The Infinite Wait

by Julia Wertz, Fay R. Ledvinka (Translator)

Se in Drinking at the Movies. Un anno a New York Julia Wertz raccontava le tragicomiche avventure del suo primo anno a New York, in The Infinite Wait racconta buona parte dei suoi primi trent’anni di vita attraverso i mille lavori che ha fatto, i libri e le biblioteche che ha amato e la gravissima malattia autoimmune che l’ha colpita a vent’anni. L’autrice racconta tutte quelle cose che fanno crescere un po’ alla volta: i primi lavoretti da bambina per comprarsi i dolcetti, la scoperta del suo talento da cameriera, le volte che è stata licenziata perché ha fatto casino. I posti in cui ha vissuto, con i momenti belli e quelli brutti, e per ogni città una biblioteca con i libri che l’hanno accompagnata: quelli che contengono mondi da esplorare, quelli in cui cercare risposte quando si hanno domande che non si riescono a fare a voce. E poi il Lupus Sistemico, una malattia che l’ha bloccata in casa per un lungo periodo e che però le ha fatto scoprire i fumetti rendendola quello che è oggi: una delle fumettiste indipendenti americane più amate proprio perché parla di se stessa, con autoironia e senza censura, raccontando con sincerità ogni situazione in cui si è trovata, sia quelle complicate che quelle più comiche o imbarazzanti.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Memoir, Graphic Novels Comics, Nonfiction, Comix, Bande Dessinée

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

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

[Greta G · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Infinite Wait and Other Stories Is Julia's graphic memoir in three parts.

The first story, “Industry,” is about her family, her student life, but mostly about her many jobs and her occupations in the restaurant business.
It also deals with her alcoholism.
The story is funny, relatable and charming, but I thought it was too long and repetitive.



The second story, “The Infinite Wait,” tells about Julia's diagnosis with a chronic auto-immune disease, Systemic Lupus (SLE). In the midst of Julia's struggle with this disease, she discovers comics and graphic novels.
It's the starting point of her new career as a cartoonist and comics writer.
This was my favorite story.




The third story, “A Strange and Curious Place,” is a love letter to her life of libraries and reading. It will appeal to everyone whose life is made up of reading.



This is definitely a book for the grownups. There is sexual content and alcohol abuse. The book is humorous, but the jokes are often rude and dark. Julia is unconventional and crass to the point of being misanthropic ; yet she is winsomely honest.
The book is rather text heavy for a graphic novel.

I had a problem with her drawings. The backgrounds of the illustrations seemed accomplished, but I thought she lacks skill in drawing persons and facial expressions. All characters in the book basically looked similar and somehow childish, which sometimes annoyed me.
While this is a graphic novel, in which the art is as important as the writing, I can't give it more than three stars, although I really enjoyed reading it.

[Josh Wertz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrible book full of loathsome characters.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year, Neil Gaiman gave an inspiring speech called "Make Good Art" in which he told graduating students that whatever happens to you in life - make good art. Though not connected to Gaiman and his speech in any way, Julia Wertz did just that when she was diagnosed with systemic lupus, an incurable autoimmune disease, and started to make comics. "The Infinite Wait and Other Stories" is Wertz's fourth comic book (The Fart Party Vols 1 and 2, Drinking at the Movies being the previous three) but the first to directly address her illness - and it's a fantastic book.

The title is deliberately lofty-sounding as the comic instead takes a breezy and defiantly unsentimental tone to talk about crappy jobs, discovering comics, becoming a comics artist herself, her illness, and her hometown library. While you might think that a memoir about such mundane topics from someone so young (Wertz is barely past 30) would be too self-centred to bother with, you'd be wrong. Everyone can write about their lives and nearly everyone doing it would bore you with their efforts - Wertz can write about her life and completely immerse you in it. Reading about Wertz's dishwashing jobs, waitressing, and teenage rebellion is the kind of material many people can relate to but few could write about in a way that's worth reading about.

And herein lies the reason this book is so brilliant: Wertz has lived a life less ordinary but the moments she chooses to write about are often the least exciting. Boring jobs, reading comics, libraries - this is a memoirist who stringently keeps the reader at arms' length while telling you about her personal life. But the experiences resonate with an honesty that is reflective in a way that many people in their 20s and 30s can relate to. Who didn't have crappy jobs growing up? Who doesn't feel miserable and disappointed with the state of their lives during this time? Underachievement? Who doesn't feel a nostalgia for their childhoods when all the time they are moving further away from it?

Moreover - and this quality might be more limited than the others - who doesn't hate being around people? Making friends, having a social life, dating, are all things Wertz dislikes and are viewpoints any bookish person can well understand. The feelings and experiences of this generation are plainly mapped onto Wertz's work but in a signature unserious way. Wertz is curmudgeonly but entertainingly so, presenting her disappointments, misanthropy, and misfortunes in funny, smart, and enjoyable stories that, what should be depressing subject matter, becomes the stuff of great comics.

Combining these stories with her own dramas that include substance abuse and addiction, a hilarious but mentally unstable father, and a successful career in comics written with her unique voice, makes for a thoroughly great read. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories is a frequently brilliant, often entertaining book that any fan of non-superhero comics would do well to check out.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Infinite Wait is divided into three short memoirs: One about jobs Julia Wertz has held, one about her lupus diagnosis, and a very brief one about her childhood love of books. These days I'm getting more into what Wertz is doing, so I enjoyed this, and I found it to be in line with her other books: If you liked those, you'll like this. But perhaps for the same reason, I was really struck by how repetitive her work is: The two longer pieces in this collection repeated each other and also, based on how often she referred to it, apparently repeated her first book(s), and both of the pieces were also somewhat repetitive with her earlier memoir Drinking at the Movies . So, I think it may be time for her to find some new material. In this book she alludes to wanting to write more directly about her alcoholism and recovery, but someone advises her to get some distance first. This was probably sage advice, but I can't help but feel Wertz has been circling this topic for a while now. If I'm honest I think a full book about the subject is what she needs to move forward as an author. But Wertz makes it clear in this book that when it comes to being a cartoonist she only does exactly what she wants, and I definitely respect that even if I don't always love it.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay SO i enjoyed Drinking at the Movies more, i really liked the format of 1-2 page anecdotes and it definitely made me laugh out loud a lot more. but The Infinite Wait and Other Stories brought a lot of different things to the table. it had the same Julia Wertz charm--cynical, pessimistic, shockingly detached from emotion--but it was more revealing and intimate, and possibly inadvertently. the three stories are about the jobs she's had in her life, her experience with lupus, and her relationship with libraries. the first story was interesting, but most of it felt redundant for someone who already read DatM because a lot of that info was in that graphic novel. the story about lupus was very interesting, though, because that's something that is hardly mentioned in DatM. the way Wertz presents her life is meant to be in this emotionally detached way, like i said earlier, but in doing that it revealed a lot more about Wertz and her personality and thought process and relationship with comics, which was both surprising and nice. i was going to give this collection 4 stars but had to bump it up to 5 after reading the last story about libraries because it was shockingly open and genuine and really emotionally honest. i *loved* getting to see how her relationships with libraries and reading ebbed and flowed and it acted as a perfect ending to the collection as a whole. i'm still exploring and finding my footing in the graphic novel world, but Julia Wertz continues to be my favorite cartoonist.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three memoir stories that are hard to put down, almost always entertaining. I''ll admit it took a bit of time to like Wertz. Her attractively titled memoir, Drinking at the Movies initially didn't appeal to me, as a kind of drunk twenties story. Her dark, smart ass humor was maybe initially too dark for me… but like a friend you meet, I got used to it, and now I like it, and see some warmth coming through, she's never nasty, especially as I see her engage in her wonderful relationship with her brother Josh (who's comments I also love on book jacket blurbs and Goodreads reviews). These two are funny, and should work together, somehow, as they are consistently good together in the stories Wertz relates. The first story is about jobs she had early in her life until she discovered comics writing, and this is familiar funny memoir territory, and consistently funny as Wertz depicts it. It works. And you know, you see drinking as a theme even in these young stories. Like it's always there, and inappropriate, and never glorified as really unproblematic.

The second story is like Drinking at the Movies, in a sense; it is Wertz talking about a serious health issue she has, and this time it is her incurable but treatable lupus, but not sentimentally or self-pityingly described. Again, it is how lupus helped her discovered comics, since she had to stay home sick for months and then not only read comics but began to draw them! This, the second story, on lupus, is the best story because it is honest and doesn't deny the real health problems and who she really is. She is consistently hard on herself and others equally.

The third story has almost no dark humor in it, so it is almost startling! This is the story of her life as a reader, and again, it is in part how she became a… comics reader, which unifies the collection. It's kind of love letter to books, yay.

I recommend it! Next for me, to go back to The Fart Party stories I have never read.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well of course this was going to get 5 stars.

I love Julia Wertz.

Julia Wertz is one possibility of what I could have been had I never gotten married and had kids, minus the cool indie cartooning career. I really get where she's coming from. I dig it, man.

This is a book made up of three stories. I liked them all, but my favorite was the last one. Then the second and then the first, but all of them get 5 stars. Julia Wertz is awesome at taking a rainy day and turning it into the most amusing, crappy rainy day ever. Thanks for publishing another great book, Julia!!!! Keep making comics and publishing them, okay? Great! THANKS!!!!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

3/2/23: still love this book.


Julia Wertz is one the alt-comics scene's latest success stories and not unlike Lynda Barry, it seemed to happen for her sort of by accident. I've only read one of her previous books before, Drinking at The Movies, which was published by a mainstream outfit, Three Rivers Press. I really enjoyed it and found Wertz's persona, that of a profane, no-bullshit, tough-but-tender-deep-down-on-the-inside type, very refreshing and often hilarious. This new book is still highly entertaining and laugh out loud funny, but Wertz goes deeper here, seemingly dropping some of her defenses, revealing more of herself.

The two long stories are "Industry," which is an account of Wertz's wage earning history, and the title story, which focuses on the diagnosis of Lupus she received in her early 20's and the physical and emotional fallout of that (Lupus is treatable but there is no cure). Both accounts are ramble-y, almost free-form in their digressions in a very appealing way and for the most part these deviations from the main storylines go smoothly and are always entertaining. Some of the best sequences are those with her and her brother. The two are obviously very close but don't let each other get away with a thing, resulting in some of the funniest dialogue and moments in the book.

The last story, a sort of love letter to libraries and her love of reading, is downright poignant, instantly relatable to this died-in-the-wool bookworm. I found it very moving. The ending is perfect.

The packaging for the book is very attractive and along with the title, really does make it seem deceptively like the sort of high-end tome perfectly suited for a New Yorker-reading, Latte-swilling, Public Radio-supporting type of crowd, as Wertz wryly notes in her intro. Oh, before I forget, a shout out to her skill at rendering street scenes, cluttered apartments and the like - her attention to detail makes studying these panels a lot of fun.

12/14/15: Reread over the last week. I'd forgotten how relatively hefty a book it is. I loved how Wertz was able to really take her time with the stories, the first two in particular; they also link together nicely, making the book all of a piece. Pretty much everything was as I perceived it above. I again shook with laughter with several scenes involving she and her brother razzing each other. It's an exceptionally entertaining read, a real keeper. Five stars.

[Shazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading anything by Julia Wertz and it definitely won't be the last. The Infinite Wait and Other Stories is a collection of 3 comics by Wertz; the first about the various jobs she's had throughout her life, the second about her getting sick and diagnosed with Lupus (and also discovering comics!), and the last being a short and sweet standalone comic about her hometown library.

The first two stories are different but there is some overlap, which can make you wonder why it's not written as one story. However, I really like that Wertz decided to create this collection of "comic novellas" because it's a great way to both get to know her, and warm up to her work if you're new to her (like I was).

I think my favorite in this collection was "A Strange and Curious Place," the last comic included in the end of this book, which is about her love of libraries, more specifically, her childhood library. And yeah, I am totally biased seeing as I am a librarian and I love when people appreciate their libraries. But it's also a very sweet, lovely piece about growing up, her love for books, and her experiences with libraries during important moments in her life.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia Wertz is, in many ways, my twin soul: sardonic and kinda messed up. In The Infinite Wait, Wertz takes readers on a journey through her life in the form of three stories. One relives her working career, another her experiences with lupus, and the last is a love letter to libraries. Her humour and willingness to showcase her mistakes make this book a delightful, but also affecting read.

[christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the movie world, this would be considered experimental: Artist creates a full-length story about the time she moved from San Francisco to Brooklyn, drank a bunch of her meals, hung with fellow cartoonists or sacked out with a bottle of wine and DVDs of “The Gilmore Girls,” got canned from a bunch of jobs, struggled with guilt over her brother’s drug addiction, and then gets the A-OK to be a full time cartoonist. Then, the experimental part, a few years later she revisits a lot of the same territory but in a more detailed, novella-length way that really takes a toothbrush to some of the grit she washed over more broadly in the last go-round.

Julia Wertz’s collection “The Infinite Wait” is a series of three longer pieces where she considers 1) the litany of shit jobs she’s held, 2) her diagnosis of Systemic Lupus at age 20, 3) the public library and the reading spaces and books that shaped her. The three-pack follows “Drinking at the Movies,” which is told in quick-hit short bursts of misanthropic comedy and focuses on a year in her life after the big cross country move, but occasionally dips back and mentions things that appear in the stories of her new collection. For the most part, the re-tread works. Especially if both books -- and I’d imagine her “Fart Party” stuff, too -- is all read at around the same time. The gaps you don’t realize exist in one tend to get filled in the other book and it becomes a bit like piecing together a person’s life puzzle.

It’s the title story that is the reason for the season. Wertz says in the introduction the big deal book types at the kind of major publishing houses that briefly glommed on to the comic book biz in 2010 would never sign off on a comic book about her diagnosis of lupus, so she took this one to a small comics publisher.

Wertz is at community college when she starts suffering with joint pain, random fevers, fainting and inexplicable weight loss. It takes months for the doctor figure out what Wertz’s mom figures out in a single Google search: Systemic Lupus. There is no cure, it can be managed. She ends up on chemo-caliber drugs and eventually finds the right combination to live pain free. Then she goes through a period of remission. Despite the grimness of this forever diagnosis, Wertz has this really adorable back-and-forth banter with her brother Josh. He’s a more troubled character in “Drinking at the Movies,” but in these pages his own struggles with addiction are barely mentioned and instead there is just a friendship full of comic riffs and hijinks.

She stops by Josh’s house to tell him about the diagnosis.
Julia: This really isn’t that bad. I could be much, much worse. I could have …
Josh: CancerAIDS. Oh man. Is there anything worse than CancerAIDS?

The story kind of off-roads from lupus to some stuff about Wertz’s relationships, including finding out she was dating an old man and attending a party for people in the porn industry. The story ends with her off to profess feelings for a guy she slept with in high school so she could comfortably shed her virginity without getting feelings involved. The story ends where her first “Fart Party” story starts.


The first of the “other stories” is “Industry,” Wertz’s chronicle of about 25 years worth of employment, beginning with garden-variety rock sales to waitressing and newspaper delivery, a ball polisher at a pool hall and a short stint at a hipster mag. This also includes the early years of zine slinging at comic book shows.

The final story is “A Strange and Curious Place,” which is about young Julia’s affinity for forts and reading nooks and the book sale day at the public library. It’s kind of a love letter to all types of literature and the things she’s read and learned over the years. It’s definitely a different style for Wertz, who is rarely mentioned without a reference to the fart jokes that first launched her career. It becomes a bit oozy-goozy, as strange as the earnest moment when Josh tells her in “The Infinite Wait” that he’s sorry she has to go through this, and -- she stops him and tells him to keep it light.

There is a weird set of repeated panels in the book and a few typos, which sucks for Wertz. There are also footnotes that cite the page numbers of where one of her autobiographical stories has been told more completely in another of her books.

I ended up re-reading “Drinking at the Movies” right after I finished “The Infinite Wait.” Writing-wise, I think the shorter form suits Wertz better. She kind of loses the thread as the longer pieces go on. On the other hand, she’s got this great way of mentioning something briefly -- like eating saltines and peppermints -- in one story and then explaining its origin later in the book in an entirely different piece. It gives the feel of being in the inner circle of a long running joke. Ultimately, short form or long form, her strength is in dialogue and one-liners so it shouldn’t really matter how she choses to package it.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the perfect graphic novel go-to if you're feeling down and want someone to commiserate with. Wertz is delightfully negative aka honest aka refreshing.

[Eric Piotrowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julia Wertz is one of my favorite comics artists, and -- aside from Alison Bechdel -- the coolest comics artist I've ever had sign my book. She's come a long way from the distracted scribbles of "The Fart Party", and she gets better with every story told.

What makes this collection so glorious is not just the artistic refinement and constantly-increasing attention to detail. It's the fantastic probably-not-what-really-happened-but-who-cares commentary she (and her brother) provides for every inane, absurd, and idiotic situation in which she finds herself.

Much of the "here's my life in comics form" work being produced today is simplistic and tired, but Wertz brings a sly joy to everything she touches. I will be reading this over and over in the future, and I can't wait until her next book appears.

[Liam O'Leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant, easy read about figuring out your twenties. Reminds me of Mimi Pond's "Over Easy".

I don't know why Julia didn't have more friends in her twenties, this book is pretty funny. A pretty real insight into living with a chronic disease and struggling with an addiction.

While she's my second 'lupus-affected' author, I'm sort of perplexed as to why it has such a high average rating (higher than Alison Bechdel's 'Fun Home'). Is it just because Julia is so likeable by the end you'd feel cruel not rating it highly? Or do all of the reviewers have systemic lupus? Regardless of how other people find it, this was probably too light-hearted and 'emotionally shallow' enough for me to love it or find it particularly memorable.

[Cristina Di Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Infinite Wait è un fumetto unico con il quale è impossibile non ridere.

Se in Drinking at the Movies. Un anno a New York Julia Wertz raccontava le tragicomiche avventure del suo primo anno a New York, in The Infinite Wait racconta buona parte dei suoi primi trent’anni di vita senza paura di mettere a nudo le sue emozioni.

Fra il 1982 e il 2012 ha cambiato diversi lavori, si è ammalata gravemente e si è ripresa, è stata assunta e licenziata, ha letto molti libri, ha fatto un sacco di battute, ha disegnato fumetti, è stata mollata, si è ubriacata, depressa, è tornata sobria, è cresciuta e regredita.

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed, I cried, I laughed again. I love Julia with all my heart.

[Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meilleure vignette de présentation de l'autrice réalisée !

Encore un très bon album, moins puissant peut-être que Whiskey & NY ou les Imbuvables mais toujours aussi fourmillant, drôle et passionnant. Je recommande tout particulièrement sa dernière histoire mettant en scène sa relation aux bibliothèques.

[Taleah Ushendibaba · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75/5

[Jessica Holtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rien d'extraordinaire, mais j'ai quand même envie de lire tout ce qu'elle a fait.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julia Wertz <33333333

I hope it makes you proud to I got your book from the Washington Irving library in Brooklyn AND it’s got a hold on it so somebody else is waiting for this

[Slithy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A kajillion stars for the last story about libraries

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Julia Wertz graphic novel that I read was Drinking at the Movies and, as I read it, I realized I’d found a kindred spirit. Wertz is a sarcastic curmudgeon who drinks too much and makes the same mistakes over and over and yet still remains realistically optimistic about her life. So. She’s a person, I guess. She also has a fucking filthy mouth and is hilarious and reminds me of my friends. So reading her books is like hanging out with a friend. (That sounded super goofy and is not something Wertz would ever say about her own book, probably.) Anyway.

The Infinite Wait is a collection of three comics, and all follow Wertz through her succession of shitty jobs, romantic trials and tribulations, a bit about her alcohol problem, and her eventual diagnosis of lupus, which is a chronic, autoimmune disease. It’s that thing that’s always on House (or never on House, your pick).

I find it difficult to review these autobiographical novels, because it feels shitty to say anything bad about them. I don’t have anything bad to say about this novel (or any of her other novels) but when reviewing someone’s life, I’m always hesitant because I don’t want to say anything that would offend them if BY SOME CHANCE they were to ever read my review.

Luckily, I loved this book, just like I loved Drinking at the Movies, and I realized while reading it that I never read her first two novels, Fart Party: volumes 1 and 2. Fart Party was the name of her original webcomic. (I mean, seriously, how can you not love someone who named her comic Fart Party?)

I’ve gotten far off track but let’s try to get back, shall we? We shall. In The Infinite Wait, not only are we treated to Wertz’s thoughts on her numerous shitty jobs, but she’s beginning to work through her feelings toward her alcohol abuse, and she’s diagnosed with a chronic disease, which is enough to shit on anyone’s day. She tackles the diagnosis with humor, though that is a huge thing to have to deal with (especially while struggling with alcoholism and that whole Figuring Yourself Out thing that happens in your twenties). The fact that she’s able to keep her sense of humor about it says a lot about Wertz as a person. In this novel, she also discovers her love of comics, not just reading them, but making them, and we’re all extremely lucky that she did.

[Wendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, I read Relish by Lucy Knisley and it made me all fired up about reading more graphic novels. Granted, Knisley's book was pretty much tailor-made for me; I loved the illustrations and, of course, the whole food thing. But I thought that if there were books like hers out there, I definitely wanted to experience more of them.

It's been a busy few weeks to the start of the new year, and so although one my new year's resolutions was to read more graphic novels, I've definitely been behind. Then my sister told me about one she read, explaining that she thought I would particularly appreciate the final story in the book. My local library doesn't carry it, and the same day I was going to order it online, it showed up in the mail, a gift from my sister.

I love her explanation for the title: "The title 'Infinite Wait' is a very elaborate inside joke. Normally I do not like the pretentious, lyrical titles of little to no substance or direction, but the idea of someone plucking this book from the shelf, expecting the next New York, literary elite effort and finding a comic book of jokes and rude words is highly amusing to me."

Industry is about Wertz's non-comic-book related jobs over the years, and how she talked (and drew) her way into her dream job. The Infinite Wait is how she fell ill with lupus, and her process with the disease. The final story, which is the one for which my sister gifted me the book, A Strange and Curious Place, is certainly the one to which I can most relate. Wertz writes about how, throughout any traumatic or needful times in her life, she's turned to books and libraries for the first help. This has also always been my method for dealing with life's challenges, as well. The story is endearing, sweet, and explains better than I probably ever will the sometimes inexplicably emotional connections we have to books.

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, my! Ever have to wait on someone who told you "I NEED MORE ALCOHOL TO MUSTER THE COURAGE TO GET AN UGLY, DRUNK CHICK TO SUCK MY COMICALLY TINY DICK?"

Well, then this book is for you.

Even better: if they hadn't said such a thing out loud — but only in so many words — here's Julia Jean Wertz, gal-about-town (two! 2 in particular) to serve as your guide into the head, heart, and, uh, bowels of said such terrain.

MARVEL! At what she finds when she Goooogles innocently enough (BRO's reaction: "OKAY, WAIT, LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT ... YOU GOT HIGH AND WANTED TO LOOK AT PHOTOS OF BEARS ON THE INTERNET — NEVERMIND HOW LUDICROUS THAT IS ON ITS OWN — SO ... "), and the screen fills with hairy, hairy naked men!

SWOON! At her travails at work and at home on the sickbed wear she discovers comics (incl. the same Zap! comics that're a favorite of Gravity's Rainbow author Thomas Pynchon) and starts inhaling Art as a respite for the sicknesses of the world!

BARF! At the jokes that involve barfing, blood, and other yecchinesses.

GO 'AWW!' At the touching story of youthful library-trips that you have to wade through most of the book to get to!

RELATE! Like few outside of Dishwasher Pete (or Orwell in Down and Out in Paris and London) at the odd, odd sort of pride a busser can have: "THE MAJORITY OF PATRONS DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE BUSSERS . . . BUT THEY'RE THE INVISIBLE CONDUCTORS OF THE DINING EXPERIENCE.")

If you remember those days when you found your true calling, and you enjoy both farts and parties, this book is for you. If not, it'll convert you!

Simple as that.

[Kassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great to sit down and finally finish this over the weekend, and of course the last story about libraries really hit me in the chest. Fart Party was one of the first web comics I ever read and I've really enjoyed the... maturing-without-loosing-the-fart-jokes that Julia has done over the years.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small-press comic from Wertz features three stories: the first is about all of the jobs she's worked; the second about her diagnosis of Lupus; the third about her love for the library. All three are precisely the kind of humor you'd expect from Wertz. It's crude but really human. At times, it's laugh-out-loud funny (the scene of her first babysitting job being my favorite).

It's interesting to me how open Wertz is about how her last book with Random House didn't do well, and how that led her to publish with Koyama.

Really, these are naval-gazing comics, but that's why I love them so much. There's no real depth. There's nothing to walk away with. It's just a few hours watching the world through someone else's really humorous perspective. I keep saying it, but if "new adult" is a thing, then there needs to be bigger consideration for graphic novels because this is where those stories are.

[Kricket · Rating 5 out of 5]

first read, october 2012:
a collection of three short stories from wertz: all the jobs she has ever worked, her systemic lupus diagnosis (josh: "i'm gonna call it 'poopus') and a love story about her childhood library. all of them fantastically illustrated & hilarious.

of note: some of these fart jokes i'd already read on her website, and i still laughed my ass off reading them the second time.

Second read, August 2023: Wow, you can tell me the same fart joke thrice and I'll laugh each time.

[Tasara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just phenomenal. And the last story is about all the libraries she's used and loved? Are you kidding me? I thought I couldn't love her any more.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Infinite Wait and Other Stories (2012) by Julia Wertz: Three pieces make up this comics collection from Julia Wertz.

The first, entitled "Industry," chronicles the jobs she's had over two decades and two coasts, from a lot of waitressing and bartending jobs to her later days as a professional cartoonist who doesn't have to hold down another job.

The second, the eponymous "The Infinite Wait," covers Wertz's move to San Francisco from Napa in 2002 and her subsequent diagnosis of having the auto-immune disease Lupus. The third, "A Strange and Curious Place," is, in Wertz's own words, "basically just a love letter to my hometown library and everything it taught me."

"Industry" probably has the most laughs per panel, even as Wertz starts to lose jobs because of her incessant drinking. The publishing success of her first two books, Fart Party I and II, moves "Industry" to an often hilarious evaluation of how Hollywood tries to adapt work, and specifically autobiographical work.

"The Infinite Wait," Wertz informs the reader, was a title chosen for its pretension and "seriousness" as a joke related to the decidedly unpretentious tale of Wertz vs. Lupus. This is certainly one of the funniest comics stories ever created about an incurable auto-immune disease. Well, any disease, any sickness. It may catch at the heart, but the story never stops presenting situations of high wit and low comedy.

Then there's "A Strange and Curious Place," the shortest piece in the book. It is indeed a paean to Wertz's hometown library, and to the joys of reading for a child. The depiction of Julia and her brother's excitement at the annual library booksale is a gem of humourous, pithily observed sentiment. The book, too, is a gem of autobiographical self-evaluation and often raunchy, sometimes obscene brilliance. Highly recommended.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The infinite wait and other stories (2012)

Ci sono 3 racconti in questo libro:
- Industry, in cui l'autrice parla dei vari lavori che ha fatto fino a quando è riuscita a mantenersi solo disegnando fumetti
- The infinite wait racconta della malattia che ha scoperto di avere (il lupus sistemico) mentre frequentava l'università e di come il periodo di riposo che ne è conseguito abbia portato al suo amore per i fumetti
- A strange and curious place è un ricordo delle diverse biblioteche che ha frequentato nella sua vita, con particolare affetto verso quella dell'infanzia.
Amo lo stile di Julia Wertz, è molto ironica nel parlare della sua vita e non si esime dal raccontarne anche gli aspetti più oscuri (sono sicura che scriverà qualcosa di incredibile sul suo alcolismo quando riuscirà a guardarlo da una certa distanza; credo invece che la sorta di protezione che ha nei confronti della sua famiglia non le permetterà mai di parlarne appieno e qui mi dispiace, perché si intuisce ci sia moltissimo da raccontare). Mi piace il rapporto che ha con il fratello di reciproca presa per il culo, anche se penso sia una barriera che ha posto per non andare troppo a fondo nell'esprimere sentimenti e paure con una persona che avrebbe il diritto di chiedergliene conto (si vede al momento della malattia, quando lui le chiede come stia veramente, perché ha affrontato tutto l'iter medico della diagnosi e dell'inizio della cura fondamentalmente da sola). Stimo molto il fatto che questa ragazza abbia saputo creare tante stelle danzanti dal suo caos interiore e spero sia serena.

"Darò un'indiscreta occhiata in giro e ti giudicherò silenziosamente, e il mio giudizio si concentrerà principalmente sulla tua libreria". pag. 201