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.

Buy a Print

The 2015 Wondermark Calendar.

get it

It is well-known that on a certain evening in Hamburg, a summer night in 18__, a concert was held which permanently afflicted all in attendance gravely and irreversibly. No one knows—or will tell—how such a collection of instruments were made to play in harmony; no one knows—or will tell—how such dumb constructs of wood, brass, and bone came to possess such power.

Within, for the first and only time, is what was heard on that evening, a night black, without stars…

Now pre-ordering. Only 250 will be made. We sell out every year. Update: They are sold out.

UNRELATED BUT ALSO GOOD: The Machine of Death Artbook.

…Over 100 interviews in which the writers and illustrators explain what went into the creation of their work — thoughts on technique, developing story ideas, early sketches, the creative process, and lots of other neat behind-the-scenes stuff! If you like the MOD series, there’s a lot of really cool insight here from the folks whose work made the books so great.

Available now in print or PDF.

also good.

This weekend: Webcomics Rampage in Austin!

RAMPAGE

This coming Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be in Austin for the Webcomics Rampage event at Dragon’s Lair!

A bunch of other cool people will be there too:

Danielle Corsetto / Joel Watson / Randy Milholland / E.K. Weaver / David Willis / Alex Woolfson / Dusty Jack and JD Saxon / Dax Tran-Caffee / C. Spike Trotman / Noelle Stevenson / David McGuire / Melanie Gillman

Dragon’s Lair Comics and Fantasy
2438 West Anderson Lane
Austin, TX, 78757
1pm-7pm both days

I will have books and games and I will be doing sketches! If you come, I will see you there!!

Check out: An Indian Wondermark?

how...existential

Indian artist Aarthi Parthasarathy has a new comic called “Royal Existentials”. It’s made of images from vintage Indian Mughal miniature paintings, an art form that dates back to at least the sixteenth century.

I heard about it from this article, where she mentions where she got the idea:

A web-comic fan herself, Parthasarathy was inspired by Wondermark, a comic strip series created by California artist David Malki that has Victorian-era drawings with funny dialogues added in. So, she set out to create something similarly humorous but utterly Indian.

For the series, Parthasarathy picks existing images of Indian miniature paintings and writes contemporary dialogues to them focusing on the joke and the punchline. The social commentary is incidental. “It started out as a way to just have fun with images,” she said. “After the first three, I suddenly realised that this is becoming very social, very feminist.”

I think that’s super turbo cool. Keep at it, Aarthi!! My one note is that I wish the comics were bigger on the site so they’re easier to read!

BONUS RELATED LINK: I’ve mentioned this before — and it’s as old as Wondermark, if not older — but I still love it: the Bayeaux Tapestry Generator, with which you can make something akin to comics, or memes, or just 100% accurate representations of history.

bayeaux

OLD ART 4 LYFE

Multi-Purpose Holiday Cards! And Other New, Nice Things

AHAHAHAHA

I have a bunch of new stuff in my store! First:

NEW HOLIDAY CARDS.

I’ve released some new funny holiday cards each year — there are now dozens of designs available! — and I’m pleased to add these new ones to the mix: six different MULTI-PURPOSE HOLIDAY CARDS.

whatever you need. we got it.

You can read all of the different designs here!

These cards are available singly, or packs. And of course all the other cards are still available, too.

please, take my card

SHIRT BLOWOUT SALE.

BWAHAHAHAHA

I have two big stacks of shirts sitting in my office — ones that I’ve overstocked, and have too many of (including a few designs by Kris Straub); and various factory seconds (misprints, defects, etc.) that shouldn’t be sold for full price.

Both are now on sale for cheap! Quantities and sizes are limited to just whatever I have. (Of course my regular stock of shirts remains available, over at TopatoCo.)

OVERSTOCK SALE / MISPRINT SALE

Oh and hey the sea lion shirt came back, too! Due to continued orders, TeeSpring reactivated it for another few weeks. SWEET

GAXIAN ALMANAC PAINTINGS

delightful

There are just a few paintings left from the Gaxian Almanac (the Wondermark calendar from a few years ago)! These watercolors are matted and mounted. Ready to be framed, OR WHATEVER YOU WANT.

GIANT WONDERMARK PRINTS

SO BIG

I found this stack of prints left over from a 2010 gallery show! The mats are a little dinged up, but they are all really lovely oversized prints that would look good on the wall of someone who doesn’t care that the mats are a little dinged up.

There’s just 10 of these guys! (Sorry, I can’t ship these out of the US; I doubt they would make it safely.) Take ’em home!

ROLL-A-SKETCH COLORING BOOKS

sounds reasonable

Just what it says on the tin! Also, these do not come in a tin. They are coloring books.

THE 2015 CALENDAR

Is currently being worked on.

I don’t want to open pre-orders until it’s a little farther along! But it’s gonna be really cool. This guy is involved:

rock that 'tar

Feel free to order other stuff now — I’ll announce the calendar in a bit.

WELCOME TO THE HOLIDAYS SLASH PLEASE HELP ME CLEAN OUT MY OFFICE

I wrote some Bad Neil Gaiman

IMG_2748

Wits is a very fun radio show — it’s a comedy and variety show, hosted by John Moe and produced by American Public Media (don’t call them NPR!).

I like Wits — my only complaint is that I wish it were longer. It’s got a podcast and/or it may be on your local public radio station. Here in Los Angeles, it’s on KPCC on Saturday afternoons.

Last week, one of the guests was author Neil Gaiman. See, there was a contest: The Bad Gaiman Challenge.

Neil’s tremendous imagination can be found in novels, short stories, graphic novels, theater, and film. There’s no one like Neil Gaiman.

Or is there?

No, probably not. Still, we invite you to try and fail to be like Neil. Wits proudly presents THE BAD GAIMAN CHALLENGE.

Submit your worst Neil Gaiman knock-off story…There are no prizes beyond the deep satisfaction that comes with knowing you’re the author of the worst Neil Gaiman-esque short fiction in the world.

I submitted a very short Gaiman pastiche.

And I was very pleased to learn that it was one of the winners! Neil Gaiman read my piece, among a few others, live on the show!

I was very tickled to hear it. Here’s the episode.


The whole thing’s worth a listen, of course, but if you must pick and choose, the Bad Gaiman Challenge begins at about 23:05.

Neil, if you read this, thank you for handling the dramatic pauses so well.

EDIT: Sweet, there is video as well!


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