Mick retired from the workforce in 2007 to pursue a job as a stay-at-home-father, he’s a natural fit and does quite well in the role.  Now that his daughter is in school, his semi-retirement has taken one more step towards full-retirement, and Merunga is an easy way to fill the hours.  Merunga also goes well with Mick’s penchant for incessant doodling, which before now occupied the margins of any spare piece of paper.

Merunga was first conceived as an idea while table-sitting for a friend at Planet Comic-con (Kansas City) in 2012.  The drive down to the in-laws, and a trip to see extended family during the following week provided ample time to think (and doodle,) as the seed of the thing germinated into the first tender shoots, breaking forth from a rich black soil.  It also was an excuse to kill time in another room.

After six months of development, and a few abortive attempts of the strip were halfheartedly attempted, the idea was allowed to lay fallow.  Then the time came to either get a real job, or turn a hobby into something more than a hobby, and continue to stay at home.  Four months of incessant work led to the debut of Merunga’s Menagerie (at first though it was titled Madame Merunga, which told you nothing but was still much better than the original working title, Madame Merunga’s Mysterious Menagerie,) on August 4th 2014.