has the same problem with some of his comics.
So, why are people coming up with the idea of writing new material for God and His saints? Is this a deformation of the Veggie Tales formula, or just bad catechesis all around?
A family friend of ours once stated that she would not have her child watch Veggie tales. Her reasoning was that, if you have your child watch comedic stories based on Sacred Scripture, the child will not take Sacred Scripture seriously. I, personally, never had this problem. And, based on my research, Gould and Bach do not mention Veggie tales as an influence. But I wonder. Are Gould and Bach influenced by Veggie Tales? And, if so, are their comics a product of the formation of a child by Veggie Tales? Or, are these cartoonists too old to be influenced by this cartoon?
What is another possibility for the acceptance of writing new material for God and his saints? Bad catechesis. Bad catechesis, both on the part of the cartoonist, and on the part of the reader. This explains that there's not much of an outcry, on the part of the readers, when comics like these present themselves.
I can't totally recommend Tomics. It's hard to imagine being able to square writing new material for God. If you want to check it out, it's here. I recommend skipping anything with a Bible theme. Hopefully, Gould adjusts his writing in the future.
-George Tautkus
Of course, now is the time for the usual suspects to say “Lighten up! Jesus was a (fill in the blank) guy, and would be cool with this humor.” Bring it on, guys!
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