The Fart Party, Vol. 2

Blogger Julia Wertz's second book of illustrations chronicles her move from California to New York with sharp one-liners and a quirky eye.

Author of the blog with the giggle-worthy name FartParty.org, Julia Wertz documents the (non)events of her life with biting sarcasm and touching honesty. In this second collection pulled from both her Web site and her never-before-printed stock, she hilariously chronicles the end of a long-distance relationship and her spontaneous move to Brooklyn, NY, after trekking across the States in a primary narrative broken up by oddball, and often morbidly funny, vignettes.Rather than a graphic novel, Fart Party is a series of mini-comics, meaning each page is its own story-a perfect medium for an artist with one-liners as sharp as Wertz's. She showcases her absurdist sense of humor in strips like "The Magic School Bus Gets Motherfucking Real," where the main character of the children's-book series The Magic School Bus "goes to Iraq and blows shit up" and "becomes a junkie and turns out alright," and "Creative Ways to Open a Wine Bottle," in which Wertz features breaking the bottle and filtering the glass as a prime bottle-opening method. Wertz has a gift for relating humdrum feelings in a way that is poignantly articulate, such as her seemingly constant struggle with her sense of artistic inadequacy and the imaginary "Black Hole of Self Loathing" that she falls into. Her nostalgic series of drawings of her favorite places in San Francisco and her open discussion on the increasing violence in her neighborhood also give Wertz an emotional depth that is deeply sincere. Undeniably quirky and ironically mature, Wertz is an amazing host for any and every "Fart Party" she sees fit to draw.