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A SECRET about the last dozen comics

The last dozen comics have had a secret.

As the sick elephant saga was winding down, I thought to myself, “Surely I can’t just drop back into gag-comics-as-usual. It would feel too abrupt!”

So I decided I would write another series, one that wouldn’t feel like a series but that could still work on multiple levels.

All the comics since the elephant saga have ended have been part of this series, starting back with #1437 in November and continuing through today’s #1448.

I wasn’t sure if anyone would notice, or let me know if they did. So I mentioned on Twitter that the recent comics were all linked in some way, and asked if anyone had figured out how.

Anna had:

If you want to see what Anna’s talking about, start with comic #001 in one tab and comic #1437 in another — then read forward in both timelines, and check out where the journey leads you.

More pictures of the Wondermark Calendar!

I’m back in the office after the Christmas break, and have resumed shipping out Wondermark Calendar (and Sick Elephant book collection) orders!

We’re making the associated Cast Cards at a rate of about 50 a day, so it’ll take another couple days to catch up to all the orders backlogged from December  — thank you very much to those of you who indicated you’d be OK with receiving your order in January.

Your orders are next on the docket! And now that we’re back on the assembly line, we’re moving through the backlog briskly.

I’m aware that last month, a feed error meant that a lot of readers missed some of the updates about the calendar. So I’m pleased to say that we do indeed have copies still available, if you’d meant to check it out but hadn’t yet!

This year’s calendar, Examining Ill Pachyderms: A Veteronorfian Field Manual, is narrated by celebrated veteronorfian Sir Kel F. Finnt, who writes in the introduction:

An Up-To-Date Handbook For Progticioners of Modern Veteronorfory

Since my grobduation from mordical school, I have traveled the world exormining and diagmosing every manner of wild creature. I have specialized in pachyderms; particularly, the noble noodlenoser. I present here, in this useful guide, a description of conditions I have encountered in the field, as well as troitments I have administered to the afflicted animals. I also include reports from fellow progticioners in cases where I can personally vouch for their accuracy and efficacy.

The included illustrations were either drawn from the actual patient, or from memory or a third-hand description up to fifteen years later.

As a noodlenoser veteronorfian, you will encounter many animals suffering from the most peculiar of conditions. It is my hope that this guide will aid you in your diagmoses and troitments. Remember that you are not “veterinarians” — you are something different and thus, I must assume, better.

— Sir Kel F. Finnt

Sir Finnt also takes pains to remind any of us who may wish to attempt the “troitments” included in his field guide that “diagmoses” are legally distinguishable from actual medical diagnoses.

Each calendar also comes in a FREE ENVELOPE.

You can re-use a stand from any previous year if you already have one; or, you can pick up one with this year’s unique design!

The legs fit into the holes, so it can be shipped more compactly! It’s a MIRACLE OF EFFICIENCY.

You can, of course, also pair your calendar order with a copy of The Elephant of Surprise — or, just get the book instead of the calendar.

I already have a second printing of the book on its way!

My wife, once again, got conned into helping out. Maybe she’ll pack your order!

[ The Wondermark Calendar 2019 and/or Sick Elephant Book ]

Wondermark Cast Cards Update!

For a few years now, I’ve been making Wondermark Cast Cards – little commemorative plaques that memorialize special events and reader participation:

With this year’s end, so ends the program, so I thought this would be a good time to let everyone know how they might obtain some of the last few to be issued!

Here’s how they’re made – and which ones are still available:

• On our Patreon, subscribers at the $21 tier are entitled to a different unique card every month!

Patreon is a great way to contribute any amount to support the things you like to read, and the very kind folks who are able to contribute a higher amount are rewarded accordingly. Pictured above in the top row are the October, November, and December cards.

(Psst: I also posted a couple bonus comics to Patreon this week.)

There are still a few days to qualify for the December card if you like – just be in that tier by the end of the month. The December card is Bill Claus, from the holiday storyline a few years back.

And that’ll be it for the subscription tier! That tier will be morphing into something different in January.

• Then, there are two Wondermark Calendar-related cards: Sir Kel F. Finnt is awarded to anyone who gets a copy of this year’s calendar AND/OR a copy of the new The Elephant of Surprise mini-collection, both of which are still available while supplies last.

• If you qualify as a Calendar Ace (a patron of that product five or more times over the years), then don’t forget to claim that card as well when you make your order this year, if you haven’t already.

• And finally, there will be one last card in the spring, shipping with the next hardcover Wondermark collection, Friends You Can Ride On.

If you’ve reserved a copy of that book already thanks to backing our Kickstarter, then great! You’re all set.

If you missed the KS but would still like to secure a book (and card), I’ll reopen pre-orders via BackerKit in January, so you’ll have another chance! Watch for that in a few weeks.

How Cast Cards are made

It’s been a while since I first introduced Cast Cards, so I thought maybe it’s worth a little refresher of what they are and what goes into making them.

I wanted some kind of premium item to honor reader participation and accomplishments. Cast Cards are mini-commemorative plaques that each feature a character from the Wondermark cast on one side, with all their relevant “stats” on the back.

The base piece is laser-cut tempered hardboard (Masonite). Each blank is cut out of a sheet, and engraved on both front and back, by our giant industrial laser:

Each sheet of wood yields 44 blanks:

I lay out the artwork in Illustrator, then print out a set of 9 cards’ worth at a time onto label paper:

Then each individual piece is cut out with the laser! I used to do this part by hand, but why, when you have a laser???

This process creates a series of individual stickers.

I transfer each one onto a blank sheet of sticker backing paper – so they can be removed again – then match each front and back with a glossy gold foil cover sticker (rolls of which I had custom made):

The back is just a frame shape, while the front also has the WONDERMARK text in gold:

The gold foil is really the part that gives it the special touch, in my opinion! I’ll have to figure out what to do with the leftover gold stickers.

Then each combined sticker gets applied to a wooden blank, front and back sides both:

Yes, I custom-made a little form for my thumb to fit onto, because it was starting to hurt putting pressure on the corner of the roller over and over.

And the card is finished! The “feet” are cut separately – each card ships with a foot, of course, so it can stand up.

That’s the whole process! It is fun and satisfying but also elaborate and painstaking. I am happy to have done it for so long, but equally happy to try something new in the future. There will be 52 in all once all of these last few have been issued.

If you’d like to get ahold of any of the final few, now you know how! When I blog about anything related to these last couple, I’ll say CAST CARD AVAILABLE in big letters so you know.

And thanks once again to everyone who has participated so far. I hope you enjoy the ones you have!!

Hi there, email and feed readers!

Another brief hiccup with the RSS feed (which powers the mailing list) means you could be just now seeing (or getting a very long email containing) a bunch of posts that you may have missed from the past month.

I’m sorry about that! But in terms of big news you may have missed, the short version is, you can now order the 2019 Wondermark Calendar and/or the new sick elephant book collection, The Elephant of Surprise!

Orders placed now will ship in the first week of January!

[ Here’s the link to the store ]

More pictures of the 2019 Wondermark Calendar

Hey we actually have some printed calendars now!

They look like this!

Each card features a particular pachyderm with a problem — and the solution to their ill.

There’s no “Elle sycophants” or other such nonsense in this calendar. It’s just good, useful information about how to cure diseases that may afflict noodlenosers.

Also, you can get the veteronorfian himself on (one of our final few) Cast Cards — Sir Kel F. Finnt himself!

The Calendar Ace card (for past patrons who have participated to the tune of five calendars or more) features the vaguely elephantine lava creature from the “Un-Named Beasts of the Forgotten Wilds” calendar from 2016.

Both Cast Cards are optional, but free if you want them (the latter only if you qualify, of course)! There’s a menu on the order page for you to indicate yes or no.

There’s also an option to let you select how urgently you need the calendar! I am shipping them out this week for those who request haste (as many as we can manage, anyway). UPDATE: I’ve shipped all I can before Christmas; everything else will ship in the first run of January!

The true, formal print run of the calendar will not be complete until after Christmas.

But for the folks who indicated they would really love to get their copy as soon as possible, I have done a SPECIAL BESPOKE PRINT RUN.

It turned out I could get a limited number made in time as long as I was willing to do all the finishing work myself.

That means all the cutting, trimming and drilling.

So that’s what I’ve been doing the last few days, and it’s turning out pretty good, I think!

If you get one of these, you will probably get some charming hand-made irregularities included at no extra cost. Probably!

I will only be shipping the advance orders through Wednesday of this week (the 19th), or until supplies of the advance batch last, whichever happens first — then I’ll take a break to have Christmas with my family.

I’ll be returning to the studio the week after Christmas, picking up the “real” print run then, and commencing to ship the remainder of all orders!

Oh yeah, and I got the sick elephant books in too:

You can get the book by itself if you like, or bundle it with the calendar! It’s 132 pages long, somehow!!

Since we were a bit late getting the calendar going this year (WHAT ELSE IS NEW), there are still plenty of copies available, and I expect it will remain on sale at least through the first week of January.

Or they might sell out before then! But there are at least several dozen copies remaining as I write this.

Now I’m gonna go out to the garage and drill some more calendars to ship tomorrow! Maybe one of them will be…YOURS????

[ The Wondermark Calendar 2019 and/or Sick Elephant Book ]