Wendy's Revenge

by Walter Scott

Wendy was at a crossroads, but the next chapter of her adventures sees her leave Montreal and head west to Vancouver, then to Toronto, and finally to Los Angeles. Filled with sardonic wit and ample realness, Wendy has her eyes set on the art world and she's out for revenge.

Walter Scott is an artist from Montreal, Quebec. His work has been exhibited across Canada and Wendy has been serialized on Random House Canada's literary digital magazine Hazlitt. The eponymous first volume of Wendy was released in 2014 and was nominated for the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Bande Dessinée, Art, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Canada

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2016

About the author

Walter Scott is an interdisciplinary artist working with writing, illustration, performance and sculpture. In 2011 while living in Montreal, he began a comic book series, Wendy, exploring the narrative of a fictional young woman living in an urban centre, who aspires to global success and art stardom but whose dreams are perpetually derailed. The position of the outsider and shape shifter is central to this body of work and the influence of feminist icons such as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde or artist, punk poet, experimental novelist and filmmaker Kathy Acker lingers. Recent exhibitions include Fictive Communities, Koganecho Bazaar, Yokohama, Japan 2014, Pre-Existing Work, Macaulay & Co. Fine Art, Vancouver 2015, and Stopping the Sun in Its Course, Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles 2015.

Based on research in the AGO’s archives, Scott wrote fictions around the works in the collection to create new performances and installations during his residency.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume of Scott's Wendy series was the last one I read since it was out-of-print. Thankfully it's back in print by D+Q this time.

If you've read any book from this series, you have an idea of what to expect. In this book struggling artist Wendy moves to Vancouver to escape the drinking scene of Montreal. She's all alone and attempts to get into the local art scene.

I love the depiction of millennial culture and all the struggles Wendy goes through is familiar.

There's a rather long chapter that is presented in Japanese text + images on the left page with a translation on the right page. The chapter was originally presented in a Tokyo art show. It's an interesting experiment, but it would have been better to just swap the Japanese lettering with English.

I'm excited to see what Walter Scott does next. The Wendy trilogy is hilarious and up there with Simon Hanselman’s Megg, Mogg, & Owl series for the best humour comics around today.

[Big Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

More ups and downs in the life of the art scene’s hottest mess, Wendy. In this collection, she experiences a psychological breakdown (delivered in a cryptic Kathy Acker-esque monologue), travels to Japan, and teams up with her old enemy to take down some art industry creeps. This collection also feature more Winona (yay!), a mixed-media artist who struggles to have her art career take off after returning home to the rez. This collection wasn’t quite as laugh-out-loud funny as the first, but it was still a treat to return back to this cast of characters.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back on her bullshit (but better)

[Sally Elhennawy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most relatable part of this was the panel of Wendy lying on the couch with her phone, as books by Maggie Nelson and Hilton Als decorate her surroundings (presumably as yet unread but perhaps I’m projecting)!

[Sam Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The evisceration of the Vancouver toxic tender archetype was some of my favourite satire ever. Honourable mention to useless urban person too! Also Kathy Acker subplot?!! Walter Scott is a genius!

[H.L.H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fave of the 3

[suzanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

kind of obsessed w her

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think very few people and things get it the way Walter Scott and Wendy get it.

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn I love this series. Can't wait for the continuation!

[Tamsin Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Wendy Master of Art. But I lol’d pretty hard at the cutaway titled USELESS URBAN PERSON. That was great.

[Summer House · Rating 3 out of 5]

walter, lemme know if you want any estrogen

[kate elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

now, usually I have grievances with people named wendy. but this book was fucking hilarious and wendy is my idol now. i really enjoyed walter scott’s writing and the art made it x10000 more hilarious. super fun read and I loved the inclusion of indigenous characters and the setting of Vancouver and Toronto. very very good

[michal k-c · Rating 3 out of 5]

a pretty bleak first act (doesn't mean not good), a fairly tiresome transliteration gimmick, reused bits (the screamo section), and some great reservation scenes make for a pretty mixed bag but this volume is still pretty tight. doesn't really touch the highs of the first volume imo

[Cla Ire · Rating 5 out of 5]

we are all wendy tbh

[Janine Dukelow]

Very funny!

[Romane Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

what is spy-core? what is the conspiracy about lorde? how do i become a griller girl?

[rachel weisz as evelyn o'connell in the mummy (1999) · Rating 4 out of 5]

the "make therapy appointment" reminder and asking which grad school she should apply to ... so true wendy slayy

[Honore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I so loved the first book in the series and am shocked that this one dropped off so much for me. This volume lacked the subtle illustration shifts to convey emotion. The existential story about the missing art work was not honed in enough for me. The section in Japanese with the translation on a black page felt like a lot of work for no pay off. The worst offense this book made was using a Scremo vinaigrette that was almost panel for panel identical to one from the first volume. You remember? The one where he want to have sex with a co-worker who ends up bringing a girl over to hang out so he leave and settles for his blonde curly haired friend? The characters and most of the situation are identical in both volumes. Lame!

[Daniel J. Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

So amazing. Read it in one go. Nails life in Vancouver, Yokohama and on the rez in one very funny graphic novel.

[Hannah Garden]

[hearts for eyes emoji]

[Tara McGowan-Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

At a book club I lead, where we were reading the third and most recent Wendy book (Wendy, Master of Art), one of the attendees mused that there is a little Wendy in all of us. As an only recently sober, often-dysfunctional, self-important multidisciplinary artist, in my twenties, who lives in an art loft in Montreal, I can't help but feel there is slightly more Wendy in me than the average person. This was reinforced when, as the character of Screamo was introduced, I chuckled to myself about how much he reminded me of one of my closest friends. Moments later, having seen a post about my reading and enjoying that book on instagram, that same friend messaged me:

you know that Screamo is based on me, right?

... and still, the reads kept coming. My friend with a psychology degree mused to me once that people with low self-esteem will consider negative feedback as inherently more honest and worth hearing than positive feedback. Wendy is not a straight-through sympathetic character: she is self-indulgent and usually has a black hole where her discipline should be. She's smart, but also cares too much about being smart, and more so about being perceived as smart. In Wendy's Revenge we see the first real adult moves of her art career being made: Machiavellian politics, grade-school social hierarchies, wacky hijinks, and all. She is foolish and silly, but also brave and honest and vulnerable. I'm so completely in love. I feel like I have been seen in the same way I do when a friend tells an extremely relatable, often embarrassing, ultimately heroic tale (preferably over a pack of cigarettes on some fire escape, somewhere). I feel seen like when I read a rude, true astrology take, and even though I'm too grounded to believe in astrology (typical Taurus!), I still examine my behaviour. I want more. I want more, forever.

[Nick Carraway LLC · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) "'I'm working towards a psychology degree to become a therapist.'
'COOL. SO YOU CAN TELL ME WHY MY LIFE IS SUCH A DISASTER.'
'Haha!'
'"LOL"'"

2) "'OMG HAHA - Did you just take a pic of me?
'Oh HAY, I look pretty cute. Can you post that to fb?'
'Ok yeah, I'll post it later or something.'
'POST IT NOW'
'Okay! God.'
[later]
[Wendy commented on your photo]
'LOL OMG I LOOK SO AWKWARD HAHA!'"

3) "'The internet is an indispensable resource for all of that French philosophy that your smarter friends seem to effortlessly inject into their artistic practice.'"

4) "'I shouldn't have to take her abuse. I should stand up for myself for once.
'So fucking what if I burn bridges. Maybe I'm not meant to be an artist ANYWAY.
'Maybe I'm supposed to be marginal and miserable and broke FOREVER.'
'Isn't the water great?'
'IT'S SO RELAXING!'"

5) "'Well, you seem pretty laissez-faire considering the looming potential to destroy our own lives.'
'If by 'laissez-faire' you mean a hollowed-out, shallow, directionless husk, then sure. Sure am.'"

[MundiNova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wendy makes me feel like a better person.

Better than Wendy at least.

This is a fun, satirical look into the art world that will have you laughing at (and judging) Wendy and her friends. I first found Wendy on a trip to Toronto. I'm so glad to see that her adventures have continued and I can emotionally capture a little bit of that vacation again.

The art is simple and rough at times, but some of the choices Scott makes are kinda genius. Like how Wendy's eyes change depending on the situation. Or how the change in story structure introduces little asides that somehow also contribute to a larger whole. Well done all around!

Wendy's procrastination is our procrastination. But her self-loathing is her own.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

THESE BOOKS ARE SO GOOD. I WANT A MILLION MORE OF THEM. I was honestly worried the sequel wasn't going to be as good as the first but IT IS BETTER. Scott goes in even deeper on Wendy-- she grows up a lot, becomes much more self-aware, shrugs off the bullshit of her (increasing amount of) past lives. It is such a blast to watch this character evolve. She is so real, very often uncomfortably so.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious look at a half outsider, half hipster artist that is just clearly misunderstood by her peers. An acute look at the art world and millennials trying to navigate their way around it and life in general. Scott's art was original, and I loved how he set-up the reads for the Tokyo section. Super cool read.

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both of the Wendy books didn't do much for me in the first third but then they start really charming me by the second half hence my ratings that are always in the middle. I think Scott is a really good cartoonist and I love his expressiveness. I loved the visual choice for the translated pages, though after about 10 pages it gets kinda exhausting, but I guess it's the point.

[Megan Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely obsessed with Art Hag Wendy's exploits. Scott plays with structure in a series of really engaging ways, including a manga set-up complete with panel translations to reflect a time Wendy goes to Japan for a residency. A laugh-out-loud skewer of the art world that manages to have depth beyond parody. I can't wait to get my hands on the other Wendy books.

[Anny Doodle Bug]

As the youngest sibling of a professional book seller older brother, I have been smuggled dozens of graphic novels long before Scott Pilgrim was even a film.

Wendy is my forever favorite. This series continues to bring me such sincere and surprising humor — taking the edge off better than nicotine and 8 hours of sleep combined.

[Glen Farrelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much! I regularly encounter people like those depicted in this book and it's hilariously cathartic to realize I'm not the only one to find such insanity (and humour) in the arts world.

[Chelsea Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is wacky! I really liked the parts in Japan where Wendy's comics are subtitled in English on the lefthand side - I don't know if that was because they were actually published in Japanese and this was a way to amend them easily or if that is just a creative touch.