Review by Frank Plowright
Flick though Museum of Mistakes and the art will register as crude, and it devolves even further for a selection of strips featuring creator Julia Wertz on tour, but to dismiss Museum of Mistakes on that basis alone would be a major mistake in itself. Wertz has a unique viewpoint and little in the way of a filter, and that combination results in strips that can be hilarious or poignant and affecting. Along with the energy, honesty and great comedy timing, it makes Wertz’s strips worth your time.
Her caustic observations and revelations about her life first appeared online as The Fart Party, an explanation of the title provided in the introduction, along with a regretful look back at the dissolute behaviour of her early twenties and a new title reflecting that.
The primal and energetic scrawled rush of the strips is another regret the older Wertz has, bemoaning the lack of effort she put in, but that’s part of the attraction as her younger self sounds off against the world. These are comics that only Wertz could produce, requiring her worldview and personality, and the sample spread airs the two primary sides of her character. One is a nihilistic reinterpretation of the standard four panel newspaper gag strip, while the other is charmingly sentimental. Both feature Oliver, her boyfriend of the time, and main sounding board, punching bag and shoulder to cry on. The ups and downs of their relationship form the background to a large quantity of the content, yet only briefly sink into maudlin reminiscence, as no matter what she’s going through Wertz has an instinctive editorial judgement.
That’s not to say she doesn’t occasionally drop into self-indulgence. A tour diary of comic shows sees the art devolve to almost stick figure level, and a series of poorly-drawn views of San Francisco may be included for the sake of completeness, but they’re not what anyone will remember Wertz for. Still, a collection running over five hundred pages can more than afford to let lesser strips sink among the massive quantity of material that does hit the mark. Recollections of a childhood that sometimes seems as if social work intervention was required are straightforward gag strips, while there’s a fair amount of genuine pain on offer. This is noted in the introduction, and might pass by as individual strips on their way to a punchline.
Wertz doesn’t always provide the most linear extrapolation, with a section concerning a move that’s suddenly to Brooklyn when preparations have been made for Portland initially puzzling, but the honesty, polished way with a joke and finely honed observations make for a winning experience.
A third Fart Party collection was intended, and it accounts for the additional material supplied here, over 70 pages of it before assorted sketches, collaborations, earlier strips, and most surprisingly a section on technique. It’s not a direct continuation of the autobiographical strips, which is found as Drinking at the Movies, but a random selection of strips produced between 2007 and 2014. This isn’t a drawer clearing exercise, but more of the same quality, including heartfelt admissions, not least a comment about attending rehab passed off as a joke. See Julia attempt to explain the concept of wi-fi to her mother over two pages! Eavesdrop on people talking about her comics! Hear the speculation about other activities that might be combined with sex to make it even better! There’s even a colour section.
There’s barely a page without an original thought or observation, and so much is screamingly funny. If you’ve never come across Wertz you owe yourself this.
