Tuesday's Guest Artist: David Malki of "Wondermark"

One thing that's awesome about Guest Artist Week is seeing Sheldon reimagined in the style of the visiting artist. And today's installment is the coolest possible example of that. My friend and fellow Los Angeleno cartoonist David Malki creates the brilliant Wondermark using appropriated Victorian artwork that's now in the public domain, giving it a modern spin with visual mashups and unexpected dialogue.

You've no doubt seen his strip in "The Onion", but if you haven't, check it out online.

My one request for Dave, when I asked him to do a Sheldon strip, was that he include one top hat in the comic...and sure enough, Arthur's got a top hat on. Which is hilarious. I love it. But to be honest, I even just love seeing Arthur as a real-ish duck. The whole thing just makes me laugh.

I also love the Victorianisms he threw in there: The old-timey, trailing voice bubble on Flaco's squee, the title "The workaday travails of a diminutive difference-engine magnate (brilliant!) and his menagerie", and even the totally unnecessary (but commonly seen, in the 19th Century) over-explanation at the end, "Flaco's tongue whips about, leaving traces on all surfaces." Dave and I had a long talk about that, once...about how Victorian humor often stepped on the joke for no good reason — and this is a brilliant recreation of that whole descriptive style of writing.

Show Dave some love and check out his work online. And please! If you liked today's strip, let's make sure we make the Guest Artists feel appreciated by clicking this link to send Dave a li'l note!