Wondermark Vol. 2: Clever Tricks to Stave Off Death

by David Malki

Having become mildly obsessed with Malki's Wondermark site, and having thoroughly enjoyed the first volume of Dark Horse's collections of the strips, I eagerly enjoyed this second volume. 

Malki, for those unfamiliar with his approach, takes old Victorian images and repurposes them to create newspaper-style comics strips, with a decidedly contemporary outlook.  Much of the visual humour in the series comes from seeing people in petticoats and top hats discussing the Internet or modern celebrities.

Malki's sense of humour is very strange, but always funny.  I felt that this volume is much more consistent than the first, which often seemed to feature strips that ended, rather than concluded.  You can trace his growth as an artist in this book, especially when he includes a few out-take strips that were never published on-line (because they aren't good).

This book also includes Ransom!, his first long-form comics story told in this style (originally published in a volume of Myspace Dark Horse Presents).  Personally, I didn't enjoy this story too much, as I felt like it was pretty forced (until the ending, which redeems it).

Overall though, this is a very funny book.  Check out the website, and then do yourself a favour and give this a try.