Wondermark, Vol. 2: Clever Tricks to Stave Off Death

Wondermark #2

by David Malki

Dark Horse Comics presents this second hardbound collection of David Malki's nationally syndicated Wondermark, a sarcastic, silly, and razor-sharp gag comic strip created entirely from nineteenth century woodcuts and engravings. A follow-up to 2008's critically acclaimed Beards of our Forefathers, Clever Tricks to Stave Off Death contains over one hundred comic strips originally published in The Onion and on Wondermark.com, as well as many pages of additional material - such as Malki's eight-page graphic story "Ransom!" and, as promised, a bevy of techniques intended to help the reader delay the inevitable onset of their own demise - written and designed in Malki's trademark hilarious style.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Graphic Novels, Webcomic, Fiction, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2009

About the author

David Malki ! spells his name with an honorofic exclamation point. He is the author of the comic strip "Wondermark", which since 2003 has been repurposing illustrations and engravings from 19th century books into sarcastic, silly, and surreal collage-style comic strips.

Malki also co-edited the fiction anthology Machine of Death, which, thanks to a 100% grassroots campaign, became the #1 bestselling book on Amazon.com for 36 glorious hours.

He lives in Seattle with his wife Nikki (a stop-motion puppet fabricator), and their one son.

Reviews

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply fantastic. I bought the book expecting just a collection of the comics, which would have been enough on its own (yes, you can read them all for free online, but I much prefer book form) - but there are plenty more jokes than just the comic strips. The book is presented as a Victorian manual for health, complete with bizarre ads and a delightfully strange Malady Matrix to figure out what exactly ails you and how to cure it (I was advised to paint the lintels of my door with heavy water).

If you've never read Wondermark before, it can be an acquired taste for some, but if you enjoy bizarre and off-kilter humor, this is some of the best. Looking forward to the other collections.

[Eli Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered Wondermark randomly online, and was pleasantly surprised that the weird humor and historical drawings used were right up my alley. This book was signed for me at Comicon and made me laugh out loud on pretty much every page!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically weird, dryly hilarious and wonderful.

[Corinnagoodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, Dark and very true

[Randy Lander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm tempted to invoke TV critic Alan Sepinall's use of "dayenu" for this book, but as a non-Jew, I don't think I get to do it. So instead I'll go for the gentile version, which is to say that the book is fantastic on many levels, and would have been great even without the extra tidbits.

At it's most basic, Wondermark is a blend of Victorian visual sensibilities and modern-day/postmodern Internet humor, and instead of being jarring, it's hysterical. Malki has a sense of humor that is clever, insightful and just the right amount of bizarre. The strips made me laugh out loud more than once.

And each strip has several layers of gags. In addition to the strip itself, there's a title, an ad-on to the strip's link (rest easy at WONDERMARK!) and a bit of commentary at the bottom from Malki.

Even better, though, is that Malki has carried over this unusual sense of humor to the design of the book. The conceit that it is designed as a Victorian manual of health is evident throughout, from the picture of maladies that opens the thing to the "Malady Matrix" full of hilarious non sequiturs on each page that culminates in a gag explaining them all on the closing pages. Even little details, like the index or the notes explaining context, are done mostly for humorous value.

This is a fun book with an amazing design. I hope Dark Horse and Malki do several more just like it.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wondermark is one of the many best webcomics in existence right now. And Clever Tricks to Stave off Death is one of the few best webcomic collections. I'd read every single one of these strips before, but re-reading them in this beautiful, gorgeously designed volume—interspersed with olde-tymey advertisements and pages of lies—I realized this was arguably the better way to enjoy the genius of Wondermark.

[Adriane · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I mentioned in my previous review, we got the whole set and I read them in order over the past few months. This one took the delightful formula from the last one and added elements of whimsy like reading through the page to get a secret message written backwards on the next page. There is also extra stuff at the end.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Wondermark strips online and after chancing on the latest collection in a great comic shop in Wellington I snapped it up (always been too lazy to order one online).

Strange, surreal, odd and very funny (for the most part). Well worth checking out.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Occasionally clever, even touched on very cute once or twice, several neat effects (like making a some bizarre text on medical maladies!). However overall, it simply seemed like it tried way too hard to be super-clever and never came close to that goal.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun than a tour of a rope factory, more dangerous than communist pirate ninjas on unicycles, more relevant and incisive than just about anything else out there.

[J. Alfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Malki! spells his name with an exclamation point. I like this book so much that I don't mind copying him. Silly and clever and really fun. And absurd. Anyway, I like smart folks so much.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and flatulent!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could never really get into Wondermark online the couple of times I tried, but this book is making me want to start the archives from the beginning.....

[Babs]

FALSE

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think this would certainly be more enjoyable read a little at a time.