The Annotated Wondermark

by David Malki

I don't read many web comics, but one of the ones that I can't go more than a few days without checking is David Malki's brilliant Wondermark.

Malki crafts his strips out of cut-up images from Victorian books and catalogues, relying on the standard dimensions of a newspaper comic strip to make his observations about modern life, or to tell stories that are given birth in his whimsical and mercurial mind.

A standard Wondermark strip goes something like this:  A man approaches another man dressed as an 'Indian chief', and asks for peyote.  The Native man, seeing a police officer nearby, berates the man for falling back on negative racial stereotypes.  The man then cites the billboards and TV ads wherein the Native pushes his peyote.  This continues, and a humorous alt-text is posted beside it.  Pretty standard stuff in Malki's work, and always funny.

This book, The Annotated Wondermark, was the first publication of Malki's work, before Dark Horse published three hardcovers of his cartoons.  I got this self-published book at TCAF, and it now completes my collection of Wondermarks available in print.  There are still new strips twice a week at the website though, so I'll just be looking there for new fixes.

Wondermark Vol. 3: Dapper Caps & Pedal Copters

by David Malki

Wondermark is one of the few webcomics that I actually make a concerted effort to read with regularity.  I enjoy David Malki's humour, and the cognitive disconnects between his Victorian art collages and the modern-day issues and topics he discusses in his strips.  Also, unlike many webcomics artists, he sticks to his schedule, and is consistent about producing new material.

I am, at the core though, a collector.  Part of why I don't enjoy webcomics usually is the ephemeral nature of them; just as I continue to buy all my music on compact disk, I prefer to read my webcomics when they are collected and published as books, such as this one, the third (and final - there hasn't been a new one in a very long time) of Dark Horse's Wondermark series.

As mentioned above, to construct this comic, Malki disassembles old pictures from the Victorian era, and then using xeroxes and other tools of manipulation, reassembles them into one, three, or four-panel comic strips (for the most part) that range in topic from family and relationship problems, alien (Gaxian) culture, and contemporary politics, all addressed with Malki's oddball humour.  Malki's visual creativity extends to creating some rather fanciful inventions, such as the pedal-copters of the title, or the robocall devices that have a steampunk aura about them.

There were many times when reading these strips caused me to laugh, especially when after a tough day at work, I read a strip that more or less portrays the person that made that day so difficult.  In addition to a collection of the regular strips, this volume also includes the long piece about timeshare sales gimmicks that originally saw print in a volume of MySpace Dark Horse Presents, and some ephemera.

I hope that another volume of this series is in the production pipeline...

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.

Wondermark Vol.1: Beards of Our Forefathers

by David Malki

I first came across David Malki's bizarre collage comics in a volume of Myspace Dark Horse Presents, and then tracked down his website.

Malki builds his webcomics in the classic newspaper strip format of between one and five horizontal panels, but he doesn't draw them.  Instead, he cuts out figures and images from 'old-timey' publications, populating his strips with men in top hats and women in multi-layered, ruffled dresses.  They drive old fashioned cars, and everything has a very Victorian look to it.

However, the dialogue and context of the strips is very modern, and this where much of the humour lies.  Malki does a great job of playing with peoples' expectations, and subverting the reactions we are conditioned to have to these types of images.  This book collects a number of his strips, and one longer-form comic.  Each strip has his alt-text included below it, which is often the location of the punchline.  The comics are mostly funny, although Malki's sense of humour sometimes goes too far into the surreal for my liking.  I recommend checking out the site, and getting a feel for his work before grabbing one of the books.

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 4

by a lot of people

My thoughts on this volume of Dark Horse's on-line comic collection are basically no different from my thoughts on the previous three.  Dark Horse is putting together a very mixed bag with this series, and while I appreciate diversity in story content and art, I don't like it when there is a lot of diversity in quality.

There are some very good short comics in this book, but there are a lot of plain old mediocre ones too.  The mix is about 50/50.  As I prefer to accentuate the positive, I should talk about what I like.

I think my favourite story in this book David Malki's 'The Catch!: A Wondermark Tale.'  I think there may have been a Wondermark story or two in previous volumes, but they didn't catch my notice the way this very funny story about a Victorian man who brings home an early computer to helps him find things, only to discover that it's part of an ingenious marketing ploy.  The story is funny enough on its own, but when you start to accept the weirdness of people dressed in Victorian clothing talking about their TV remote, the story takes on a new level of enjoyment.  Very cool stuff.

I also loved the Achewood story, and really liked Matt Kindt's Giant Man piece.  There are stories that didn't do much for me but that had some very pretty art, contributed by people like Farel Dalrymple, Jim Rugg, and Kristian Donaldson.

As usual, most of the licensed stories (Star Wars, Buffy) were weak, and the stories that were effectively trailers for minis (like The Rapture) were pretty ineffective.  I keep holding out hope for more, but am increasingly disappointed.  I am now in the market for some of the Wondermark books though...