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StumbleuponWondermark: Beards of Our Forefathers
Story and Art: David Malki
Dark Horse Comics
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on Stumbleupon working my way through the Comic Book category. And it’s terrible. Not only is it filled with every pointless comic list on the web, but most of the stumbles turn up webcomics. Awful webcomics. If they aren’t someone trying to hard to be funny, it’s someone not trying hard enough to be worthwhile. And when I first stumbled upon the Wondermark comic strip, I dismissed it as more of the same. Fortunately, enough others didn’t dismiss it, and it became popular enough to justify printing in book form.
Beards of Our Forefathers is a fantastically done collection of strips which originally appeared from 2004 to 2006. There’s something about the book version that simply works. The strips seem funnier once they’re printed on paper rather than pixels on my laptop screen. The book takes itself so seriously—with a beautifully done cover, added explanatory material, and high quality paper—that the absurdity is increased to levels which can’t help but be enjoyable.
Wondermark: Beards of Our Forefathers is a parade of the ridiculous and perfect for anyone who loves the absurd. And with over 20 pages of new material to supplement the older strips, it’s definitely worth a read.
Wondermark at Dark Horse: Wondermark Vol. 1: Beards of our Forefathers HC
[...] It’s just as well that we have a new version, because the Almanack far exceeds the original book. The comics are printed much larger and one per page. The never-before-seen section is expanded with a lot more material including sketches, some early sketches of finished comics, and an interview of Gurewitch done by David Malki. [...]