The world of indie comics and graphic novels can be intimidating at a glance, with so many talented artists and writers to choose from. But if you’re looking for a great place to start, you might want to check out the works of Julia Wertz.
Ever since she started creating comics in the early 2000s, Wertz has been a humble champion of the indie comics scene, tackling all sorts of topics—from one’s first forays into adulthood, to the history of cities and abandoned places, and, most recently, the highs and lows (but mostly highs) of raising your first kid. Here’s everything you need to know about Wertz.
Queen of Farts
A California native, Wertz was born and raised in the Bay Area, where most of her early comics took place. She discovered graphic novels at her local library, and then started using the art form as a way of expressing her woes, her victories, and her insights as a young woman–all while struggling with chronic illness.
The Fart Party was her first serialized comic strip, which she worked on while living in both San Francisco and New York. Her love for both of these cities (but especially the latter) is always apparent, yet often in the gnarliest of ways—seldom have I been able to laugh at drunk cat-callers the way I do with her depictions of them. The thing about Wertz is she’s done what many creators fail to do, which is blend good writing with a kickass sense of humor. She’s incredibly real and cynical without steeping too much in self-pity, which results in an awesome style of storytelling that’s inspiring to read. I’ve yet to find material that’s quite as relatable as Wertz’s, and if you’re also a young artist trying to find a sense of purpose and direction in the absurd reality we live in, then you’ll probably find a home in her work, too.
Wertz’s Work
Unfortunately, The Fart Party is hard to find these days since it went out of print, and was never really uploaded on the internet. Thankfully, though, a printed collection of these comics will be coming out on March 22nd of this year. Another collection was released in 2014, but it’s not as “definitive” as this version. I’m personally very excited to read Museum since I haven’t laid my eyes on these comics since I was a preteen.
As said preteen, I also read Drinking at the Movies, one of Wertz’s graphic novels that taught me what a specific sex position was (and gave my mother a heart attack as she realized I now had that word in my vocabulary). As her first graphic novel, this book tackled the reasons why she moved to New York, and the sorts of things she grappled with while living there, from finding steady work to dealing with New Yorkers, in all their heinous glory.
Her following graphic novel, The Infinite Wait, is a collection of three stories. The first is a recollection of every crappy job she’s had, until finally finding her stride as a cartoonist. The second is about her finally starting to live an independent life in San Francisco, only to be diagnosed with lupus, and how both of these things led to her finding comics. The last story is a love letter to her hometown’s library, and every little detail she’s collected about it over the years.
Both novels are incredibly fun to read, as well as soulful and down-to-earth. I find that sometimes, graphic novels can get a little lost in the abstract art-sauce, but Wertz’s work has always felt incredibly accessible and easy to connect with.
That said, her most recent work, Tenements Towers and Trash, is a stark departure from her usual fare. In her personal life, she often enjoys sketching buildings and streets, as well as abandoned and odd places, and in the case of Tenements, she’s collected many of these sketches to bring a streetwise history of New York to life. From the history of very specific lamps, to the touristification of Times Square, Tenements succeeds in making the reader fond of, and familiar with, New York in a way they may have never felt before. At least, that’s how I felt, having little to no knowledge of the city.
What’s Next?
For a good long while, Wertz was creating comics for The New Yorker, which can all be found here. But in a recent Instagram post, she announced that she’d won a Koyama grant—a high honor in the comics world, as well as a personal one, since she’d worked with arts philanthropist Annie Koyama in the past. Wertz is going to use this grant to give her more time to focus on herself, since the pandemic pushed back various projects of hers while also adding a whole new level of difficulty to caring for her new baby.
Such projects include a book about her quitting alcohol and “joining the real world” (which is slated to come out this year–yay!), and a book about her leaving NYC and moving back to California, where she’d eventually become a first-time mother. I’m personally very excited for both of these projects, and also for Wertz, now that she has the time and money to focus on these things at her own pace.
I find that these days, it’s especially difficult for young artists to feel as though they have their footing in the world, which is why I’m always delighted for a chance to share Wertz and her work with others. Godspeed all you interested parties, and I hope your trip to the bookstore is a good one.
(Featured image: Atomic Books)
Published: Mar 1, 2022 01:23 pm