The Woodchipper

by Joe Ollmann, Tom Devlin (Editor)

An award-winning cartoonist confronts anxiety and regret

A long-time city maintenance worker keeps pulling an accident-prone newbie’s fat out of the fire or maybe in this case, an arm and another arm and a leg out of the woodchipper. What happens when NOTHING HAPPENS? Can a disaster averted still be a disaster?

In “Nestled All Snug,” frazzled bookstore clerk Sasha prepares to close the store and head home to watch Hallmark Christmas specials after a fight with her boyfriend means she’s home alone for the holidays. Hmm, that stack of boxes outside the bathroom seems a little precarious. Maybe Sasha will do returns when she gets back to work post-holidays. FWUMP FWUMP FWUMP. Guess someone is going to regret leaving their phone by the register before going to the bathroom.


In The Woodchipper, Joe Ollmann, cartoonist of the groundbreaking Governor General Award finalist Fictional Father, returns with a suite of comic short stories focused on his trademark nervous wreck characters caught in a series of escalating personal disasters. Everybody’s doing their best. Everybody’s just trying to get through the day.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Short Stories, Sequential Art, Fiction, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics

216 pages, Paperback

Published February 3, 2026

About the author

Joe Ollmann lives in Hamilton, the Riviera of Southern Ontario. He is the winner of the Doug Wright Award for Best Book in 2007 and loser of the same award another time.

Reviews

[John Schorg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly resonant book about people often overlooked in any sort of writing. While the general themes focus on escalating shit-shows, it is likely that you will think more about the depictions of people like security guards and small business owners and how they get through their day-to-day lives.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I inhaled this and all I want is more. Never thought it would be a short story anthology graphic novel that would be the first thing I’d read in a long time that’d make me laugh out loud (literally), give me chills, make me feel seen *and* toss me into an ocean of ennui, but here we are. I love each and every one of these stories for entirely different reasons and I already know I’m going to be thinking about these for a long time to come

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique snippets of people's mundane lives and their interesting circumstances. I liked the bleak themes mixed in with humor and saturated colors.
I think the endings are plenty satisfying, despite his intro saying he worries a little that the readers might not think so. I would like to check out other comics by Joe in the future.
This isn't a 5 stars for me because that's reserved for books that I anticipate revisiting more often, but I am definitely glad I read this.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Woodchipper (2026) by Canadian alt-comixer Joe Ollmann is the fifth book I've read by him, and he's still in his peak form as an artist. As if it were a rejoinder to a critic of his sadsack work, he titled one collection Happy Stories About Well-Adjusted People, which is of course fake news (or, a funny joke), cuz Ollmann mainly creates portraits of unhappy, maladjusted people. Two long form portraits include Fictional Father, and the Abominable Mr. Seabrook, and these guys are, well, kinda abominable. He prefers short form works, such as this collection that feature sad, grumpy people that he nevertheless loves. And helps us care about. And laugh about/at/with them.

I sometimes think when I read Ollmann of Laurel And Hardy, who came to fame during the Depression as sadscack guys, screw-ups, seen empathetically too as sweet, funny guys, though they are also partly responsible for their travails. Ollmann is in the alt comix tradition of Harvey Pekar, Crumb, writing about/embodying grumpy, sometimes offensive guys , every day workign schlepps. In our times, working class guys on the fringe neee a little sympathy.

Another thing it reminded me of: Sideways, with Paul Giamatti as Miles Raymond, who says, "Half my life is over and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing. I'm a thumbprint on the window of a skyscraper. I'm a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage." giamatti could play any of Ollman's guys in a film.

*The first story, also the book's title, The Woodchipper, has nothing to do with Fargo or mutiliation. And everything about it, in a way. It's about a city worker with PTSD who worries someone is going to get mutilated in a woodchipper, who kind of falls apart abotu it all. And as he admits, "notjing happens," though a lot does. Great story. My fave here.

"Nestled All Snug" - A bookstore employee gets stuck in the bathroom on Christmas Eve. Nothing much happens. Less good than the first story as the resolution is just okay. Nothing happens, again, but we get to know her less well than the guy in the previous story.

"The Late Check Out" - A schleppy guy uses some of his mother's inheritance to buy a rental property that he leases to a guy who commits suicide there, maybe ruining his business. Schemes, dreams: Creamed.

"The Thought That Counts" focuses on a guy who works in a video store, helping host a party for his academic wife's end of the year party for her students and colleagues. He is jealous of one handsome colleague, he's insecure. But he also loves his wife, whom we otherwise see as kinda unlovable.

These stories may not be for everyone, there are no heroes here, they are all deeply flawed characters, but I dug them.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe Ollmann is such an underrated cartoonist but hopefully "The Woodchipper" changes that. This collection of short comics is maybe his best work yet, so confident and funny and beautifully drawn. I feel like a lot of cartoonists love to tell stories about losers and sad sacks because they enjoy the visceral, passing-by-a-car-crash thrill of their escapades but Ollman seems to have a really genuine affection for his put upon characters. It makes them very easy to root for, even when they're making bad decisions or setting themselves up for failure. I enjoyed the hell out of "The Woodchipper" and I could definitely see myself revisiting these wonderfully nuanced characters regularly.

FAVORITES:
"The Woodchipper" - A city worker finds himself debilitated by PTSD after a near-miss accident on the job
"Nestled All Snug" - A bookstore employee becomes trapped in the restroom at work on Christmas Eve
"The Late Check Out" - An aspiring real estate mogul's elaborate financial plan begins to unravel when a renter commits suicide in one of his properties

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the rather ominous looking cover and title, these anecdotes are deceptively simple looks at people leading everyday lives . . . no disfiguring or dismemberment involved. I found them to be involving and enjoyable, and I'll be seeking out the author's first book - Fictional Father.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very well illustrated graphic novel filled with short stories. Of the stories there were two I liked the one about the girl being trapped in the bathroom during Christmas was my favorite. Some of them fell a bit flat for me thus giving me the three star rating, but overall the artist had a great sense of detail and also had a great storytelling mind.

[Bob K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really excellent series of engaging short stories told in comic book form. They're all everyday people in what start out as fairly ordinary existences but from there it all tends to unravel. While their circumstances become unusual, it examines the challenges and compromises in today's modern world in a way only this form of writing (and drawing) can.

[Blane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ollmann depicts average people going about their average lives--which in the 21st century means anxiety, lots of it--in this superb graphic short story collection. Capitalism, greed, and worker exploitation prominently lurk around every corner to amplify that anxiety. For the most part, no one dies.

It's a cliche, but "I could not put this one down."

[Margaret Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Chris Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. Great collection of stories. I've only read one other book by Ollmann, need to get to more.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good artwork and interesting premises but the resolutions to each story are not quite to my taste.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked these stories and peeks into these characters lives. I love the cute little details included in the inside cover drawings as well!

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are, as a set, the most anxious stories I have ever read. It’s all people waiting for the axe to fall.

[Drew Canole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This makes four 5-star books in a row by Ollmann! (According to me)

This collection of 5 short stories is fantastic.

[Kiki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the biggest fan, honestly. Most of the stories felt too long — interesting in places, but they dragged overall. Meat especially felt endless, and the ending didn’t really land for me. I did enjoy The Late Checkout, though. (And no, Napoleon wasn’t guillotined — he died in exile on his island.) That said, I do appreciate that it’s set in Canada!