David Malki ! does some great work over at Wondermark. Seriously, he really does. When you look at the old-fashioned images he uses for his comic, and how he can put them in the appropriate context to make a bizarre joke about relations, or dinosaurs… or even relations with dinosaurs… it seems clear that Mr. Malki ! has a good eye for crazy old woodcuts and engravings can be when reworded and organized to make the characters look like lunatics.
Wondermark has appeared in a few magazines since it began, including The Onion. One of the things that amazes me is that Wondermark is one of the few webcomics that serves as the primary income for the series’ creator. David, apart from spending so much time on his comics, is in charge of publicity and promotions for TopatoCo. Wondermark is a funny and popular enough comic that it’s generated a number of products that the fans have expressed a lot of interest in. The comic has been collected in a couple of hardcovers, and a number of t-shirts have been released. But enough background. Let’s get into the comic itself.
We get to see a wide variety of jokes in Wondermark. Seeing the struggles of these old-timey figures with modern day technology and laws is pretty great. But a lot of it is in the interactions of the characters. So much hatred and jealousy comes about throughout the series, and people just mess with each other constantly. I mean, obviously it’s hard to overlook the hilarity of the types of characters used to represent the persona’s they’re given, but the jokes are best just in the situations. It would work great if they were his own drawings, but the fact that they’re these illustrations you’d see in things like Harper’s is added wonderfulness.
It’s amazing to see just how well constructed David’s website and business have gone. He does a great job, and it really shows. My fancy hat is off to him. Definitely worth your time.
You can visit the site here.
