Meet the Team.
THADDEUS puddle
The devoted father of the Puddles and main character of TGC, Thaddeus supports his family as a Catholic youth minister and theology teacher. In his free time, Thaddeus enjoys making terrible puns, opining on theology, and playing with his kids.
Fun fact: Thaddeus Puddle is named for one of the artist’s great-greats, Tadeusz Kałuza.
GWEN robles Puddle
The exceedingly patient wife and mother of six, almost perpetually pregnant Gwen works from home while homeschooling all the kids, dancing barefoot in the kitchen, and basically being Superwoman.
Fun fact: Gwen’s hair is extremely curly, as is the artist’s wife’s hair.
TRADDEUS Puddle
Once named “the Ron Swanson of Catholicism,” Thaddeus’ rad trad brother, Traddeus is a satirical character responsible for caricaturing many outlandish positions among his social tribe. In his free time, Traddeus enjoys calling random people heretics.
Fun fact: Traddeus was meant to be a single-use character and instantly became a fan favorite.
"ROMAN" Puddle
Thaddeus’ and Gwen’s oldest son, Roman — a nickname for Linus Cletus Clement Sixtus Cornelius Cyprian Lawrence Chrysogonus — is every bit the awkward and derpy son you’d expect to have been raised with that Catholic a name.
Fun fact: Roman’s nose has changed shape repeatedly. But don’t mention it. He’s really self-conscious.
Abbey Puddle
The oldest girl of the Puddle family, Abbey is a sporty, snarky child with a fun-seeking attitude and a deep, abiding love for bacon.
Fun fact: Abbey is a daddy’s girl.
LOLEK puddle
The older of the Puddle’s middle children, Lolek’s innocence hides his mad genius — early comics revealed him as an inventor with a jetpack in his room. Lolek is the smartest of all the Puddles, though sometimes he lacks in common sense.
Fun fact: Named in honor of St. John Paul II, whose childhood nickname was Lolek.
LuCY puddle
The younger of the middle Puddle children, Lucy is usually playing somewhere off-panel, but shows up when she’s needed to make a scene.
Fun fact: Lucy has curly hair like her mother’s.
LejeUne MARIE puddle
The youngest of the living Puddle children, Lejeune was introduced in 2020 after the artist and his wife lost their daughter, Margaret, to Down Syndrome at birth. She is named in honor of Servant of God Jerome Lejeune.
Fun fact: 10% of all TGC’s take-home revenue goes to the Jerome Lejeune Foundation in honor of baby Margaret.
BABY puddle
Lejeune’s twin brother, expected in the comics but never born, was stillborn, representing the other half of the artist’s pain in losing his daughter, Margaret. This storyline was kept out of the comics because it was too painful to include, but his inclusion here explains the twin’s seeming disappearance.
Ah! I see you have stumbled into my lair. This is the part of the website where I whip around in my excessively gothic, leather wingback business chair, wickedly stroking a malicious cat, monologuing about my evil plan to leverage humor in the never-ending quest for the domination of your soul.
Welcome. My name is Micah Murphy — the cat’s name is Mochi — and I’m the humorist behind Thy Geekdom Come (TGC, or on some of my less successful phone-typing days, THC). Here are a few things you should know about me. First, I’m a neurotically serious Catholic. I spent my whole, long, depressing childhood taking everything quite seriously — as totally normal children so often do — and as my Catholic faith became important to me, I fixated on it as well. It’s a good thing. But it can also lead to a lot of pride, scrupulosity, and emotional pain when, as happens, we make rather than God the focus of our faith. I was once a Catholic blogger and fell into exactly that trap. Cartooning was my way of returning to an exciting hobby that engaged my faith but kept me light, laughing at my own folly rather than expressing all the gravitas and humor of a black hole.
There are a few things I’m proud of aside from my Catholic faith. I’m a proud geek-of-all-trades with an academic interest in just about everything. I’m a proud Millennial, what you youngins now call a “Geriatric Millennial,” and I will fight any Boomer who comes along dissing my people. I’m a proud son of Omaha, Nebraska, one of the great cities of the Midwest, but a place I sadly haven’t seen in many years. I’m a proud husband and father. I’m a proud and accomplished Latinist. I’m also proud of the causes I support; I will never miss a chance to stand up for the pro-life cause, especially for children with Down Syndrome like my Maggie.
Know that you can trust me to be an orthodox, traditional Catholic source of humor. I have a B.A. in theology and catechetics from Franciscan University of Steubenville. (I also have a Masters of Education in curriculum, but that’s not relevant.)
In my free time, I enjoy cartooning, but also cooking and doomscrolling on Twitter. I do not enjoy exercising. I live in rural Louisiana with the surpassingly beautiful Mrs. Geekdom and our flock of children.
Now, dear reader: release the secret codes or face the wrath of my laser-mounted chipmunks!
Buy The Artist a cup of coffee
Thy Geekdom Come is fueled by sacramental grace, sleep deprivation, and the sweet, sweet nectar of Pope Clement VIII’s most famous convert.