Julia Wertz
{{Short description|American cartoonist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image = Julia wertz.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Wertz reading at Union Hall in Brooklyn, 2013
| birth_name = Julia Wertz
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1982|12|29}}
| birth_place = San Francisco Bay Area
| death_date =
| death_place =
| cartoonist = y
| writer = y
| notable works = Impossible People
| influences =
| parents =
| website = {{url|juliawertz.com}}
}}
Julia Wertz (born December 29, 1982) is an American cartoonist, writer and urban explorer.
Cartooning career
Wertz was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. She made her name with a comic strip titled The Fart Party, which Atomic Books anthologized in two volumes in 2007 and 2009. Soon after the strip's success, she retired The Fart Party, claiming she was unaware of its impending significance at the time of its creation.[http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/03/15/julia-wertzs-fart-party-blows-away-museum-of-mistakes-steps-in/ "Julia Wertz's Fart Party blows away; Museum of Mistakes steps in"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822153721/http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/03/15/julia-wertzs-fart-party-blows-away-museum-of-mistakes-steps-in/ |date=August 22, 2011 }}. Comics Beat. March 15, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2011. Wertz subsequently moved her online operations to the [http://www.juliawertz.com/ Museum of Mistakes] site, where a few old Fart Party strips exist in the archive.
In 2010, Random House published Drinking at the Movies, Wertz's first full-length graphic memoir. Against the backdrop of her move from San Francisco to New York, the book details serious issues, such as a family member's battle with substance abuse and her own alcoholism, with trademark wit and self-effacement. The Los Angeles Times called Drinking at the Movies a "quiet triumph"Ulin, David L. [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-julia-wertz-20100829,0,4903776.story "Book review: 'Drinking at the Movies' by Julia Wertz"]. August 29, 2010. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 18, 2011. and critic Rob Clough, in The Comics Journal, said Wertz had "brilliant old-school comic strip timing."Clough, Rob. [http://classic.tcj.com/alternative/bottled-up-drinking-at-the-movies/ "Bottled Up: Drinking at the Movies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110513232246/http://classic.tcj.com/alternative/bottled-up-drinking-at-the-movies/ |date=May 13, 2011 }}. September 4, 2010. The Comics Journal. Retrieved July 18, 2011. Drinking at the Movies was nominated for a 2011 Eisner Award in the Best Humor Publication category.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110414055826/http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/04/08/2011-eisner-award-nominations-announced "2011 Eisner Award Nominations Announced"]. April 8, 2011. MTV Geek. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
In September 2012, Koyama Press published The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, a collection of Wertz's short comic stories, which was nominated for an Eisner Award in the Best Reality Based Work category.{{cite web|title=The Infinite Wait and Other Stories|url=http://koyamapress.com/projects/the-infinite-wait-and-other-stories/|publisher=Koyama Press|access-date=October 23, 2012|archive-date=December 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210015856/http://koyamapress.com/projects/the-infinite-wait-and-other-stories/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=CR Sunday Interview: Julia Wertz|url=http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_interview_julia_wertz/|publisher=The Comics Reporter|author=Tom Spurgeon|author-link=Tom Spurgeon|date=October 21, 2012}} In 2014, Atomic Books released Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection, which anthologized Wertz's early books, plus new and extra material.{{cite web|title=Interview with Julia Wertz|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/12/05/staying-out-of-trouble-an-interview-with-julia-wertz|website=the Paris Review|date=December 5, 2014 }} Her books have been translated into many languages.
From 2010 to 2012, Wertz was part of Pizza Island,{{cite web|title=Pizza Island|url=http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/pizza-island-2011-4|website=New York Magazine|access-date=March 18, 2014|archive-date=December 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208154943/http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/pizza-island-2011-4/|url-status=dead}} a Greenpoint studio consisting of cartoonists Sarah Glidden, Lisa Hanawalt, Domitille Collardey, Karen Sneider, Kate Beaton and Meredith Gran.
In 2015, Wertz started a monthly comics series for The New Yorker, about lesser-known historical events and facts about New York City, which appear online and in print.{{cite magazine|title=New Yorker Contributors|url=http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/julia-wertz|magazine=The New Yorker}} as well as a monthly illustration series of cityscapes for Harper's Magazine. Those pieces were eventually expanded to make the book Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City, published by Black Dog & Leventhal/Hachette in 2017, for which Wertz won the [https://www.mas.org/events/celebrating-city-2018-mas-awards/ 2018 Brendan Gill Prize] Her work for the New Yorker expanded to autobiographical comics and still run once a month. In 2023, Wertz released Impossible People; A Completely Average Recovery Story, published by Black Dog & Leventhal/Hachette. She has been a MacDowell residency fellow two times (2016 and 2018).
After spending a decade in New York City, Wertz moved back to Northern California in 2016 where she lives with her partner Oliver, and their son Felix. She also runs [http://www.adventurebibleschool.com/ Adventure Bible School], a blog about urban exploring.[http://www.adventurebibleschool.com/ Adventure Bible School]
Books
- The Fart Party, vol. 1, Atomic Books, 2007 ({{ISBN|978-0-9786569-3-5}})
- The Fart Party, vol. 2, Atomic Books, 2009 ({{ISBN|978-0-9786569-4-2}})
- Drinking at the Movies, Random House, 2010 ({{ISBN|978-0-307-59183-8}})
- translated as Entre Umas E Outras, Nemo, 2016. ({{ISBN|978-85-8286-298-8}})
- translated as Drinking at the Movies: Un anno a New York, Eris Edizioni, 2017. ({{ISBN|9788898644438}})
- translated as Whiskey & New York, L'Agrume, 2016 ({{ISBN|979-10-90743-52-6}})
- The Infinite Wait, Koyama Press, 2012 ({{ISBN|978-0-9879630-2-4}})
- translated as L'attente infinie, L'Agrume, 2015. ({{ISBN|979-10-90743-28-1}})
- translated as The Infinite Wait, Eris Edizioni, 2018. ({{ISBN|9788898644537}})
- Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection, Uncivilized Press, 2023 ({{ISBN|978-1941250464}})
- translated as Le Musée de Mes Erreurs, L'Agrume 2023 ({{ISBN| 9782490975143}})
- Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2017 ({{ISBN|978-0316501217}})
- translated as Les Entrailles de New York, L'Agrume 2018 ({{ISBN|9791090743922}})
- translated as Barrios, Bloques y Basura Errata Naturae Editores 2018 ({{ISBN|8417800506}})
- Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2023 ({{ISBN|978-0-7624-6825-6}})
- translated as Los incorregibles Errata Naturae Editores 2024({{ISBN|978-84-19158-79-6}})
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.adventurebibleschool.com/ Adventure Bible School]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wertz, Julia}}
Category:Alternative cartoonists
Category:American female comics artists
Category:American comics writers
Category:American female comics writers
Category:People from Napa, California
Category:Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:The New Yorker people
Category:American editorial cartoonists