Synopsis
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.
Reviews
Malki's nationally syndicated Wondermark comic strips are a form of resuscitated art in which 19th-century woodcuts and engravings get repurposed into 21st-century humor with snarky dialogue. Popularized most by their appearances in the Onion, whose high- and lowbrow satirical mixture is a perfect fit for Malki's sensibility, this is the second mordant but must-have Wondermark collection from Dark Horse. A typical Malki gag rises out of the World of Tomorrow–esque frisson of his staid premodern images of stiff men (frequently mustached and wearing waistcoats while lounging in drawing rooms) or women (parasols and cherubic expressions being their norm) exchanging dialogue more appropriate for a MySpace chatroom than Dickensian fiction. Malki's humor often has a surrealistic bent reminiscent of Terry Gilliam, given some extra steel by a near-constant obsession with death and disease, with particular attention in a hilarious end-of-book Malady Matrix. A little of Malki goes a long way, but it's a rare page that doesn't merit at least a chuckle. (May)
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In his comic strip Wondermark, Malki ! leaves the drawing to the creators of nineteenth-century commercial and illustrative engravings, which he minimally manipulates la Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam. Doing so, he frees himself to concoct absurd scenarios and wild-and-crazy dialogue as well as, for this book, extras including framing text, prose extrapolations on themes in the strips, a kicker fore and a smart remark aft of each strip, a “Topical Reference Explanatory Index” containing 28 numbered explanations of cultural minutiae in the strips, specious product and service ads (e.g., “Used Earwax—J. Dyers, 64 Nassau St., N.Y.”), vertically printed half-sentences of prescriptive medical advice on the edge of each left-hand page, an index of last lines, an author’s note, and—praise be!—an exceedingly daft, 14-page story, “Ransom!” There’s even a piece of Herrimanish art by Malki ! himself (so he does know how). His stuff is busybusybusy, and you can’t just rip through it. Nor should you want to. There are a lot of funny indie strips out there, but none are funnier than Wondermark. --Ray Olson
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