The 5th of November & the Birth of Meanwhile

Today is the 5th of November. A day one which not only saw the poorly executed "Gunpowder Plot" but a day when our comic strip "Meanwhile..." was conceived by my brother and I, like Joffrey Baratheon. It all started 2 years ago. We were joking about comics, and film and then at one point we said how ridiculous a comedy on V for Vendetta would be if instead of a Guy Fawkes mask he was wearing a Groucho Marx mask.

Every once in a while, to the bane of my editors, I will have, or hear, an idea that will completely consume me until it is completed; because I have to see it. Case in point, Hippopotomus Prime, or the Greasers as Ninja Turtles, or as Green Lanterns, or sci-fi Tinkerbell... Okay, so I sometimes get distracted. And hearing this idea of "Groucho V," I had to make:

I really would love to see this movie

This parody of an iconic image led to a bunch of other parodies, that originally were just for our own amusement. Then in a couple weeks we had 10 images and decided that this would be an ongoing project as we kept tossing out ideas faster than I could draw them. We spit-balled names back and forth, none of which I remember til we came up with "Meanwhile..." A name which fit perfectly as these short clips acted as interludes in our more serious books. We labeled the panels with the logo and then posted them online for all to see. This back and forth eventually culminated in some of our own favorites like "Hipster Starscream," or "Dr. Reality".

Though none of these has had the same reach as one strip our writer Dimitrios came up with. Jesus Loves George R.R. Martin. Yeah... you're just going to have to read that one for yourselves

Sir Thomas J. Griffin is a poor artist and potato working for GryphonKnights Comics. He's illustrated books like Greasers in Geese , Hero, The Only Choice, Meanwhile, and others.

Parody & Radiation

Our one book, Meanwhile started because we all have a good sense for satire and parody. One day we were just sitting around having a few beers and discussing the real results from being bitten by something radioactive, or being exposed to serious radiation, or even getting struck by lightning around a series of chemicals. The results were amusing to hilarious, and I decided to draw up a few of the jokes we had made. Eventually these added up and we decided to share them as the book you now know as MEANWHILE...

The ideas continued, parodying other cliches and unwritten rules comics seem to be plagued with, but it eventually evolved into thinking about what certain characters would be like in different situations, including turning one of the seagulls from finding Nemo into an orange lantern. It was a perfect fit if I don't say so myself.

The name "Meanwhile..." was chosen, as these short strips would be interspersed between our more serious books, implying that these humorous tidbits were always going on in the background of our minds, even when we weren't directly considering them.

It was amazing how parody which started out as fun banter actually stretched our creative muscle and was very directly entertaining. People already knew the content from the mass media, so changing the context allowed them to understand the humor without having to stick with a story for ages. Some might consider it cheating because we are using someone elses premise to provide humor but humor can open people up to alternate ideas or complex ideas that are buried in the subject.

For example, poking fun at how a hero would more likely die from radiation, then successfully mutate also opens up the question of what would the probability be that someone could successfully mutate from radiation into an alternate species?

What would their abilities be?
Would they be able to procreate?

Perhaps our visions of superheroes isn't so unlikely after all, just very improbable, and that's what makes the situations humorous, or capture our imaginations, because we know that there is that slim potential.

I guess there is truth in humor, even when it is not purposeful.