[1] Coney's first notable comics work was a two-episode installment of Third World War, "A Symphony of Splintered Wood", co-written with Pat Mills and painted by Sean Phillips, in issues 22 and 23 of Fleetway's anthology Crisis in 1989.
In 1997 he contributed to the Belfast anthology DNA Swamp, writing the Irish mythological superhero series "Keltor", illustrated by Christian Kotey, and the one-off strip "Life Dreams of a Homo Pacedermus", drawn by Doran.
[9] The same year he co-wrote a short animated film, Second Helpings, with director Joel Simon, about a chubby 8-year-old girl and her dreams of being model-slim.
[10] From 2003 to 2005 he wrote and drew "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", a full-page comic strip based on his observations of Belfast life and events, for the Northern Irish political and cultural magazine Fortnight, to which he also contributed articles and illustrations,[11] and self-published one issue of Good Craic Comics in 2003.
Malachy Coney's independent works are often of a colloquial nature, dealing with individuals in an urban setting trying to gain a sense of self amidst an irrational, hostile and often psychologically violent environment.