Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection

Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection cover

Before she published Drinking at the Movies and The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, Julia Wertz’s autobiographical comics were published as the “regrettably known” Fart Party.

The now-out-of-print first two Fart Party volumes, as well as material that would have made up a third book, all dating from 2005-2012, are now available as Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection. Also in the book are Wertz’s early work, before her style developed into the familiar, blocky, black-anchored panels; behind-the-scenes material, including sketches and process pages; and a scrapbook of fan letters and answers and short stories.

Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection cover

At 400 pages, it’s a lot to take in at once, but the format lends itself well to pick-up-and-put-down reading. The chronological look back is presented with recent context. I found it refreshing that Wertz, as a more mature artist, doesn’t cringe over or regret or edit her early work. It doesn’t reflect where she is now, but it can be insightful to dip into over a decade of moments and jokes. It’s the ephemeral that can be revelatory, because we don’t think about how we’re presenting it or recasting it to be memorable for the ages. It’s also obvious that someone would and should change a lot between their mid-20s and mid-30s.

There are a lot of preview pages for Museum of Mistakes: The Fart Party Collection at the author’s website.



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