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Meanwhile
Chocolate or Vanilla? This simple choice is all it takes to get started with Meanwhile, the wildly inventive creation of comics mastermind Jason Shiga, of whom Scott McCloud said “Crazy + Genius = Shiga.” Jimmy, whose every move is under your control, finds himself in a mad scientist’s lab, where he’s given a choice between three amazing objects: a mind-reading device, a time-travel machine, or the Killitron 3000 (which is as ominous as it sounds). Down each of these paths there are puzzles, mysterious clues, and shocking revelations. It’s up to the reader to lead Jimmy to success or disaster.
Meanwhile is a wholly original story of invention, discovery, and saving the world, told through a system of tabs that take you forward, backward, upside down, and right side up again. Each read creates a new adventure!
Awards and praise for Jason Shiga
2004 Eisner Award
2003 Ignatz Award
2007 Stumpton Trophy Award
1999 Xeric Grant Recipient
“Crazy + Genius = Shiga” —Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics
“If humankind ever finds itself at the brink of its own destruction and I am given the task to fill a small, space-bound time capsule with a collection of ten graphic novels that would present to alien eyes the best that the cartoonists of Earth had to offer the universe, Jason Shiga's Meanwhile would surely be among my picks.” —Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese
“A creator of comix that can be at once funny, disturbing, thoughtful, deconstructed, and cleverly put together.” —Time online
“Meanwhile is a wallop of a book/graphic novel! It delivers action, choices, problem solving, and engagement. And it reminds me of my own efforts in writing Choose Your Own Adventure, which I take as a great compliment coming from Jason Shiga. I wish I had written this book! Run, don’t walk, to your favorite bookseller and pick up a copy!” —R. A. Montgomery, Choose Your Own Adventure author
“Ingenious” —Edward Packard, Choose Your Own Adventure author
Meanwhile is a wholly original story of invention, discovery, and saving the world, told through a system of tabs that take you forward, backward, upside down, and right side up again. Each read creates a new adventure!
Awards and praise for Jason Shiga
2004 Eisner Award
2003 Ignatz Award
2007 Stumpton Trophy Award
1999 Xeric Grant Recipient
“Crazy + Genius = Shiga” —Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics
“If humankind ever finds itself at the brink of its own destruction and I am given the task to fill a small, space-bound time capsule with a collection of ten graphic novels that would present to alien eyes the best that the cartoonists of Earth had to offer the universe, Jason Shiga's Meanwhile would surely be among my picks.” —Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese
“A creator of comix that can be at once funny, disturbing, thoughtful, deconstructed, and cleverly put together.” —Time online
“Meanwhile is a wallop of a book/graphic novel! It delivers action, choices, problem solving, and engagement. And it reminds me of my own efforts in writing Choose Your Own Adventure, which I take as a great compliment coming from Jason Shiga. I wish I had written this book! Run, don’t walk, to your favorite bookseller and pick up a copy!” —R. A. Montgomery, Choose Your Own Adventure author
“Ingenious” —Edward Packard, Choose Your Own Adventure author
80 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2010
60 people are currently reading
3235 people want to read
About the author
Jason Shiga
19 books156 followersJason Shiga is an award-winning Asian American cartoonist from Oakland, California. Mr. Shiga's comics are known for their intricate, often "interactive" plots and occasionally random, unexpected violence. A mathematics major from the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Shiga shares his love of logic and problem solving with his readers through puzzles, mysteries and unconventional narrative techniques.
Jason Shiga's life has been shrouded in mystery and speculation. According to his book jacket, he was a reclusive math genius who had died on the verge of his greatest discovery in June 1967. However, upon winning a 2003 Eisner award for talent deserving of wider recognition, a man claiming to be Jason Shiga appeared in front of an audience alive and well only to tell them that he had been living on an island in the South China Seas for the past 40 years. The man who accepted his award was Chris Brandt (also known as F.C. Brandt), who had disguised himself as Jason Shiga, and accepted the award at the behest of Jason's publisher (Dylan Williams of Sparkplug Comic Books) and Jason himself.
At the age of 12, Shiga was the 7th highest ranked child go player in Oakland.[citation needed]
Jason Shiga makes a cameo appearance in the Derek Kirk Kim comic, "Ungrateful Appreciation" as a Rubik's Cube-solving nerd. Shiga is credited as the "Maze Specialist" for Issue 18 (Winter 2005/2006) of the literary journal McSweeney's Quarterly, which features a solved maze on the front cover and a (slightly different) unsolved maze on the back. The title page of each story in the journal is headed by a maze segment labeled with numbers leading to the first pages of other stories.
Jason Shiga's father, Seiji Shiga, was an animator who worked on the 1964 Rankin-Bass production Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Jason Shiga's life has been shrouded in mystery and speculation. According to his book jacket, he was a reclusive math genius who had died on the verge of his greatest discovery in June 1967. However, upon winning a 2003 Eisner award for talent deserving of wider recognition, a man claiming to be Jason Shiga appeared in front of an audience alive and well only to tell them that he had been living on an island in the South China Seas for the past 40 years. The man who accepted his award was Chris Brandt (also known as F.C. Brandt), who had disguised himself as Jason Shiga, and accepted the award at the behest of Jason's publisher (Dylan Williams of Sparkplug Comic Books) and Jason himself.
At the age of 12, Shiga was the 7th highest ranked child go player in Oakland.[citation needed]
Jason Shiga makes a cameo appearance in the Derek Kirk Kim comic, "Ungrateful Appreciation" as a Rubik's Cube-solving nerd. Shiga is credited as the "Maze Specialist" for Issue 18 (Winter 2005/2006) of the literary journal McSweeney's Quarterly, which features a solved maze on the front cover and a (slightly different) unsolved maze on the back. The title page of each story in the journal is headed by a maze segment labeled with numbers leading to the first pages of other stories.
Jason Shiga's father, Seiji Shiga, was an animator who worked on the 1964 Rankin-Bass production Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 480 reviews
February 7, 2017
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Jason Shiga is a genius cartoonist. Meanwhile is a choose your own adventure puzzle comic that took years to make and he literally needed to write a computer algorithm to put it all together in book form!
It starts with his regular character Jimmy Yee going to get ice cream but must decide: vanilla or chocolate? The choice sends the reader on a complex journey where you’ll be flicking back and forth between pages guiding Jimmy hopefully through his adventure alive but more likely than not end up getting him - and the rest of the world - killed!
It’s a great concept, amazingly executed and hugely creative but after several playthroughs - I died every time - I got tired of the novelty and just wanted to read a regular Jason Shiga comic. Full marks for the invention and it’s a cool idea for a book but Meanwhile gets tiresome quickly and was a bit too repetitive for my taste.
It starts with his regular character Jimmy Yee going to get ice cream but must decide: vanilla or chocolate? The choice sends the reader on a complex journey where you’ll be flicking back and forth between pages guiding Jimmy hopefully through his adventure alive but more likely than not end up getting him - and the rest of the world - killed!
It’s a great concept, amazingly executed and hugely creative but after several playthroughs - I died every time - I got tired of the novelty and just wanted to read a regular Jason Shiga comic. Full marks for the invention and it’s a cool idea for a book but Meanwhile gets tiresome quickly and was a bit too repetitive for my taste.
December 2, 2024
Like a time machine with a blown control panel - wonderfully innovative. There are so many ways the story can end; it all depends on which 'thread' you decide to follow. Really happy to see unique and innovative books like this. I am a big fan of SH comics, but I think here in America we have become too focused on that genre. Nice to see more alternative offerings out there.
May 2, 2023
This book was very fun to read and can be re-read many times.
My third grade son and I had a lot of fun with it and the artistry was excellent.
5 Stars!
My third grade son and I had a lot of fun with it and the artistry was excellent.
5 Stars!
May 25, 2010
Quantum physics, parallel worlds, probability, entropy. Yes it's all in a day's work for your average everyday choose your own adventure book. Now just substitute the words "average" and "everyday" in that previous sentence for "extraordinary" and "twisted" and you've got yourself a pretty good description of Jason Shiga's graphic title Meanwhile. Simple enough in its concept and art that a ten-year-old would feel confident picking it up, yet jam packed with an insane degree of whimsy and darkness, the book isn't afraid to trust the brains, and the decisions, of its audience. Meanwhile is hoping that you're gonna be a pretty smart cookie if you pick it up. Better not disappoint. There could be consequences to pay along the way if you aren't, after all.
Jimmy walks into an ice cream shop. He makes his decision. Either Jimmy chooses vanilla or he chooses chocolate. From that decision, you see two Jimmys now. The vanilla Jimmy storyline suddenly develops a line that you must follow to a tab. Open the book to that tab and you see the result of his decision. Follow the line and tab that connect to the other ice cream flavor, and suddenly you're plunged into an intense storyline. Jimmy meets and befriends a local inventor who has come up with three objects. There's the time machine, the SQUID which can transfer memories, and the appropriately named Killitron that can either kill everyone in the world not inside of it or make delicious ice cream. Jimmy decides which of the three to play with and along the way discovers a horrific story behind not just the inventor's life, but his own as well.
There are plenty of impressive blurbs on the back of the book to ogle. There's one from Scott McCloud and one from Gene Luen Yang. Fine cartoonists, the both of them. However, I was delighted to find that those quotes were paired with blurbs from two authors that I read consistently and without cease as a child. R.A. Montgomery and Edward Packard are two of the writers behind those old Choose Your Own Adventure books of my youth. The books were notable, not just because they created a fun new format and way of reading children's literature, but also because they weren't afraid to kill the reader in a variety of grizzly ways. Usually the books were written in the second person, telling "you" exactly what "you" were up to and allowing "you" to either make the right choices or the ones destined to lead to your own mangled corpse. I appreciated that as a kid. Made the stories a little more serious for me. There was a darkness to them. A darkness that is perfectly replicated in Shiga's own book. I mean talk about a story that is not afraid to kill off its main character or, for that matter, every last human being on the planet.
Let's put everything into context here. The book is written by a guy who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in pure mathematics. On the publication page you'll find a note that explains how the book was worked out. There were some difficulties coming up with the outline for the story. However, "With the use of a V-opt heuristic algorithm running for 12 hours on an SGI machine, the solution was finally cracked in the spring of 2000." The book would be completed a year and a half later. If your eyes started to glaze over while reading that, you're not alone. What I love about this, though, is that what you have here is a true children's book making use of math. Do you know how hard it is to find such books? Recently the only other math-minded text I've seen for kids was The Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey. Also, I should note, an Abrams publication. Abrams likes it some math, apparently. In any case, a love of letters rather than numbers isn't an impediment to enjoying this book. But for those with a penchant for figures, the byline on the cover that reads, "Pick any path. 3,856 story possibilities," will prove especially tantalizing.
Then there's the quantum physics, parallel worlds, probability, and entropy I alluded to earlier. All these concepts are here. I wouldn't use Meanwhile as a lesson plan necessarily, though in the hands of the right teacher I think a lot of these concepts could be taught quite painlessly. Shiga's story works in tandem with its format. The theory that every choice we make splits off into a universe where we did one thing and a world where we did the opposite has never been brought to life as brilliantly as it is here. I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure format, but there wasn't a book amongst them that questioned the very nature of choosing and choices like Shiga does. This guy's gonna blow a few minds.
About those 3,856 story possibilities . . . I think that technically that number is correct. However, for much of that time you're going to find yourself traveling in circles. Circles that become increasingly frustrating as you continue to whirl through them. You can get out with concentration, but I wonder how many folks will be willing to do that after reading the same lines for the 30th time. Eventually readers will just start reading the book straight through out of sheer frustration, and even for that move Shiga has prepared accordingly. There is one two-page spread of Jimmy riding a giant squid. If you look closely at it, you'll realize that these are the only two pages in the book without tabs to lead you there. The only way to even find it is to cheat. Pretty sneaky, Shiga.
There is one significant difference between this book and an old Choose Your Own Adventure novel. With CYOA, the reader would constantly leave their fingers stuck in the book to go back to previous turning points so that if they made the wrong decision they wouldn't have to begin at square one all over again. Meanwhile makes this second guessing technique impossible. It's not just the colored tabs. It's the fact that a storyline will sometimes go to a page and then zip through it to yet another tab, leaving the reader utterly baffled if they try to backtrack. There is no backtracking in this book, you see. All decisions are final. For good or for ill.
Admittedly, not everything works here. There's a whole "populating the earth" storyline that I won't go into here that doesn't make a lick of sense. There are some interesting takes on time travel that sort of play fast and loose with the rules. And, as I said before, there's the frustration you feel when you get caught in a circle and feel like you can't get out.
That said, this is also one of the bravest books I've read, marketed to small fry. It's not afraid to make them think. How do our choices affect our lives? In this book you can make Jimmy physically go one way or another and see how things could have changed had he made a different decision. And from there, it's a small step to thinking about your own life and the choices you face in your own everyday experiences. It may be a choice as mundane as choosing chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but for something so basic it's fascinating to look at how even the smallest decision can affect the rest of your life. That's a tall order for such a slim book. It is, without a doubt, one of the most original titles I've ever encountered.
Ages 10 and up.
Jimmy walks into an ice cream shop. He makes his decision. Either Jimmy chooses vanilla or he chooses chocolate. From that decision, you see two Jimmys now. The vanilla Jimmy storyline suddenly develops a line that you must follow to a tab. Open the book to that tab and you see the result of his decision. Follow the line and tab that connect to the other ice cream flavor, and suddenly you're plunged into an intense storyline. Jimmy meets and befriends a local inventor who has come up with three objects. There's the time machine, the SQUID which can transfer memories, and the appropriately named Killitron that can either kill everyone in the world not inside of it or make delicious ice cream. Jimmy decides which of the three to play with and along the way discovers a horrific story behind not just the inventor's life, but his own as well.
There are plenty of impressive blurbs on the back of the book to ogle. There's one from Scott McCloud and one from Gene Luen Yang. Fine cartoonists, the both of them. However, I was delighted to find that those quotes were paired with blurbs from two authors that I read consistently and without cease as a child. R.A. Montgomery and Edward Packard are two of the writers behind those old Choose Your Own Adventure books of my youth. The books were notable, not just because they created a fun new format and way of reading children's literature, but also because they weren't afraid to kill the reader in a variety of grizzly ways. Usually the books were written in the second person, telling "you" exactly what "you" were up to and allowing "you" to either make the right choices or the ones destined to lead to your own mangled corpse. I appreciated that as a kid. Made the stories a little more serious for me. There was a darkness to them. A darkness that is perfectly replicated in Shiga's own book. I mean talk about a story that is not afraid to kill off its main character or, for that matter, every last human being on the planet.
Let's put everything into context here. The book is written by a guy who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in pure mathematics. On the publication page you'll find a note that explains how the book was worked out. There were some difficulties coming up with the outline for the story. However, "With the use of a V-opt heuristic algorithm running for 12 hours on an SGI machine, the solution was finally cracked in the spring of 2000." The book would be completed a year and a half later. If your eyes started to glaze over while reading that, you're not alone. What I love about this, though, is that what you have here is a true children's book making use of math. Do you know how hard it is to find such books? Recently the only other math-minded text I've seen for kids was The Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey. Also, I should note, an Abrams publication. Abrams likes it some math, apparently. In any case, a love of letters rather than numbers isn't an impediment to enjoying this book. But for those with a penchant for figures, the byline on the cover that reads, "Pick any path. 3,856 story possibilities," will prove especially tantalizing.
Then there's the quantum physics, parallel worlds, probability, and entropy I alluded to earlier. All these concepts are here. I wouldn't use Meanwhile as a lesson plan necessarily, though in the hands of the right teacher I think a lot of these concepts could be taught quite painlessly. Shiga's story works in tandem with its format. The theory that every choice we make splits off into a universe where we did one thing and a world where we did the opposite has never been brought to life as brilliantly as it is here. I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure format, but there wasn't a book amongst them that questioned the very nature of choosing and choices like Shiga does. This guy's gonna blow a few minds.
About those 3,856 story possibilities . . . I think that technically that number is correct. However, for much of that time you're going to find yourself traveling in circles. Circles that become increasingly frustrating as you continue to whirl through them. You can get out with concentration, but I wonder how many folks will be willing to do that after reading the same lines for the 30th time. Eventually readers will just start reading the book straight through out of sheer frustration, and even for that move Shiga has prepared accordingly. There is one two-page spread of Jimmy riding a giant squid. If you look closely at it, you'll realize that these are the only two pages in the book without tabs to lead you there. The only way to even find it is to cheat. Pretty sneaky, Shiga.
There is one significant difference between this book and an old Choose Your Own Adventure novel. With CYOA, the reader would constantly leave their fingers stuck in the book to go back to previous turning points so that if they made the wrong decision they wouldn't have to begin at square one all over again. Meanwhile makes this second guessing technique impossible. It's not just the colored tabs. It's the fact that a storyline will sometimes go to a page and then zip through it to yet another tab, leaving the reader utterly baffled if they try to backtrack. There is no backtracking in this book, you see. All decisions are final. For good or for ill.
Admittedly, not everything works here. There's a whole "populating the earth" storyline that I won't go into here that doesn't make a lick of sense. There are some interesting takes on time travel that sort of play fast and loose with the rules. And, as I said before, there's the frustration you feel when you get caught in a circle and feel like you can't get out.
That said, this is also one of the bravest books I've read, marketed to small fry. It's not afraid to make them think. How do our choices affect our lives? In this book you can make Jimmy physically go one way or another and see how things could have changed had he made a different decision. And from there, it's a small step to thinking about your own life and the choices you face in your own everyday experiences. It may be a choice as mundane as choosing chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but for something so basic it's fascinating to look at how even the smallest decision can affect the rest of your life. That's a tall order for such a slim book. It is, without a doubt, one of the most original titles I've ever encountered.
Ages 10 and up.
February 3, 2012
When I first glanced at this in the library, I had a nerd-attack at the sheer genius of it. I mean, choose your own adventure COMIC?!?! However, after the first maybe, five endings, I got bored. I'm sorry! The thing about this book is that it's actually quite tricky to read the panels and follow the order of the story, and once you do get the hang of it, you have to start from page one to start over because virtually every single time because, unlike Choose Your Own Adventure books, the page tabs that stick out of the book that you use to follow the paths to different panels on different pages hinders your ability to bookmark what pages the paths split with a finger in order to go back to that page when you reach an end. If that makes any sense. Also, and this may be just my thing, but the doodle type illustrations seemed a little... frankly, I didn't like them. The lines were thick and unvarying, the panels were so small and the characters, story lines, and colors were repetitious. Panels were going everywhere, covering the pages like a collage, and the stories took you up down and around while you would have to try not to get lost and avoid reading other panels with different story paths all around. Some of the panels were maybe three centimeters square! Tiny drawings, repititious, thick lines, same color schemes. I got bored. I think there were two, maybe three main characters in the book (as far as I could see/glance at). Genius idea though. Seriously.
November 10, 2019
SUPER FAST REVIEW:
I hate to say it but this book is a confusing mess. I tried playing through it a few times (as in at least 10) but it either left me an unsatisfying ending or confused me to the point that it felt less like a fun comic adventure and more like an annoying maze. It’s also not as funny as I had hoped it would be.
The art’s good and the idea’s fun but other than that... nah. I think I’m better off sticking with Demon for my Jason Shiga stuff for now (which I recently read and loved the first volume of Demon, would highly recommend as long as you’re not a little kid or something).
2/5
I hate to say it but this book is a confusing mess. I tried playing through it a few times (as in at least 10) but it either left me an unsatisfying ending or confused me to the point that it felt less like a fun comic adventure and more like an annoying maze. It’s also not as funny as I had hoped it would be.
The art’s good and the idea’s fun but other than that... nah. I think I’m better off sticking with Demon for my Jason Shiga stuff for now (which I recently read and loved the first volume of Demon, would highly recommend as long as you’re not a little kid or something).
2/5
July 14, 2014
This visual variation on the old Choose Your Own Adventure books gets props for originality. The amount of work the author put in is staggering, and the story is fun. However, it is so difficult to follows the path from one panel to another that I couldn't really get into the story and enjoy it -- I was spending twice as much time finding the right place as actually "reading" since there isn't much text to slow one down. This might be better for a kid who is a slow reader. And maybe the technique would get smoother if I felt like spending more time on the book.
August 12, 2017
Great gimmick and it's executed very well. It's a choose-your-own-adventure comic, and it works a lot better than expected. Unfortunately Shiga didn't find time to write an interesting story or interesting scenarios. I read it a few different ways and found myself repeating the same passages, some times multiple times in one 'play through'.
I kind of hope there's another attempt at this. The branching paths are executed very well, and there's some pretty clever time travel and multiple-universes stuff in it as well.
I'd say its worth picking up if your library has it in stock.
I kind of hope there's another attempt at this. The branching paths are executed very well, and there's some pretty clever time travel and multiple-universes stuff in it as well.
I'd say its worth picking up if your library has it in stock.
March 4, 2015
Definitely the most unique graphic novel I've ever seen. This tale starts with a simple question of whether the character wants chocolate or vanilla ice cream, and choices from there can lead to countless different plot lines involving a mad scientist and adventures with his time travel, mind swap or doomsday machines. You need to read the inside front cover and the note on how complicated it was to put this creation into book form. Crazy! Jason Shiga gets big time creative points for even knowing how to use math to help him put his crazy creation into book form (math teachers, here's a great example of a real-life application of higher math that will blow the minds of your students). Parents, if you're looking for a book that will keep teens entertained for oh...a road trip across the entire United States, this would fit the bill. It would probably also be good for kids with visual acuity problems to help them exercise their eye muscles. It takes a bit of eye focus and mental concentration to follow the right story thread on each page and then from page to page. That said, do not approach this while fatigued or foggy-sighted...unless you want a very creative/confusing story thread.
Notes on content: I haven't read all the story lines, so there might be some swearing in some. None in the ones I read. No sexual content. One of the machines can wipe out all of humanity, so in some of the frames there are dead people laying around. (No blood or gore, just x for eyes.)
Notes on content: I haven't read all the story lines, so there might be some swearing in some. None in the ones I read. No sexual content. One of the machines can wipe out all of humanity, so in some of the frames there are dead people laying around. (No blood or gore, just x for eyes.)
March 20, 2015
Holy awesome. I always felt kind of meh about choose your own adventure books (there are only so many storylines that end in certain death and still keep me interested), but this is way. way. cooler. Ever read a choose your own adventure comic book? Especially one with 3,856 possible path possibilities? With multiple storylines that run on the same page and secret hidden pages that can only be accessed with a code? In fact, I feel kind of weird saying that I've "read" this book, seeing as I probably only experienced 10 or 12 of the 3,856 story possibilities -- but this book is more like an interactive experience than a book.
I hope I can pull of using this in a middle school book club this summer, because, as I've said multiple times in this review ---- holy. awesome.
I hope I can pull of using this in a middle school book club this summer, because, as I've said multiple times in this review ---- holy. awesome.
October 26, 2013
A choose-your-own-adventure done in a comic book format. Fun.
February 13, 2022
This book was SO FUN. A chose-your-own-adventure graphic novel that takes you through time traveling, code-breaking, and ice cream. It was a delightful way to think about entropy/branching storyline. It's a little hard to track the tubes (how the panels connect with each other) at first; however, once you get used to it, the layout, going from scene to scene, is delightful. The storyline is just the right blend between mind-bending, "and I must scream" horrific, and humorous.
I spent a good two hours with this book. I'm a lil salty that I didn't immediately recognize the ending as the true ending, but it did lead me to flipping around more, which was its own reward.
Thank you, random YouTube commenter, for this delightful recommendation.
I spent a good two hours with this book. I'm a lil salty that I didn't immediately recognize the ending as the true ending, but it did lead me to flipping around more, which was its own reward.
Thank you, random YouTube commenter, for this delightful recommendation.
July 6, 2010
THIS IS THE CRAZIEST CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-WHATEVER YOU WILL EVER READ.
Jason Shiga is a genius and a madman. Branching-plot comics have been done before from time to time, but never to any great success and with no real innovation. Here, the innovation is in the reading experience itself: Instead of reading one page, then turning to a different page - as in most CYOA-type books - it's the comics panels themselves that twist and turn, with the reader's direction of flow guided by a series of pipes. When choices diverge, two or more of the pipes will lead away from the deciding panel, and the pipes follow on to other pages via a series of die-cut tabs on the page edges. As a lifelong fan of all forms of interactive fiction, I've seen most ways that branching stories can be told ... but this? This is New.
All that would amount to little more than a well-done gimmick, however, if the work itself weren't just as impressive. Fortunately, Shiga doesn't disappoint. His art is cartoony yet expressive; simple but effective. And the story? The story, in the book's biggest surprise, is just as insane as the format. The casual reader will immediately come across the eccentric scientist and his three inventions - a time machine, a mind-reading helmet, and a universal doomsday device - and it should be pretty apparent with a few moments' thought as to how those three machines could be used in different sequences and different combinations to wildly alarming effect. However, it really takes a dedicated reader willing to put a couple of hours in - or extremely good luck - to discover the ultimate ending (different from the "Ultima ending", itself a knowing reference to the classic CYOA Inside UFO 54-40), in which it's revealed that everything you've experienced in every iteration of the book up to that point has been far more connected than you ever could have imagined. Suffice it to say that as I grew closer and closer to that final end, my jaw hung closer and closer to the floor.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Read it now; you won't be disappointed.
Jason Shiga is a genius and a madman. Branching-plot comics have been done before from time to time, but never to any great success and with no real innovation. Here, the innovation is in the reading experience itself: Instead of reading one page, then turning to a different page - as in most CYOA-type books - it's the comics panels themselves that twist and turn, with the reader's direction of flow guided by a series of pipes. When choices diverge, two or more of the pipes will lead away from the deciding panel, and the pipes follow on to other pages via a series of die-cut tabs on the page edges. As a lifelong fan of all forms of interactive fiction, I've seen most ways that branching stories can be told ... but this? This is New.
All that would amount to little more than a well-done gimmick, however, if the work itself weren't just as impressive. Fortunately, Shiga doesn't disappoint. His art is cartoony yet expressive; simple but effective. And the story? The story, in the book's biggest surprise, is just as insane as the format. The casual reader will immediately come across the eccentric scientist and his three inventions - a time machine, a mind-reading helmet, and a universal doomsday device - and it should be pretty apparent with a few moments' thought as to how those three machines could be used in different sequences and different combinations to wildly alarming effect. However, it really takes a dedicated reader willing to put a couple of hours in - or extremely good luck - to discover the ultimate ending (different from the "Ultima ending", itself a knowing reference to the classic CYOA Inside UFO 54-40), in which it's revealed that everything you've experienced in every iteration of the book up to that point has been far more connected than you ever could have imagined. Suffice it to say that as I grew closer and closer to that final end, my jaw hung closer and closer to the floor.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Read it now; you won't be disappointed.
September 2, 2016
¿Helado de chocolate o helado de vainilla?
Lo que parece una decisión fácil desencadena una historia con 3,856 posibilidades de resolución.
Jason Shiga ha creado con Meanwhile una pieza bastante original e inolvidable. Un proyecto que pareció consumir tiempo y, ¿porqué no?, neuronas.
Jimmy es un chiquillo normal: curioso, travieso y que gusta del helado, por supuesto. Pero Jimmy no es el protagonista per se. Uno mismo se encargará de seguir las andanzas del niño y tomar decisiones por él. Como dije, todo empieza con un sabor de helado... después, hasta viajes en el tiempo, máquinas que pueden destruir al mundo y muchas sorpresas más.
Supe de este libro cuando buscaba historietas que trataran sobre viajes en el tiempo. Busqué en el catálogo de mi librería local y, efectivamente, lo tenían. Hoy mismo lo traje a casa y después de experimentar con algunas 5-6 travesías distintas, me dispuse a escribir un poco sobre el.
El hilo de la historia se sigue a través de una líneas de colores, dependiendo de las decisiones que vayas tomando.
Al principio es un poco confuso pero, desde que se le toma el hilo :-P todo se vuelve más sencillo.
Pero no todo es color de rosa, necesariamente. El libro entretiene pero creo que está dirigido a un público muy joven. Son historias que imagino leyendo a niños. Además, los dibujos son muy sencillos y el letrado llega a cansar. Y, como dije, después de unas seis leídas, puedo decir que me aburrió.
Y aquí entra el dilema; es un buen libro para tener en la estantería, compartir con visita y retomar cuando se dispone de un tiempito libre. Pero también es un libro que me alegró encontrarlo en la librería. Así pude saciar mi curiosidad acerca del extraño experimento sin gastar un centavo.
Pero honor a quien honor merece, Jason Shiga ha creado una pequeña joya. Mucha entrega y determinación en un proyecto que, como dije, es interesante pero también inolvidable.
Lo que parece una decisión fácil desencadena una historia con 3,856 posibilidades de resolución.
Jason Shiga ha creado con Meanwhile una pieza bastante original e inolvidable. Un proyecto que pareció consumir tiempo y, ¿porqué no?, neuronas.
Jimmy es un chiquillo normal: curioso, travieso y que gusta del helado, por supuesto. Pero Jimmy no es el protagonista per se. Uno mismo se encargará de seguir las andanzas del niño y tomar decisiones por él. Como dije, todo empieza con un sabor de helado... después, hasta viajes en el tiempo, máquinas que pueden destruir al mundo y muchas sorpresas más.
Supe de este libro cuando buscaba historietas que trataran sobre viajes en el tiempo. Busqué en el catálogo de mi librería local y, efectivamente, lo tenían. Hoy mismo lo traje a casa y después de experimentar con algunas 5-6 travesías distintas, me dispuse a escribir un poco sobre el.
El hilo de la historia se sigue a través de una líneas de colores, dependiendo de las decisiones que vayas tomando.
Al principio es un poco confuso pero, desde que se le toma el hilo :-P todo se vuelve más sencillo.
Pero no todo es color de rosa, necesariamente. El libro entretiene pero creo que está dirigido a un público muy joven. Son historias que imagino leyendo a niños. Además, los dibujos son muy sencillos y el letrado llega a cansar. Y, como dije, después de unas seis leídas, puedo decir que me aburrió.
Y aquí entra el dilema; es un buen libro para tener en la estantería, compartir con visita y retomar cuando se dispone de un tiempito libre. Pero también es un libro que me alegró encontrarlo en la librería. Así pude saciar mi curiosidad acerca del extraño experimento sin gastar un centavo.
Pero honor a quien honor merece, Jason Shiga ha creado una pequeña joya. Mucha entrega y determinación en un proyecto que, como dije, es interesante pero también inolvidable.
December 29, 2019
What do you want to do?
Have a ice cream.
loop repeatedly through the same scenes & choices, not seeing enough to figure out what's going on.
loop through world destruction and travel back to an earlier time, but able to stop it.
Be told that in the nothing-ever-happens interpretation of quantum mechanics, every event spawns a universe where it doesn't happen. No matter what, there's always some universe where you never die. You're immortal.
In the real world, act on that belief. Go on. Could an interpretation of quantum mechanics be wrong?
Give this book to a clever 10-year-old boy you .
Watch a movie with the same premise but a ending: Groundhog Day.
Read instead a novel of in French from mid-20th Century, in German from early 20th Century, or in Russian from any time.
Have an ice cream.
Have a ice cream.
loop repeatedly through the same scenes & choices, not seeing enough to figure out what's going on.
loop through world destruction and travel back to an earlier time, but able to stop it.
Be told that in the nothing-ever-happens interpretation of quantum mechanics, every event spawns a universe where it doesn't happen. No matter what, there's always some universe where you never die. You're immortal.
In the real world, act on that belief. Go on. Could an interpretation of quantum mechanics be wrong?
Give this book to a clever 10-year-old boy you .
Watch a movie with the same premise but a ending: Groundhog Day.
Read instead a novel of in French from mid-20th Century, in German from early 20th Century, or in Russian from any time.
Have an ice cream.
February 12, 2022
Did you like CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE books when you were a kid? If so, you’ll love this post-modern graphic novel with 3856 story possibilities (seriously!) all told through images and rampant flipping between pages. It’s head-twisting, it’s frenetic, it’s mad-scientist, but if you’re into puzzles or games (or your child is) then this is for you. Completely disrupts the idea of a book, too.
February 9, 2015
Pretty cool choose-your-own adventure-style book. This looks like it couldn't have been easy to create and I'm easily impressed by things that look like they wouldn't be easy.
March 28, 2015
Every once in a while a book is found that is worth reading again and again. With each reading, something new is encountered and the experience of the reader grows. Normally, books with this quality treat heavy emotional themes, or carry a profound commentary on life. However, Jason Shiga’s graphic novel Meanwhile manages to pull its audience through multiple readings while lacking a serious tone or a deep commentary on human existence. His book is just fun to read. It is a graphic variant of the choose-your-own-adventure novels, and carries more than 3,500 different story paths. Shiga uses it to explore the decision making, time travel, and even quantum mechanics, and he portrays it in a way that his young adult readers will understand. Meanwhile is an incredibly creative text, and if you’re willing to put the time into winding your way through its pages, it will benefit your literary palate.
General Description:
If there is one thing to be said about Meanwhile it that the book is unique. Shiga even warns the reader of this fact on the first page of the book with the words “STOP! THIS IS NOT AN ORDINARY COMIC” followed by an explanation of how the book works. Instead of simply reading it page by page, one reads it frame by comic frame. Connecting each frame is a small tail line, which when followed guides the reader to the next frame. Due to this method, the reader is frequently reading not only from left-to-right, but from right-to-left, top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top, and even diagonally. Each page is bordered with tabs that lead to different pages. Whenever the reader needs to turn a page, the tail line guides them to one of these tabs to jump to whichever page and frame comes next. This unconventional layout makes the book fun to read, and even adds to the mood and tone at times (we’ll cover how it does that later on in the review).
As for the story, Shiga’s work tells the tale of Jimmy, a young boy in the predicament of choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and it is the duty of the reader to choose for him. Depending on this and other choices, Jimmy is sent off on an adventure through a space, time, a mad scientist’s lab, and a doomsday device. The story that is actually told and the sequence of events it is told in is dependent upon the reader’s choices, however as one reads one does get the sense that something bigger is going on, and, with enough diligence, one can get a general idea of what has happened in Jimmy’s world. Without elaborating too much, it involves widespread destruction, recursive lives, and time travel. All-in-all, the design and content make for a great combination. Shiga combines complex themes with simple drawings to ensure that his audience does not get overwhelmed. His choice of using a graphic novel format also helps readers to avoid the inherent boredom and repetitiveness that comes with the choose-your-own-adventure style, allowing the reader to review and remember what they have already read without robbing them of too much time. Shiga also utilizes familiar science fiction tropes and themes to allow the reader to quickly accommodate to the situations of the book. Humor is also used to keep the reader entertained.
Text Element:
• One of the biggest themes in this book is having fun with science. As stated before, Jason Shiga plays around with time travel, memory transfers, and doomsday devices, yet he manages to do so in a way that does not overwhelm the reader, and actually allows them to understand what is happening. For example, on page 33, Shiga introduces quantum mechanics: “Now, according to the multiple worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the universe just split in two” (page 33). Now, in almost any other media, it would be somewhat challenging to convey the ideas of quantum mechanics, however Shiga teaches this branching tree theory by showing exactly what it says; he splits the universe (his storyline) in two! In one branch, a coin flip ends in heads, and in another the coin flip ends in tails. Through this, the reader manages to grasp what ideas drive not only the theory, but also drive an interesting perspective of looking at the text (which, in and of itself exemplifies this multiple worlds theory).
• Meanwhile also contains metafictive properties, though with a notable twist. Shiga is metafictive in a choose-your-own-adventure sense, and he does this in rather simple yet elegant ways. A real concern about reading a choose-your-own-adventure text is that of missing a page or an ending. Well, Shiga addresses this concern by including a page that cannot be reached by simple reading through the story. There are neither tails nor paths that lead to it. It simply states the word “squid” next to an illustration of the main character riding a giant squid. Once found, it quickly becomes the favorite page of many readers, precisely because of its inability to be viewed normally. Another metafictive element is that of the infinite loop. At a certain point in the book, Jimmy can meet a past version of himself and, if the correct story path is taken, they manage to say the following dialogue: “A moron. Am not. Are too. I know you are but what am I? A moron. Am not. Are too. I know….. ” (page 49). This loop will continue on forever, and the reader is forced to quit without having reached an actual ending. Not only is this good to enhance the reader’s story-progression awareness, but it also contains the metafictive element of requiring the reader to acknowledge that, though the book has not explicitly declared “the end”, they can no longer progress and must restart. It is a great catch-22, and is the perfect media form to include it in.
• Shiga also uses humor to get his point across and to keep the reader involved. When using the coin-flipping example to explain the multiple worlds theory of quantum mechanics, the scientist uses his doomsday device, saying “If the killitron detects heads, then it won’t activate.” If one continues naturally (following the tail path down instead of to the left) they immediately see the word “END” (with the other story path continuing) (page 55). Almost anyone reading the book will laugh at that point, simply because the world ended so suddenly, unexpectedly, and trivially. This humor is so effective because it not only encourages the reader to move forward, but it explains rather nicely the theory of quantum mechanics in question. Humor is a wonderful educational tactic.
• The very first choice that readers make in Meanwhile is that of chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Normally, one expects this first choice to have a significant impact on the outcome of the entire rest of the story, and in this case it still does, just not in the normal way. If one chooses chocolate, one is subject to the entire world and story created by Shiga. If one chooses vanilla, however, Jimmy quickly returns to his house, and the story ends right then and there. This is wonderful irony. The reader was expecting a grand new world behind vanilla ice cream, but found mediocrity instead. This irony allows Shiga to show how his book is going to play out. Sudden endings are to be expected and laughed, and one’s choices do affect the outcome, just not always in the way that they would expect.
• Meanwhile, though being of the science-ficiton genre, also contains various puzzles and “games” which allow it to also have a mystery/super-sleuth novel feel. Two of the machines need secret codes to unlock their unlimited use, yet the reader must navigate various paths and predicaments to find them. If they arrive at the pages where a code must be input without having obtained it, they will have to guess from among all the different possibilities (leading to some interesting results). These puzzles help keep the reader engaged, and encourage multiple reads (so that they may successfully enter the codes). Truly one experiences a sense of accomplishment when the correct code is obtained and entered, and being able to spark emotional response in readers is one of the greatest accomplishments of any book.
Author’s Craft:
Jason Shiga was born in 1976 in Oakland, California and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998. He studied pure mathematics. This probably explains why much of his work is filled with mathematical and scientific ideas (as he puts it, “[his] books have a mathematical or geeky side to them” (shigabooks.com). He even describes himself on his own website (shigabooks.com) as having a “spock-like brain”. He started creating comics shortly after he graduated from the university, and has continued doing so ever since.
His comics, as he says, generally include mathematical themes, and he likes to play with twists and problem solving in his works. Publishers Weekly described Shiga as “A mathematician/cartoonist whose best works…play with form and logic”. One of his webcomics Fleep has a man trapped in a telephone booth covered in concrete with no idea of how he got there figure out why he is there, what is happening, and what he must do using only his limited resources. It makes for fun reading for a certain crowd, but his style may not be for everyone.
That said, it is worth noting that Shiga is generally not a children’s literature writer. Several of his comics have mature themes including suicide and murder. It provides an interesting contrast to his simple cartoon-style drawings.
While Shiga enjoys pushing the limits of what math content he may include in his comics, he also enjoys experimenting with book design and layout. He has several comics in ordinary layout, but he has also experimented with choose-your-own-adventure formatting, as well as fold out panels to tell a story.
This unorthodox style has characterized Jason Shiga a revolutionizer of graphic novels,worthy of Time online’s review dubbing him as “a creator of commix that can be at once funny, disturbing, thoughtful, deconstructed, and cleverly put together.”
Style and Medium:
As stated before, Jason Shiga creates his graphic novels using a simplistic cartoon style of illustrating. His drawings are very basic and easy to follow. They appear to be hand drawn, though computer editing is obviously involved (for both inking and repetition of common expressions/ “talking faces”. He uses color to both reflect tone (blues for calm and contemplative, and pinks and reds for more intense scenes) and to convey ideas and plot devices (sepia tones for flashbacks). He is also not afraid to convey tone through his tail lines. When a really confusing decision is to be made, the tail lines become twisted and tangled. It makes for an interesting read—easy yet complex.
Illustrative Elements:
• The most notable illustrative element that Shiga employs is his use of tail lines. Yes, they fulfill the basic purpose of connecting one part of the story to the next, but as said in the style and medium section, he also uses them to convey mood and tone. On page 4, as Jimmy uses the memory transmission device to look at a person’s entire life, the reader is channeled through a spiraling tail line, which makes them feel the disconcerting effect of jumping from one’s own life to that of someone else. Also during the coin flip on page 33 Shiga twists and tangles the paths leading to the result of heads and tails, making the choice indeed seem like a randomly generated event. There are several more examples of How Shiga uses these lines to great effect, which goes to show how much he has mastered his unique style of writing and illustrating.
• Shiga is not blind to the effects of writing a graphic novel in which readers may view many of the storylines on the same page at once. In fact, he often uses this to his advantage. One of the ways that he does so is through symmetry. On pages 12 and 13, we are presented with two similar endings to two different story paths on the same page. Both present Jimmy dying as a result of unwisely using the doomsday device. Here, Shiga teaches the reader to be careful when using the device, no matter what the situation. If two paths end mostly the same way, and the reader sees it, they will be careful in how they treat their choices with this machine.
• Another way that Shiga uses the ability to see multiple story paths while traveling through only one is manifest in when the reader initially chooses vanilla. We know that the story promptly ends, but on that same page (page 15) we see the very same ice cream man who sold the ice cream chasing Jimmy with an axe and screaming “NOOOO!” like some kind of villain. When the reader sees this, they are drawn back into the book, looking to restart and find out who the ice cream man really is. This is vitally important because without this pull, the reader may just stop reading right there disappointed with an unexpectedly short and unfair ending to their story.
• On page 21, Shiga does something interesting. He uses the illustrative technique of isolating important events. On this page, we see an old man telling Jimmy “I’m your dad!” However, in this storyline, Jimmy has no idea what is happening, and if the reader has not stumbled upon a corresponding story path, neither do they. It makes the revelation of “I’m your dad” much more cryptic and intriguing for the readers. They know that it is important because it is alone on the page and triple bordered in alternating colored boxes. This emphasis just leaves the reader hungry for more because, by Shiga’s illustration, they know that something important just happened. On the other hand, if the reader does know about the corresponding story path, then the revelation makes sense, and a pleasant sensation of “the pieces falling into place” occurs. Whatever the situation may be, the reader is certainly going to recognize the importance of this panel, simply from how Shiga has placed it on the page.
• Shiga uses color as a tool as well. For example, on the previously examined page 15 the background (gutter part of the gutter-and-panel organization) color is a dull, blue-green tone. This tone fits Shiga’s needs perfectly. As stated, on this page we see both an unexciting and swift ending, as well as an ax-murderer (two very different moods). Shiga makes this background color work for him by making the background in the individual panels different. In the ax-murderer scene, the panel background is a dark blue, hinting at intense suspense, and darkness, however the panels in the sudden ending have background colors from light blue to light orange, nothing intense or out of the ordinary, making it very fitting for the nonchalant end. The dark blue intensifies the gray-blue of the gutter, and the light orange and light blue softens the gray-blue’s darkening effect. Shiga obviously put a lot of thought into what color to use for each panel and each gutter of each page.
• Throughout Meanwhile there are found little Easter eggs for attentive readers. For example, on page 49, right next to the infinite loop, there is a lone panel, the same size of all the rest that goes unnoticed. There are no story tails that lead to it. It is just a picture of Jimmy saying ultima. Any attentive reader will realize that there is no way to get to this panel. Some may see it as filler, yet that is unlikely for Shiga. The panel is actually a reference to another Easter egg, one that is extremely difficult to get to through normal reading. One of the endings is the “Ultima” ending, where Jimmy somehow makes his way to paradise. To get to this ending, one must use a code for the memory device found on a page that cannot be reached through just going through the story paths. Quite the connection. Shiga makes Meanwhile interesting to read for weeks just by including theses little gems, and the book almost becomes a Where’s Waldo experience as the readers search for them.
• Shiga also uses his unique format to tell of simultaneous events. Perhaps the best example of this is on page 27, where we see the old man mentioned earlier telling his last goodbyes to his son as his doomsday device counts down to zero. We know that these two events happen simultaneously because Shiga traces multiple tails in between the main panel of the man’s goodbye, and panels depicting progressively lower timer counts. The entire feel is one of inevitability, and the way Shiga presents this scene allows us to both appreciate the lack of time, as well as the man’s goodbye at the same time, without one interfering with the other. This allows for Shiga’s masterful storytelling techniques to really shine through, while at the same time allowing him to save space on the page (a rather precious resource with so much going on at the same time.
Illustrator’s Craft:
Jason Shiga has the advantage of being his own illustrator, and is thus allowed to accurately depict and portray his sometimes unorthodox ideas. Though his art style is simple, the execution is complex (with story tails and connections that span the entire book). His skill is not in artistic talent, but making his medium work for him. Of his artistic style, Publishers Weekly said “The charming, cartoony illustrations, bursting with color and energy, lend a wry counterpoint to the often disastrous outcomes of the many possible plots”. This is especially true with Shiga’s other works, where the cartoon style of illustrating counterpoints his mature themes (it is disconcerting seeing a simple cartoon character commit suicide). Instead of making the themes seem mundane or out of place, Shiga’s style actually adds to the shock value of much of what happens in his novels.
Read Aloud:
Perhaps it is because this book is by a fellow mathematician, but I love it. The interconnecting plot lines, the theory, the layout, it is just glorious. I have spent hours reading it, and I believe that I am not even close to being done.
It is even more fun reading it with someone else, because the decisions are more of a group thing, and you can remember more of what paths you have taken. I read it with my younger brother, and it was a blast. He had read it before, so I laughed when he immediately chose vanilla. He wanted to treat me to the crazy short ending. And we both laughed when we got it. I can tell that he liked the book, and is actually still reading it as I write this. It is so hard to put down, and you just want to keep on finding out everything about it. It makes for good connecting because you actually have to decide about what goes on in the book. My younger brother actually taught me something by easily encountering a useful story path that I had never seen before. It seems like the possibilities are nigh-infinite. I would like to read it to even more kids to see if they like it or not (my brother and I share interests and taste in books).
Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile is a very unique and enjoyable book. It may take work to read and journey through the maze that Shiga has made, but it is worth it. Hopefully the way that Shiga has stretched the graphic novel genre will continue, and we will see more novels that change the way we read books (and hopefully change the way we teach quantum mechanics. Shiga’s way is much more fun).
General Description:
If there is one thing to be said about Meanwhile it that the book is unique. Shiga even warns the reader of this fact on the first page of the book with the words “STOP! THIS IS NOT AN ORDINARY COMIC” followed by an explanation of how the book works. Instead of simply reading it page by page, one reads it frame by comic frame. Connecting each frame is a small tail line, which when followed guides the reader to the next frame. Due to this method, the reader is frequently reading not only from left-to-right, but from right-to-left, top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top, and even diagonally. Each page is bordered with tabs that lead to different pages. Whenever the reader needs to turn a page, the tail line guides them to one of these tabs to jump to whichever page and frame comes next. This unconventional layout makes the book fun to read, and even adds to the mood and tone at times (we’ll cover how it does that later on in the review).
As for the story, Shiga’s work tells the tale of Jimmy, a young boy in the predicament of choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and it is the duty of the reader to choose for him. Depending on this and other choices, Jimmy is sent off on an adventure through a space, time, a mad scientist’s lab, and a doomsday device. The story that is actually told and the sequence of events it is told in is dependent upon the reader’s choices, however as one reads one does get the sense that something bigger is going on, and, with enough diligence, one can get a general idea of what has happened in Jimmy’s world. Without elaborating too much, it involves widespread destruction, recursive lives, and time travel. All-in-all, the design and content make for a great combination. Shiga combines complex themes with simple drawings to ensure that his audience does not get overwhelmed. His choice of using a graphic novel format also helps readers to avoid the inherent boredom and repetitiveness that comes with the choose-your-own-adventure style, allowing the reader to review and remember what they have already read without robbing them of too much time. Shiga also utilizes familiar science fiction tropes and themes to allow the reader to quickly accommodate to the situations of the book. Humor is also used to keep the reader entertained.
Text Element:
• One of the biggest themes in this book is having fun with science. As stated before, Jason Shiga plays around with time travel, memory transfers, and doomsday devices, yet he manages to do so in a way that does not overwhelm the reader, and actually allows them to understand what is happening. For example, on page 33, Shiga introduces quantum mechanics: “Now, according to the multiple worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the universe just split in two” (page 33). Now, in almost any other media, it would be somewhat challenging to convey the ideas of quantum mechanics, however Shiga teaches this branching tree theory by showing exactly what it says; he splits the universe (his storyline) in two! In one branch, a coin flip ends in heads, and in another the coin flip ends in tails. Through this, the reader manages to grasp what ideas drive not only the theory, but also drive an interesting perspective of looking at the text (which, in and of itself exemplifies this multiple worlds theory).
• Meanwhile also contains metafictive properties, though with a notable twist. Shiga is metafictive in a choose-your-own-adventure sense, and he does this in rather simple yet elegant ways. A real concern about reading a choose-your-own-adventure text is that of missing a page or an ending. Well, Shiga addresses this concern by including a page that cannot be reached by simple reading through the story. There are neither tails nor paths that lead to it. It simply states the word “squid” next to an illustration of the main character riding a giant squid. Once found, it quickly becomes the favorite page of many readers, precisely because of its inability to be viewed normally. Another metafictive element is that of the infinite loop. At a certain point in the book, Jimmy can meet a past version of himself and, if the correct story path is taken, they manage to say the following dialogue: “A moron. Am not. Are too. I know you are but what am I? A moron. Am not. Are too. I know….. ” (page 49). This loop will continue on forever, and the reader is forced to quit without having reached an actual ending. Not only is this good to enhance the reader’s story-progression awareness, but it also contains the metafictive element of requiring the reader to acknowledge that, though the book has not explicitly declared “the end”, they can no longer progress and must restart. It is a great catch-22, and is the perfect media form to include it in.
• Shiga also uses humor to get his point across and to keep the reader involved. When using the coin-flipping example to explain the multiple worlds theory of quantum mechanics, the scientist uses his doomsday device, saying “If the killitron detects heads, then it won’t activate.” If one continues naturally (following the tail path down instead of to the left) they immediately see the word “END” (with the other story path continuing) (page 55). Almost anyone reading the book will laugh at that point, simply because the world ended so suddenly, unexpectedly, and trivially. This humor is so effective because it not only encourages the reader to move forward, but it explains rather nicely the theory of quantum mechanics in question. Humor is a wonderful educational tactic.
• The very first choice that readers make in Meanwhile is that of chocolate or vanilla ice cream. Normally, one expects this first choice to have a significant impact on the outcome of the entire rest of the story, and in this case it still does, just not in the normal way. If one chooses chocolate, one is subject to the entire world and story created by Shiga. If one chooses vanilla, however, Jimmy quickly returns to his house, and the story ends right then and there. This is wonderful irony. The reader was expecting a grand new world behind vanilla ice cream, but found mediocrity instead. This irony allows Shiga to show how his book is going to play out. Sudden endings are to be expected and laughed, and one’s choices do affect the outcome, just not always in the way that they would expect.
• Meanwhile, though being of the science-ficiton genre, also contains various puzzles and “games” which allow it to also have a mystery/super-sleuth novel feel. Two of the machines need secret codes to unlock their unlimited use, yet the reader must navigate various paths and predicaments to find them. If they arrive at the pages where a code must be input without having obtained it, they will have to guess from among all the different possibilities (leading to some interesting results). These puzzles help keep the reader engaged, and encourage multiple reads (so that they may successfully enter the codes). Truly one experiences a sense of accomplishment when the correct code is obtained and entered, and being able to spark emotional response in readers is one of the greatest accomplishments of any book.
Author’s Craft:
Jason Shiga was born in 1976 in Oakland, California and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998. He studied pure mathematics. This probably explains why much of his work is filled with mathematical and scientific ideas (as he puts it, “[his] books have a mathematical or geeky side to them” (shigabooks.com). He even describes himself on his own website (shigabooks.com) as having a “spock-like brain”. He started creating comics shortly after he graduated from the university, and has continued doing so ever since.
His comics, as he says, generally include mathematical themes, and he likes to play with twists and problem solving in his works. Publishers Weekly described Shiga as “A mathematician/cartoonist whose best works…play with form and logic”. One of his webcomics Fleep has a man trapped in a telephone booth covered in concrete with no idea of how he got there figure out why he is there, what is happening, and what he must do using only his limited resources. It makes for fun reading for a certain crowd, but his style may not be for everyone.
That said, it is worth noting that Shiga is generally not a children’s literature writer. Several of his comics have mature themes including suicide and murder. It provides an interesting contrast to his simple cartoon-style drawings.
While Shiga enjoys pushing the limits of what math content he may include in his comics, he also enjoys experimenting with book design and layout. He has several comics in ordinary layout, but he has also experimented with choose-your-own-adventure formatting, as well as fold out panels to tell a story.
This unorthodox style has characterized Jason Shiga a revolutionizer of graphic novels,worthy of Time online’s review dubbing him as “a creator of commix that can be at once funny, disturbing, thoughtful, deconstructed, and cleverly put together.”
Style and Medium:
As stated before, Jason Shiga creates his graphic novels using a simplistic cartoon style of illustrating. His drawings are very basic and easy to follow. They appear to be hand drawn, though computer editing is obviously involved (for both inking and repetition of common expressions/ “talking faces”. He uses color to both reflect tone (blues for calm and contemplative, and pinks and reds for more intense scenes) and to convey ideas and plot devices (sepia tones for flashbacks). He is also not afraid to convey tone through his tail lines. When a really confusing decision is to be made, the tail lines become twisted and tangled. It makes for an interesting read—easy yet complex.
Illustrative Elements:
• The most notable illustrative element that Shiga employs is his use of tail lines. Yes, they fulfill the basic purpose of connecting one part of the story to the next, but as said in the style and medium section, he also uses them to convey mood and tone. On page 4, as Jimmy uses the memory transmission device to look at a person’s entire life, the reader is channeled through a spiraling tail line, which makes them feel the disconcerting effect of jumping from one’s own life to that of someone else. Also during the coin flip on page 33 Shiga twists and tangles the paths leading to the result of heads and tails, making the choice indeed seem like a randomly generated event. There are several more examples of How Shiga uses these lines to great effect, which goes to show how much he has mastered his unique style of writing and illustrating.
• Shiga is not blind to the effects of writing a graphic novel in which readers may view many of the storylines on the same page at once. In fact, he often uses this to his advantage. One of the ways that he does so is through symmetry. On pages 12 and 13, we are presented with two similar endings to two different story paths on the same page. Both present Jimmy dying as a result of unwisely using the doomsday device. Here, Shiga teaches the reader to be careful when using the device, no matter what the situation. If two paths end mostly the same way, and the reader sees it, they will be careful in how they treat their choices with this machine.
• Another way that Shiga uses the ability to see multiple story paths while traveling through only one is manifest in when the reader initially chooses vanilla. We know that the story promptly ends, but on that same page (page 15) we see the very same ice cream man who sold the ice cream chasing Jimmy with an axe and screaming “NOOOO!” like some kind of villain. When the reader sees this, they are drawn back into the book, looking to restart and find out who the ice cream man really is. This is vitally important because without this pull, the reader may just stop reading right there disappointed with an unexpectedly short and unfair ending to their story.
• On page 21, Shiga does something interesting. He uses the illustrative technique of isolating important events. On this page, we see an old man telling Jimmy “I’m your dad!” However, in this storyline, Jimmy has no idea what is happening, and if the reader has not stumbled upon a corresponding story path, neither do they. It makes the revelation of “I’m your dad” much more cryptic and intriguing for the readers. They know that it is important because it is alone on the page and triple bordered in alternating colored boxes. This emphasis just leaves the reader hungry for more because, by Shiga’s illustration, they know that something important just happened. On the other hand, if the reader does know about the corresponding story path, then the revelation makes sense, and a pleasant sensation of “the pieces falling into place” occurs. Whatever the situation may be, the reader is certainly going to recognize the importance of this panel, simply from how Shiga has placed it on the page.
• Shiga uses color as a tool as well. For example, on the previously examined page 15 the background (gutter part of the gutter-and-panel organization) color is a dull, blue-green tone. This tone fits Shiga’s needs perfectly. As stated, on this page we see both an unexciting and swift ending, as well as an ax-murderer (two very different moods). Shiga makes this background color work for him by making the background in the individual panels different. In the ax-murderer scene, the panel background is a dark blue, hinting at intense suspense, and darkness, however the panels in the sudden ending have background colors from light blue to light orange, nothing intense or out of the ordinary, making it very fitting for the nonchalant end. The dark blue intensifies the gray-blue of the gutter, and the light orange and light blue softens the gray-blue’s darkening effect. Shiga obviously put a lot of thought into what color to use for each panel and each gutter of each page.
• Throughout Meanwhile there are found little Easter eggs for attentive readers. For example, on page 49, right next to the infinite loop, there is a lone panel, the same size of all the rest that goes unnoticed. There are no story tails that lead to it. It is just a picture of Jimmy saying ultima. Any attentive reader will realize that there is no way to get to this panel. Some may see it as filler, yet that is unlikely for Shiga. The panel is actually a reference to another Easter egg, one that is extremely difficult to get to through normal reading. One of the endings is the “Ultima” ending, where Jimmy somehow makes his way to paradise. To get to this ending, one must use a code for the memory device found on a page that cannot be reached through just going through the story paths. Quite the connection. Shiga makes Meanwhile interesting to read for weeks just by including theses little gems, and the book almost becomes a Where’s Waldo experience as the readers search for them.
• Shiga also uses his unique format to tell of simultaneous events. Perhaps the best example of this is on page 27, where we see the old man mentioned earlier telling his last goodbyes to his son as his doomsday device counts down to zero. We know that these two events happen simultaneously because Shiga traces multiple tails in between the main panel of the man’s goodbye, and panels depicting progressively lower timer counts. The entire feel is one of inevitability, and the way Shiga presents this scene allows us to both appreciate the lack of time, as well as the man’s goodbye at the same time, without one interfering with the other. This allows for Shiga’s masterful storytelling techniques to really shine through, while at the same time allowing him to save space on the page (a rather precious resource with so much going on at the same time.
Illustrator’s Craft:
Jason Shiga has the advantage of being his own illustrator, and is thus allowed to accurately depict and portray his sometimes unorthodox ideas. Though his art style is simple, the execution is complex (with story tails and connections that span the entire book). His skill is not in artistic talent, but making his medium work for him. Of his artistic style, Publishers Weekly said “The charming, cartoony illustrations, bursting with color and energy, lend a wry counterpoint to the often disastrous outcomes of the many possible plots”. This is especially true with Shiga’s other works, where the cartoon style of illustrating counterpoints his mature themes (it is disconcerting seeing a simple cartoon character commit suicide). Instead of making the themes seem mundane or out of place, Shiga’s style actually adds to the shock value of much of what happens in his novels.
Read Aloud:
Perhaps it is because this book is by a fellow mathematician, but I love it. The interconnecting plot lines, the theory, the layout, it is just glorious. I have spent hours reading it, and I believe that I am not even close to being done.
It is even more fun reading it with someone else, because the decisions are more of a group thing, and you can remember more of what paths you have taken. I read it with my younger brother, and it was a blast. He had read it before, so I laughed when he immediately chose vanilla. He wanted to treat me to the crazy short ending. And we both laughed when we got it. I can tell that he liked the book, and is actually still reading it as I write this. It is so hard to put down, and you just want to keep on finding out everything about it. It makes for good connecting because you actually have to decide about what goes on in the book. My younger brother actually taught me something by easily encountering a useful story path that I had never seen before. It seems like the possibilities are nigh-infinite. I would like to read it to even more kids to see if they like it or not (my brother and I share interests and taste in books).
Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile is a very unique and enjoyable book. It may take work to read and journey through the maze that Shiga has made, but it is worth it. Hopefully the way that Shiga has stretched the graphic novel genre will continue, and we will see more novels that change the way we read books (and hopefully change the way we teach quantum mechanics. Shiga’s way is much more fun).
September 19, 2023
Incredibly clever and I keep coming back to it again and again, making different choices as I read and experiencing different outcomes. I was so entranced with the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books as a young teen and this book is a sophisticated version of that.
November 21, 2013
I have a lot of nostalgic good will for "choose your own adventure" type of books and I am always drawn to books that try to do something a little bit different so I was understandably drawn to Meanwhile which is the only choose your own adventure style of graphic novel I am aware of.
Meanwhile is very clever. The way the choose your own adventure works within the story is very well thought out and is a visually appealing follow the string/paths which are utilized together with tabs at the ends of the pages so you never need to turn to page xx but rather just follow the string via the tab to whatever the next page is.
The story itself starts out with a simple choice between chocolate or vanilla ice cream but quickly becomes stranger and sillier when you see an inventor with several creations such as a working time travel machine.
I occasionally lost the bit of string I was following and this meant i needed to either start again or retrace my steps but most people will probably have no problem following their path.
One problem with time travel in choose your own adventure type stories is that you can find yourself in loops where you have been somewhere before. You dont want to put a book down part way through a story but you do not want to keep relooping. Dying (in the game) would be better.
I never found my heart warming to this the way my head did. Whether this was the story, the characterization or the illustrations I am not sure. I was glad I got to read it and will enjoy showing it to some other people but it is not something that I think fully realized its potential. It may be in part that with choose your own adventure type stories normally they are written in a way in which you are the protagonist. As soon as your character is a child who you see then it does not work in the same way. Its not choose YOUR own adventure its choose THEIR adventure and that seems very different.
Meanwhile is very clever. The way the choose your own adventure works within the story is very well thought out and is a visually appealing follow the string/paths which are utilized together with tabs at the ends of the pages so you never need to turn to page xx but rather just follow the string via the tab to whatever the next page is.
The story itself starts out with a simple choice between chocolate or vanilla ice cream but quickly becomes stranger and sillier when you see an inventor with several creations such as a working time travel machine.
I occasionally lost the bit of string I was following and this meant i needed to either start again or retrace my steps but most people will probably have no problem following their path.
One problem with time travel in choose your own adventure type stories is that you can find yourself in loops where you have been somewhere before. You dont want to put a book down part way through a story but you do not want to keep relooping. Dying (in the game) would be better.
I never found my heart warming to this the way my head did. Whether this was the story, the characterization or the illustrations I am not sure. I was glad I got to read it and will enjoy showing it to some other people but it is not something that I think fully realized its potential. It may be in part that with choose your own adventure type stories normally they are written in a way in which you are the protagonist. As soon as your character is a child who you see then it does not work in the same way. Its not choose YOUR own adventure its choose THEIR adventure and that seems very different.
September 29, 2011
This book is incredibly trippy - in a good way. It's kind of a Choose Your Own Adventure in graphic novel format featuring time travel, entropy, quantam physics, and a doomsday device. It starts out innocently enough - do you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream? Choose which path you want to take and follow the tubes to the correct tab, which takes you to another page where the story continues. Various other choices along the way cause the story to split yet again, revealing a story that grows stranger and darker as you progress.
I first tried to read this book during my lunch break. That didn't work. Eating grapes is apparently too much distraction. You need to give this book your full attention to follow the storyline and to make sure that you are correctly following the tubes that connect each pannel. Not only are you jumping from page to page as you make different choices, but the pannels do not necessarily move in the conventional order. Sometimes you may find yourself reading from right to left, from down to up, or even looping around the page. It's weird, and it's a lot of fun once you get used to it. The narration geek in me also likes the way that this unusual structure reflects the time travel and entropy aspects of the story.
I first tried to read this book during my lunch break. That didn't work. Eating grapes is apparently too much distraction. You need to give this book your full attention to follow the storyline and to make sure that you are correctly following the tubes that connect each pannel. Not only are you jumping from page to page as you make different choices, but the pannels do not necessarily move in the conventional order. Sometimes you may find yourself reading from right to left, from down to up, or even looping around the page. It's weird, and it's a lot of fun once you get used to it. The narration geek in me also likes the way that this unusual structure reflects the time travel and entropy aspects of the story.
February 13, 2018
This book get's a 5 just for sheer effort it took to make it. However, it's also a really neat examination of the nature of time, choice, and chance. Please go through it at least once, but realize you need to discover at least 2 codes within your travels to get to the "happy" ending.
"Once the outline of the story was structured, a computer algorithm was written to determine the most efficient method to transfer it to a book form. However, the problem proved to be NP-complete. With the use of a V-opt heuristic algorithm running for 12 hours on an SGI machine, the solution was finally cracked in spring of 2000. It was another six months before layouts were finished, again, with the aid of homebrew computer algorithms. After a year of prep work, production began on the book, which was completed one year later."
Holy. Moly.
"Once the outline of the story was structured, a computer algorithm was written to determine the most efficient method to transfer it to a book form. However, the problem proved to be NP-complete. With the use of a V-opt heuristic algorithm running for 12 hours on an SGI machine, the solution was finally cracked in spring of 2000. It was another six months before layouts were finished, again, with the aid of homebrew computer algorithms. After a year of prep work, production began on the book, which was completed one year later."
Holy. Moly.
January 4, 2011
Quick and dirty review:
I had great fun poring over this choose-your-own-adventure style graphic novel for the couple hours it took me to reach every permutation of the story (and there are thousands and thousands of different stories to discover). The art and the storytelling is kooky but smart, and I've managed to successfully booktalk the hell out of this one, especially to middle-schoolers. All I have to say is that you, as the main character, start out buying ice cream and end up in a mad scientist's lab invited to play with three different machines -- one that transfers memories, one that travels through time, and one that is a doomsday device -- and I've got the kids hooked.
I had great fun poring over this choose-your-own-adventure style graphic novel for the couple hours it took me to reach every permutation of the story (and there are thousands and thousands of different stories to discover). The art and the storytelling is kooky but smart, and I've managed to successfully booktalk the hell out of this one, especially to middle-schoolers. All I have to say is that you, as the main character, start out buying ice cream and end up in a mad scientist's lab invited to play with three different machines -- one that transfers memories, one that travels through time, and one that is a doomsday device -- and I've got the kids hooked.
July 28, 2010
This is a bizarre new format (at least to me) of choose your-own-adventure. WOW. It had my 10-year-old, who loves "manga" (I still don't really know what this is), drawing, and comics, unable to come up for air. It was written with exactly the same kind of humor, drawing, and topics that my son loves...uncanny. I also had a lot of fun figuring out how it works with him. I'd give it 5 stars but I was quickly frustrated with having to go through the whole story repeatedly in order to make different choice combinations (time travel issues). It didn't phase him at all, though.
July 15, 2012
While I've owned the book for several years, I was always frustrated by the format --- choose-your-own-adventure is great, but I had trouble following the tabs and lost patience trying different branches.
However, when I found it you could get it as an app, I quickly bought it and (maybe) finished it. I think I hit most of the major branches, and I definitely found some of the major endings (including a very affecting view of the world). The app makes it easy to review and make different choices, and I felt I had much more fun exploring.
However, when I found it you could get it as an app, I quickly bought it and (maybe) finished it. I think I hit most of the major branches, and I definitely found some of the major endings (including a very affecting view of the world). The app makes it easy to review and make different choices, and I felt I had much more fun exploring.
November 2, 2018
As others have said: The book design is amazing, and the story (when you get there) is really cool. It reminded me of an interactive The Masterplan by Scott Mills, one of my favorites. The design can also be really frustrating though -- not just because you replay conversations, but because there are a lot of little connectors that don't actually mean anything. I had to look up a walkthrough to figure it out, and then realized that I'd just gotten stuck because I didn't realize one panel was connected to another so didn't realize I could go further. Still, the book is quite an achievement.
April 10, 2010
Readers begin with a simple choice, "Chocolate ice cream? Or vanilla? A unique take on a "choose-your-own adventure" book, Jason Shiga's crazy quilt graphic novel panels take readers on 3,856 possible storylines-- many of them bizarre and violent. The acetate pages help the book hold up endless readings as children discover the new paths that lead them forward, backward, and sideways through the book.
April 10, 2010
This book is a delightful toy! Cleverly formatted and simple to follow while still being devious in it's complexities.
I would describe it a Choose your own adventure flowchart. Choose between chocolate and vanilla ice cream to let the adventure begin! Look for secret codes and hidden paths. Don't get lost! But if you do, you can always go back to the ice cream shop at the beginning at try again.
I would describe it a Choose your own adventure flowchart. Choose between chocolate and vanilla ice cream to let the adventure begin! Look for secret codes and hidden paths. Don't get lost! But if you do, you can always go back to the ice cream shop at the beginning at try again.
March 19, 2013
Oh my gosh! This book drove me crazy! I am continuously going in circles over and over. I don't think I even actually reached the end of one version of the story. It is so confusing and addicting. The reason it isn't a one is because I physically could not put it down. I was determined to see it out to the end, and failed epically. *shakes head* I warn you, if you pick up this book, you will be driven to insanity.
January 19, 2018
The possibilities of this book are insane. Sometimes Id get glances of other options and would go out of my way to figure out how to get to them.
I was upset at what happened when you chose vanilla though.
I was upset at what happened when you chose vanilla though.
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