From the Archives: The Fart Party

Before leaving Honolulu I found myself spending a lot of time drinking away the sad and surfing the internet (much, um, much like now, in Seattle, but I, uh, wear pants instead of shorts[?]), and I happened to stumble across The Fart Party, an autobiographical comic written and drawn by Julia Wertz. The Fart Party manages to come across as both remarkably vulgar and deeply touching. (I'm reminded of the later work of R. Crumb, but I know next to nothing about comic art, and I did just see a retrospective, so likely I'm just full of it.) Wertz presents comics that are either fully fleshed out and beautifully minimal or quick stylized stick figure vignettes, that, while "easy" succeed due to her impeccable sense of framing and narrative. (To clarify, that means that they are not "easy" at all, and are just as enjoyable as her more "formal" work.)

When I first discovered the Fart Party, I literally read through the entire site in one sitting, absolutely unable to get enough, and deeply saddened when I was done. Wertz, as portrayed in her comics, is the type of person that you can imagine becoming fast friends with. An accomplished drinker with a highly developed sense of pathos, as well as a delightfully self deprecating sense of humor, an (apparent) unabashed fondness for poo, a filthy mouth, and, above all, a good heart. All of this combines in The Fart Party to create a wonderful, hilarious, and readable comic. What am I talking about? It's just fucking hilarious. Go buy the book from Amazon (now!) and read it every day at fartparty.org (even though it's apparently only updated "thrice weekly", but you should still check in. Just in case.)

Of the comics below, I can immediately relate to both of them; especially drunk email (seriously -- breathalyzer; how hard could that be?), drunk dialing your mother (shockingly this has never happened -- on accident. [cringe]), and reflecting on major life changes and the manner that it relates to who you are as a person. See, you can laugh and your heart can break a little, and sometimes at the same time.