Bury Me Already (It's Nice Down Here): Comics on Pregnancy and Parenthood

by Julia Wertz

Achingly tender and absurdly funny, Bury Me, Already (It's Nice Down Here), by acclaimed graphic memoirist Julia Wertz (Impossible People), chronicles pregnancy and motherhood during challenging times. After being illegally evicted from her basement studio in Brooklyn, Julia returns to Northern California with plans to head to Los Angeles to pursue a different career path. But when she reunites with her family and rekindles a relationship with an ex-boyfriend, she discovers that her vision of the future might not be what she really wants. After a surprise pregnancy and a marriage proposal, Julia settles into quiet life in a small town. But as 2020 approaches, her world—and the world around her— takes sharp turn towards unexpected chaos. Julia’s story of pregnancy, miscarriage, the pandemic, wildfires, a family crisis, a traumatic birth, new motherhood, marriage, and a life-altering event is a heart-wrenching, tender, and hilarious story of resilience, adversity, and, ultimately, love. 

Genres: Comics, Memoir, Graphic Novels, Parenting, Humor, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2026

About the author

Julia Wertz is a professional cartoonist, amateur historian, and part-time urban explorer. She made the comic books The Fart Party vol 1 and vol 2 (collected in Museum of Mistakes) and the graphic novels Drinking at the Movies, The Infinite Wait, Tenements, Towers, & Trash, (for which she won the 2018 Brendan Gill Prize), and Impossible People. She does regular short story comics for the New Yorker. Her work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, the Believer, the Best American Comics, and other publications. Her photography of abandoned places has appeared in a handful of newspapers. She is a repeated MacDowell fellow but was rejected from Yaddo. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she spent a decade in New York City before settling in Sonoma County, CA, with her partner Oliver (yup, the Oliver from Fart Party) and their son Felix. She’s currently working on the graphic novel Bury Me Already (It’s Nice Down Here) to be released in 2025.

Reviews

[kate j · Rating 5 out of 5]

in some cosmic stars aligning kind of event, i started this book the night before mother’s day.

i have nothing else to say other than i finished it just now and cried. julia wertz is so funny, and observant, and wise. i want to be a cartoonist.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

How many years have I been reading Wertz now?? Twenty?? That can't be right but I have been on board for a loooong time, she is one of my all-time top-five favorite cartoonists. Like a lot of people, I fell in love with her work because I identified so profoundly with her--young Julia is a foulmouthed fuck-up with a tough-guy exterior and a neurotic chaotic mush-center who's addicted to isolating but deeeeeply appreciates her friends and family, plus the substance abuse stuff and family trauma, her efforts to make sense of all that while trying not to be a huge bitch and/or insane all the time. She is so good at getting it all on the page, all the depth and goofiness of being a weird intense human, trying to balance the hurdles and the gifts, trudging the road, showing up for the work.
All of which is to say, I snarfed this book down like I always snarf her books down. I read her like I eat popcorn at the movie theatre which is to say HAND OVER FIST BABYY, and it just feels so good for my poor forlorn scrambled addled brain to sink into her incredibly clear and detailed cartooning and revel in the loveliness and ordinariness and nastiness and extraordinariness of these precious idiotic lives we lucked into, those of us who've made it this far with our beloved buds and bros.
Wertz is a master memoirist, toughminded and clear-eyed, sweet and tender and no-nonsense and with her eye on the prize--the decent existence, the life worth living, all the 9th step promises--and from what I can tell it makes her as five-star a Mom as it does a cartoonist, and I just really really really love to see it, each chapter as it unfolds. Beautiful work, as always. Beautiful, beautiful, stupid, disgusting stuff.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for myself for Mother's day (don't worry, I also got my mom a gift--she's just not into comics). Yet another addicting memoir from Julia Wertz, I couldn't put this down and mayyy have extended my work lunch by another hour just to keep reading. Wertz's writing style is just so silly yet heartfelt, and very approachable even when covering difficult topics.

[David Bruggink · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Impossible People, you’ll likely love this as well. You might notice the cover and spine and graced by an electric orange, which I can only assume is the color one begins to see after going without sleep for too long due to incessant infant crying. It’s extremely funny but also much more than that - a profound self reflection.
It chronicles the transcendent joy, pain, and humor of forcing, in Cronenberg-esque fashion, a creature out of one’s body. It balances the painful (e.g. a maddeningly impersonal first pediatrician visit that filled me with rage) with the hilarious and the poignant in a way that only the best graphic memoirs can. So good!

[Sophie McPartland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sort of dry wit that suggests it’s all perfectly manageable, really—provided you don’t think about it too much. Julia Wertz has a knack for observing life’s more chaotic edges and presenting them as if they’re mildly inconvenient rather than deeply absurd.
It’s quietly sharp, unexpectedly funny, and carries the comforting implication that everything is a bit of a mess—but at least we can be sardonic about it.
I felt seen!

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julia Wertz has always specialized in making profane (but hilarious!) I-can't-believe-she-went-there autobiographical comics about her addictions, her quirks, her mistakes, and her other shortcomings. She's always been a fearless cartoonist, arguably her greatest asset as an artist. Surely becoming a wife and mother would mellow her out a little, though, make her a bit more guarded, right? Hahahaha! Uh... no. If anything, Wertz goes even HARDER with "Bury Me Already (It's Nice Down Here): Comics On Pregnancy And Parenthood," a no-holds-barred catalog of all the indignities, anxieties, and dread that come with starting a family. If you're already a fan of Wertz, this book cements her status as one of the most unique voices in comics; if you're not a fan (I understand the criticism she gets for making some of her sketchy pieces but YOU try to make comics - a notoriously labor-intensive process - while wrangling a toddler and tell me how easy that is), "Bury Me Already" is kind of more of the same but it might surprise you with some of its depth. I'm in the former category and I couldn't put this book down. Any artist who opens herself and her life so fully to their reader deserves nothing less than my full attention.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I had my baby over 30 years ago, during a not so horrible fire season as it was in 2020, I can still fully relate to what the author went through in her latest biographical book. Have a baby during the worst fire season in California, until another one comes along, and at the height of the pandemic makes all the experiences she went through twice or thrice as bad.

And the author tells us all about it in great detail. I too remember the exhaustion of a new born, so I’m amazed that she was able to recall any of it. As well as the overwhelming need to just be there for the baby. The US just doesn’t care about women and babies. Maternity leave, what exists, is far too short, and there is no support system.

If you have been reading the author since Fart Party, or if you only know her from Impossible People,this book will blow your socks off. So much pain and humor wrapped up in one wonderful book. I won’t say I laughed until I cried, because I didn’t, but I did nod my head.

Even if you don’t have kids, and never plan to, this is well worth reading, and having.

This book is available wherever books are sold, and was published in April 2026.

[Jenny Laughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been following Julia’s comics for about 18 years now and I’ve loved everything she has created. I’m not sure if it’s the cumulative years of reading and loving her work, the fact that we’re close in age and I also had a kid 2 years ago, or the sheer force of her talent and the unique perspective with which she shares her life, but this is my absolute favorite of everything she’s published. The intersection of raw honesty and dark hilarious absurdity with just the right sprinkling of sentimentality and heart made this the exact book I had been longing for as a new-ish mom. I found myself sending panels to mom friends every night because it felt like Julia had tapped into something so universal about becoming a mother and the ensuing identity shift (not to mention all the sweet silliness and the never ending avalanche of poop). Just an absolute perfect pleasure of a book!

[Daisye Orr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will read anything by Julia Wertz (and I have). I am not a parent, but that didn't impact my enjoyment of this book at all. I laughed out loud several times (especially the pages featuring her mom which I DID relate to) and deeply felt many of the tender and difficult storylines. I also appreciated the description of life and healthcare during the pandemic.

Her graphic style is very enjoyable - easy to take in and also satisfyingly detailed. The amount of effort to create this book is astonishing to think about.

[Keiler Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this book. Bury Me Already is poignant, surprising, relatable, revealing, insightful, honest, and extremely funny. I love her drawing style. It sets the tone for her writing perfectly. Wertz explains things when needed, including why certain information is withheld. She’s able to describe the most painful points in life with just enough emotional distance to provide the reader with a sense of relief and faith in her ability to survive anything. I would recommend this book to parents and everyone else I know.

[Alec Longstreth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much. I could really relate to what Julia wrote/drew about raising small kids during the pandemic, moving to a new place, reconnecting with family, etc. I laughed and cried so much while reading this. Wertz remains one of my favorite autobio cartoonists. I hope she's got another ten books like this in her. I'll read and love them all.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't had a baby in the house for over 15 years and I've never been a mom, but still, I always look forward to a new Julia Wertz book. She nailed the ups and downs of having a baby and toddler and, although I couldn't directly relate to a lot of her situation, I appreciate how thoughtful - and funny - this book was. Glad to see she's still creating and evolving.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I give more than 5 stars?? Equal parts funny and moving, this is the rare book that literally made me both laugh and cry. The perfect book for me to read as a current toddler-parent, but I would recommend to all parents and non-parents alike.

[Kricket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolute winner from Julia Wertz. Sad and hard and true but also very, very funny: my favorite combo. Bonus: one of the comics mentioned a band called "Shannon & the Clams" and I liked the name so much I checked them out and have been listening all week.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes sad, but very funny. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the parenting things.

[Rowan Corpus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Wertz comic memoir!

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, funny book of comics on pregnancy and parenting and families and such. Episodic, personal. Lots of poop jokes.

[Pierrot Seban · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so funny and it makes you feel all the feelings and I'm crying. Great book.

[Lauren C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, funny, true, and heartbreaking. I've read every one of Julia's books and they are all works of genius.

[Margaret Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

After following Julia's work for over a decade, this felt like I was reading about my best friend. I laughed out loud, I cried. Always a true pleasure.

[KT]

enjoyed this a lot!!

[Ashlee H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is told from a series of illustrations of prebaby, baby, new life with baby from the author. There are some laughs and definitely relatable content. The author had her baby during the pandemic, and I had just had my middle one and returned from maternity leave before life as we knew it came to a halt. I think if you are a parent you will find the dark humor and wit relatable and along with all the bumps in the road of navigating a life with a baby. I like that the book was broken up into sections and told from a series of stories plus comic illustrations.

Thank you for the free copy from Workman Publishing @workmanpub in exchange for my review.