On certain days, when I pass by a trash can full of rotten fruit and children's vomit, I get a very strong sense memory of being inside Jambalaya Jim's

#1564; A Cold Stare From a Tall Bookshelf (Part 3)

  — April 7th, 2025

[ Tags: , , ]       Permalink: https://wondermark.com/c/1564/

This storyline started with Part 1.

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Check out: Podcast interview for ‘The Art of Engineering’

I made that tower, I designed it

“This podcast series explores the evolution of a career in engineering, the overlap of art & engineering, and also promotes engineering outreach and STEM / STEAM in schools.”

Recently, I was pleased to chat with Chad Harden for his podcast “The Art of Engineering.” We had a lovely talk about my background, how I got into this weird job that I have, whether I am actually an engineer (no) and many other things!

The podcast episode is here!

OBLIGATORY REMINDER:

The 2017 Wondermark Calendar is on Kickstarter this year, and the campaign closes next week, Tuesday, December 6! (I have to cut it off kinda early so I can get all the shipping and everything sorted in time.)

I’d really like to hit 250 backers (which is as many calendars as I’ve produced the last few years), and we’re about on pace for that, with a few days left to go! If you are interested in getting a copy of this year’s calendar, you have until Tuesday to back on Kickstarter.

Fork you very much

History of the Wondermark Calendar

TEN YEARS AGO

Some of you have been around a very long time and remember the first Wondermark calendar (above), offered lo these many years ago!

Others of you have picked up a calendar in one or more of the intervening years; or perhaps never at all!

Well, for ALL OF YOU, here is a photo-filled history of the Wondermark calendar, featuring thrills, spills, and some BEHIND THE SCENES on how the process has evolved over the years.

The notion of a loose-leaf desk calendar, in which a stack of individual cards rest in an easel, is one I’m surprised we don’t see more often. I stole the concept from a calendar a co-worker had on her desk, back when I worked at an advertising agency…

Each calendar page required three different prints from the Gocco (black ink on left side, black on right side, and gold title).

Making a calendar in a limited edition makes it special, but also in a practical sense it saves you from having unsold inventory that grows progressively more useless as the year marches on. I made 100 copies of this first calendar and managed to sell them all, thanks in part surely to the slick, persuasive video I linked above.

I continued in this manner the following year, careful to seek out and use artwork I hadn’t already used in Wondermark, and composing dark little stories in verse for each month.

Read the whole thing right over here!

Wondermark Calendar, New Holiday Cards, and Wrapping Paper!

This is it! The big list of things that are all VERY COOL and that you can order from me RIGHT NOW! This post will cover:

1. The 2017 Wondermark Calendar!
2. Downloadable & printable holiday cards!
3. Two brand-new Wondermark holiday cards!
4. Some experimental products — magnets and wrapping paper!

LET’S GET RIGHT TO IT.

The 2017 Wondermark Calendar

You can pre-order the calendar RIGHT NOW!

Since it’s the big Year Ten edition, I decided to do it on Kickstarter this year! Just to see if it could attract some additional attention. Also it meant I got to make a fun video!

As usual, you can get the whole package including calendar cards and wooden stand, or just the cards themselves if all you need is a refill.

But there’s a third option too! I designed a very elaborate and cool Year X Deluxe Collector’s Edition Stand.

it's really cool

That’s an optional upgrade if you like! I will be producing and hand-assembling them here at the ol’ workshop.

The theme of the calendar this year is the Absurd Sports League:

The Absurd Sports League was founded by mistake some decades ago, when the members of a minor league softball team arrived for their opening day away game at an altogether wrong address, and mistook the vendors of a debris-strewn flea market for the opposing team…

…I have tried with this calendar to present an accurate overview of the history and scope of Fleaball as it has been played since its inception. But as no two games are ever the same, no three players can wear the same uniform, and no four consecutive games may be played on odd-numbered dates unless all seven endfielders agree to rotate shoes every half-quintile, I can take no responsibility for any inaccuracies the calendar may contain.

More on the League, and on the enigma that is Fleaball, in the coming days.

Like last year, the calendar will come with a brand-new Wondermark Cast Card, and, if it’s your fifth calendar or more, you can also get a new Calendar Ace card!

2 new 2 be 4gotten

However, to save time and avoid waste for people who don’t care about them, I won’t be including Cast Cards with EVERY SINGLE package by default — in order to request one, all you have to do is add one penny to your pledge. It’s explained in exhaustive detail over on the Kickstarter page.

### A SIDEBAR TO NOTE: Patreon folks already got an early crack at special pricing for the calendar! And there’s still time to get on the Cast Card Patreon subscription train for November, which features the lovely Jeredith in her Halloween costume:

Love the skull bra, Jeredith.

Thank you to all Patreonauts who’ve already given us a jump-start in calendar orders!

### BACK TO SCENE

The calendar’s Kickstarter campaign is very short — only 10 days in all — because it has to end early enough for me to get everyone’s shipping information. This is the big downside to using an external service like Kickstarter. So if you’re interested, please, don’t delay!

Pre-order The Absurd Sports League All-Stars!

Downloadable holiday cards

We COLLABORATE to make these great cards!

I sell paper holiday cards, of course (more on that in a sec), but this year I’m also making my collection of holiday-themed Multi-Purpose Cards available as a PDF download!

This way, you can print out the cards at home with no shipping from me required. The download comes with both US letter paper and A4 sized versions.

(My universal set of general-occasion Multi-Purpose Cards are also available for download.)

Two new holiday cards

I’ve designed two new paper cards for this holiday season!

Snow wonder you have a headache!

ah, the ol' christmas bee

The first one is a snowman staying cool under pressure. The second one is a classic Wondermark Christmas comic.

These, and/or any of my dozens of other card designs, can be ordered right now at the Wondermark store!

This is the other reason I decided to break off the calendar into its own thing: so greeting card and other orders can ship quickly, without having to wait for the calendar to be completed.

(These two new cards are still at the printer, and will start shipping in a couple days — but all other designs are in stock and can ship immediately).

SPEAKING OF THE STORE…

Magnets & wrapping paper

I’ve got some new stuff for sale this season!

First: this is not technically wrapping paper, but I wound up with some posters printed on lightweight enough stock that they might work well for the purpose (or other purposes that big sheets of paper are good for, such as…placemats? Book jackets? Lampshades?).

that's NOT QUITE a wrap yet...

Since they’re posters, they come as individual 16×20″ sheets, but I give you a bunch of them to use (and one sheet is enough to wrap a smallish package).

This is more of a clearance thing than an actual let’s-make-wrapping-paper thing (I looked into getting actual rolls made once, and man, it’s expensive), but I thought you might find them useful!

that's a wrap!

Also, magnets!!

stick around

true statement

The full color “Atoms” magnet is a test product with limited quantities in stock. But the engraved wooden ones, we produce in-house here at the studio! I’ve been taking these to conventions all year and they’re really cool. You can get them individually, or mix & match to make a set.

For these items, and/or holiday cards, and/or stickers and other cool stuff, place an order today from the Wondermark store!

I ship the orders myself, and promise to, when I put your goods in a package, include a shake from that empty “Love” canister your aunt keeps on her spice rack.

store-y of my life

And there’s still a lot of great stuff over in my TopatoCo store, too!

this old stuff too!!!

I look forward to being the source of weird gifts your friends and/or loved ones will think you are very cool for having found.

A Wee Announcement

Not many of my comics are autobiographical — I’d be very afraid, if they were — but a few do indeed comprise a category that might be called “verbatim transcripts of conversations with my wife.”

Are a few that I recall just off the top of my head. And, most recently, this week’s comic, #1269.

Indeed! We’re having a baby! In May! This doesn’t really affect you much, but I just wanted to share this cool image we made (my wife makes puppets for the TV show Robot Chicken):

this is scientifically accurate

Haven’t decided on a name for our baby boy yet, but I think “Quaid” is totally in the running.

FIRST LOOK: Wondermark Calendar, YEAR X

HOW FANCY.

Coming soon: it’s our landmark TENTH YEAR of the Wondermark Calendar. This one’s going to be pretty special, because I have a workshop now, and I like to make things. (Although the design above is not quite final.)

I think a warning is fair: Patreon subscribers will get the very first crack at them, a day or two before everyone else. We have sold out of our limited runs every single year the calendar has been offered.

This year’s calendar won’t be a story, like the last two years — it’ll be more similar to the Gaxian Almanac (2013) or the Roll-a-Sketch Yearbook (2014), a collection of character vignettes.

It was going to be kind of dark, like it has been more years than not, but after the tumult of last week in the news, I scrapped my existing plan and started over.

Instead, it’s going to be silly. You’re going to enjoy having it on your desk for a year. The goal is for it to bring a smile to your face whenever you look at it.

More information coming soon!!


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