Whiskey & New York

by Julia Wertz

Dans ce roman (autobio)graphique, Julia Wertz, auteur de L’attente infinie, raconte l’année où elle a quitté San Francisco pour les rues peu familières de New York. Mais ne vous inquiétez pas, vous ne tenez pas entre les mains le récit typique de la rédemption d’une jeune femme et son glorieux triomphe sur ses malheurs ou je ne sais quelle autre niaiserie. C’est tout simplement un livre hilarant – et parfois poignant – bourré d’humour absurde et d’une bonne dose d’auto-dérision. Case après case, Wertz fait la chronique de quatre appartements douteux, de sept petits boulots horribles, de drames familiaux, de voyages catastrophiques, et de bien trop de bouteilles de whisky pour qu’on puisse en tenir le compte.

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

185 pages, Hardcover

First published August 31, 2010

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

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drinking at the Movies is far from flawless. Like a collection of newspaper strips that weren't meant to be read back-to-back, it often lacks narrative flow, becomes repetitive in places; its social critique is a bit on the shallow, unsurprising side; its protagonist, Wertz' unflattering alter ego, is kind of a slob; oh, and the artwork looks rather amateurish, almost like the rushed and careless scribblings of a child: elbows are difficult to draw, so all characters simply get gumby arms instead...

And yet, all these "shortcomings" are not only easily forgiven but in fact add to the story's humor and charm, because they are ultimately what the story is all about: the humorous portrayal of the cartoonist's own flaws and inadequacies. Drinking at the Movies is an autobiographical comedy in the tradition of Julie Doucet's Dirty Plotte and Joe Matt's Peepshow, and its humor relies on cartoonist Julia Wertz's ability to make fun of herself in brutally honest ways, on her willingness to openly display her own defects and obsessions and quirks. Slick, flawless, meticulous storytelling simply would not get the job done.

Best enjoyed in small doses, Drinking at the Movies is in turn poignant and hilarious. I can't wait to explore more books by Julia Wertz!

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I read Julia Wertz's Tenements, Towers & Trash last year, I decided I wanted to reread her 2010 memoir-in-comics, Drinking at the Movies, which I'd first read in 2011. I'm on a staycation right now and yesterday I seemed to be coming down with a cold that was messing with my concentration skills (false alarm? I feel fine today), so I decided a reread of a graphic novel was about what I could handle. The first time around I was lukewarm about this book, awarding it three stars and a vague sense of antipathy in my memory. Initially I didn't know what was different this time around, but it turned out I really enjoyed this coming-of-age tale of a creative woman who messes up her life for a while but eventually (sort of) gets her act together. I liked the episodic nature of it and found much more humor in it than I remember from last time. I also appreciated all the drawings of buildings and apartment interiors, which were one of my favorite elements of Tenements, Towers & Trash as well. And upon further reflection, I realized what was different this time. In 2011 I was really unhappy, so reading a memoir by someone who was also unhappy yet still seemed to succeed in her creative life made me envious and resentful. How could someone who was such a mess still be doing better in life than I was?!? I'm happier now and I can judge this for what it is. In fact, I would've liked to read quite a bit more. Bring on the sequels!

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading lots of superhero stuff lately, so this graphic novel was a nice, refreshing change of pace. Very indie style story about a girl in her twenties moving from SF to NYC. I haven't read Fart Party, her other work, but I really enjoyed the perspective, even though I wanted to throttle her at times for being so self-destructive. It definitely has that hipster "I'm messed up, watch me be unrepentantly messed up" vibe to it, but I enjoyed it and the simple but frequently LOL drawing style.

It's not best read in one sitting, it gets a bit repetitive and the story is more vignettes than overarching storylines. There's a humanity to it that's very refreshing though, and I'd like to have a drink with the author. Er, correction: maybe prevent her from having a drink with me, because drinking is so clearly bad for her, haha. Go out for malts? Aw, whatever.

[emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was basically everything I wanted in a graphic memoir about moving to New York City: nice, clean drawings, small and funny anecdotes about adjusting to the city with just enough meaning and nostalgia at the end to make me feel hopeful, but not enough to make this too heartfelt and cheesy.

This was mostly just funny stories about the shitty things that happened to Julia in the first year that she lived in NYC. And when I say funny, I mean I actually laughed out loud. This is a graphic memoir that you 100% have to read, and it's probably my favorite graphic memoir to date.

[Jo Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Come promettere il retro di copertina in questo graphic novel, Julia Wertz ci racconta la sua vita dopo aver lasciato San Francisco ed essersi trasferita a New York. Durante la lettura affrontiamo un paio di anni nella vita di Julia, tante micro scene quotidiane che compongono i capitoli-stagioni in cui sono divisi gli anni 2007 e 2008. E' una lettura piacevole che ti aiuta (o almeno l'ha fatto con me) a scoprire gli aspetti politi culturali e sociale di New York e, più in generale, degli USA durante quegli anni. La Wertz non filtra niente è tutto così com'è successo. Questo mi ha affascinata molto ma devo dire che alla lunga la ripetizione delle sue giornate e dei suoi fallimenti sempre tutti identici mi ha un po' stancata. A mio parere sarebbe stata perfetta tagliando quasi metà delle scene ripetitive e snervanti. A livello grafico la protagonista è ben caratterizza, la si potrebbe riconoscere in una folla gremita di gente, mentre gli altri personaggi sono tutti uguali, dipinti con gli stessi tratti fisici, sono interscambiabili fra loro, tanto che, o ti ricordi tutti i nomi (e sono tanti), oppure non li distingui.

[Peter Derk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really super good.

This year I've made it a point to look out for comics that are good alternatives to canon titles and that have good female characters. This one hits both.

This book is a really great alternative to some of those titles like Persepolis or Blankets in that it's good comics, a simple story, and it's all told very well. There are genuine laughs, and there's a true style to both the writing and the art.

Okay, it doesn't seem like it's telling an important story. It's not one of those NPR books so much. But this is a plus for me. I feel like I've read a lot of really good, slice of life memoirs in comic forms that are better than the ones I've read in pure text. It just works better. You can get such a great sense of a person from this kind of material, and you can have that experience where the mundane is also kind of magical. Which I hate myself for saying, but it's true.

As for female characters, Wertz, as herself, is likable in her unlikability, if that makes sense. She's this curmudgeonly figure who is more interested in pizza than dudes, and I don't think I've read a lot of books with so little love story, so little dating or romance, and that's what made it so great. It's like a Jeffrey Brown but without the angst, a Peter Bagge without the gross sexual stuff. I love those dudes, but this offered something pretty different.

There's this thing that can happen in stories sometimes, when a really good writer is trying to figure herself out and she works through it on the page. It's not great to see the ending or these bold conclusions, but those clumsy attempts at self-discovery, those are so illuminating to see on the page. I really have a lot of respect for artists who do that, who go through that figuring out in the book and take us along with them, and especially when they're okay not necessarily coming to a conclusion.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book today at B&N. I just kind of grabbed it b/c it looked cute and I love graphic novels by oddball chicks, like Diary of a Teenage Girl and stuff like that. I guess I had the force with me b/c this book turned out to be the greatest thing. I stayed up all night reading it and now I feel gross but I'm not even regretting it. Jenny, you are going to love this. I love how the people have gumby arms with no elbows. And YAY! I own it and don't have to give it back to anyone!!!

Okay, a few coherent thoughts now that I've gotten some sleep... I loved the author's brutal honesty in this book. I can't imagine anything was held back here. And she's just really funny and comes up with the most hilariously raunchy things to make her little Julia say. Also, the little Julia drawing is so cute, and when you finally get to the actual pic of the author there's like this sence of relief, because she is actually very cute and does not have wavy bangs and protruding ears. But it's so funny to think that this is how she maybe sometimes percieves herself. I loved it a ton and I'm definately going to read it a million times.

[christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia Wertz is that little voice in your head cracking wise during situations that are absurd or even borderline tragic. Where plenty of (boring) people have learned to silence it, or at least self-edit, Wertz spits out these bits of irreverent nuggets:

"My life is the abortion Juno should have had," the be-T'shirted and bobbed 20-something tells her friend in her graphic memoir "Drinking at the Movies."

The quip comes in a vignette called "Today Everything is Shit" and by "shit" she means a jackhammered morning, a massive coffee spill, a broken camera and printer, and an accidental "reply all." Her brother, a drug addict, relapsed -- and crashed her car. She brought brown pens instead of black, her health insurance ran out, and she's accosted outside of her apartment by a bum with a hook hand.

It's all part of the mess hinted at on the first page of the "Fart Party"-creators story. Wertz comes to consciousness at 3 a.m. on her 25th birthday in a laundromat in Brooklyn. She's got a fistful of Cracker Jacks, and she's dressed in plaid pajama pants.

"What the ..." Wertz asks, staring at a pile of double decker driers.

From there she doubles back to chronicle the year that she moved from her excellent apartment in San Francisco to Brooklyn. A sort of whim that represents the side of her brain prone to doing the thing everyone advises against. The antagonist to the side of her brain that is totally responsible and, like, knows how to handle a weeping baby.

Wertz. Is. Hilarious.

She is a cartoonist who trolls for minimum wage jobs, who wears a uniform of comfy pants and a T-shirt or hoodie. She drinks plenty, sometimes in bed, and has the universal thought: What if computers had breathalizers attached to prevent drunk internetting? She's got a handful of cool friends, who also draw. And her life has some downers: Lupus, but no insurance; Her brother is an addict who keeps relapsing, and she feels guilty for being the width of a country away from him. Her stepfather has cancer.

Still, she drops perfect colorful punchlines, the smartass in the back of a classroom. If her memoir were a movie, she would be a supporting character who outshines the star of the show with quotable one liners.

"I bet my spirit animal is something retarded like a root hog," she thinks in a fit of insomnia and homesickness.

"That's gayer than giving a rainbow a rimmer," she says while chilling with a friend in Chicago and missing a very important conference call -- which she eventually takes in an unlikely place:

"This is Julia from a trash can in a back alley in Chicago," she says.

This year-in-the-life is such a superfun memoir. And if you don't believe me, Wertz got a super clever blurb from Fiona Apple.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

7/31/15: look forward to rereading this new updated edition (just got review copies of the fall 2015 line-up from Koyama Press). I like the look-feel of this one so much more, which just goes to show you how much better comics presses generally are with the production of graphic novels - so much more loving care goes into them.

12/05/15: Yeah, this still holds up well. The book is Wertz's funny-rueful account of her stumbling her way into a new life in New York City as a twentysomething in the late 2000's. She's completely ill-prepared for this transition, which makes for very funny and occasionally even heart-tugging reading (though she refuses to to tug for more than a moment). This new edition is a big improvement design-wise, and the narrative is as engaging as ever. It also features some new material, including an amusingly weird introduction by Janeane Garofalo. As fun as Drinking is, it's really in her subsequent book, The Infinite Wait (which I'm now going to reread), that Wertz goes much deeper as a writer, while continuing to grow as an artist/cartoonist. Most of the drawings in Drinking are just fine, though fairly rudimentary and occasionally a bit sloppy (especially in the earliest strips); the artwork that really shines here are her new drawings of NY cityscapes and buildings–several pages of which are featured at the end, serving as something of an afterward. Wertz has a real flair for rendering in this area and I think she (wisely) wanted to show off her chops a little bit. Bottom line: a very enjoyable read with some killer profanity-laced one-liners - all wrapped up in way-pretty new duds, courtesy of Koyama Press. Four out of 5 *'s

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Julia Wertz is unquestionably a gifted cartoonist, and while she isn’t always as funny a she’d like to be, when she IS funny she’s a good deal funnier than most. Her timing is great and while she isn’t consistently as funny, she uses the space of the strip for hilarity again and again. Huge talent here, and good knack for storytelling.

I just couldn’t get past the obliviousness of the comic to the incredible privilege of the life described therein. The racial stuff is hard for a non-American to uncode out of its immediate context, but Wertz jokes about leaving Chinatown discount sales to “go do something white, like shop at H&M,” and I... just don’t really follow. When she draws attention to whiteness like this it sounds like a cheap liberal joke, but there aren’t very many non-white characters to call it into question. It’s far from the only time she jokes about whiteness without it ever being more than a throwaway “woke” line, and that definitely puzzled me.

What really disturbed me, though, was Wertz’s fixation upon and treatment of homeless and poor people, whom she describes as “bums,” and always draws with cross-hatching a to imply filth. Every time one of these characters appears—and there are so many i had to count them: 18 different “bums” with cross-hatched filth across 180 pages!—he or she is threatening, abusive, frightening, and bordering on less human. NEVER are any of these characters drawn with sympathy or compassion: they and their poverty are all variations on a one-note joke about poor people smelling bad, wearing filthy clothes, and acting abusive and threatening.

Look, I’ve done 10 years of frontline homeless outreach volunteering. I know not all homeless people are fun or easy to be around, a characteristic shared by the domiciled. But Wertz fixates oddly on the notion that homeless people equal threat, even as she jokes throughout the book about how she dresses in a way she thinks makes her look homeless, she has her friends joke about it. There’s supposed to be something charming or poignant or individual about Wertz in her dingy clothes, but when real homeless people appear they’re differentiated from Wertz not by the lost one or two paycheques or the medical emergency that sends people into the street but by their capacity to threaten Wertz’s play-acting frumpiness.

Over the course of the book Wertz deftly captures the daily life of someone sinking into alcoholism and making excuses to herself about it, and to her credit she ends the book without any real resolution that would force a clichéd ending of one kind or another. But the way she writes about poor people (not just homeless: the poor get filth cross-hatchlings as well) i expected she was building toward some realization—that we were supposed to be repulsed by her opinions before her character found some resolution about the same subject. Wertz mentions having been on welfare growing up, and i thought there’d be some reflection brewing. There isn’t, even as in one scene her character, at work as a barista or something, is justly offended by a wealthy cafe patron surprised to discover Wertz’s character had artistic talent. Kind of a hackneyed lesson but it felt emotionally real enough. How come she didn’t extend it to the homeless people all through her book, then? If you’re going to write this much about people without homes, can’t you bother to learn more about them than how threatening they are and how they smell? Wertz compares herself to homeless folks a few times, mostly to joke that she’s “filthy” like a “filthy bum,” but never does this in any way to suggest she’s satirizing her own discomfort with homeless and poor people.

This is a ten year old book by a talented author then in her mid-twenties. There’s a naïveté and ignorance here not uncommon at that age, but maybe a decade has made Wertz a more reflective writer. I hope so. I may read her again but even despite this book’s strengths I was left uneasy with Wertz’s assumptions about the poor and I expect i’ll carry that into whatever work of hers I have opportunity to read next.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appropriated this book from my fiancé during a brief vacation just to have something to read. I do enjoy New York stories, a lot, infinitely more than I do the actual city, but probably wouldn’t read this normally on my own accord. Nevertheless, it proved to be plenty entertaining. Lovingly prefaced by Janeane Garofalo in an actual written form, because as it turns out she doesn’t actually type or email, the sort of oddball thing that somehow isn’t all that surprising, and with loads of praise heaped at it from a variety of hip female entertainers, this is a story of the author’s first year in NYC. About a dozen of years old at the time of this review’s publication, it actually doesn’t seem at all dated. The struggles depicted are fairly timeless, crap jobs, crappy apartments, weirdoes. New York is a city that beats people up, physically and metaphorically, and as such attracts a very specific variety of dreamers, idiots and masochists. Everyone’s trying to make it and, against the odds, the author actually did, she found success at her preferred medium and kudos, many kudos to her. The road to success was paved with all the stereotypical New York bricks (and if those are yellow, that’s piss), plus Wertz as a person seems to attract certain elements of disaster, most but not all of it easily attributable to her out of control drinking. The art here is fairly minimalistic and black and white, almost like something from a newspaper comic, which results in a bunch of similar looking characters, but distinct looking surroundings. In fact, Wertz mostly shines as an artist when she does apartments or, of course, movie theaters. That’s where the skill and the details come out. But her self representation visually is that of a tiny hipsterish Lego figurine and descriptively of a diminutive snarky sartorially challenged sporadically employable alcoholic. In fact, while this novel doesn’t seem especially dated, the character does…where do we know her from? Well, she’s almost every girl in almost every Gen X movie. So in a way, she is the Janeane Garofalo of comic books. Apparently, Wertz got popular pretty early on with her Fart Party comic, but this was her first novel length book. For an autobiographical work it features admirable candidness and oodles of self deprecation. In fact, it’s positively saturated with the latter, but to be fair, Wertz gets herself in such crazy situations with such alarming frequency that deprecation seems unavoidable, so why not deliver it herself and play it up for laughs. Laughs work, though, the book is very funny, it’s possibly the best thing about it, certainly the most entertaining one. But there are other things to enjoy here, if it were a sitcom (and once there was a distinct possibility of that) it would have been subtle and situational and, quite possibly, hilarious. Wertz may be more of a cartoonist than an artist, but she’s a terrific observationalist, turning the tedious and the ordinary into entertainment, possibly even a life lesson. So yeah, I had fun with this book. It stands to mention it was read on the beach or by the beach, technically. When you put down a book, look up and there’s ocean…well, that’s pretty much guaranteed to enhance any reading experience.

[Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be a lighthearted coming of age graphic novel about moving to a big city for the first time. Unfortunately, it didn't have any of that charm, because it mostly follows the author as she spontaneously decides to move to New York—because she's "different" and impulsive like that—and proceeds to drink her way through her twenties, unable to hold any of the waitressing jobs that come her way yet still considering herself to good for these jobs anyway, practically priding herself on her ability to get fired and lack in becoming an adult.

Basically what I'm getting at is that the author is detestable

More of Her "Fine" Moments:
---Is your typical punk-ass "I'm not like other girls" archetype and has moments of being misogynistic.

--- Is unbelievably privileged and whines about "I'm just sick of having to apologize for being white and in my twenties."

-- Seems completely oblivious of her privilege and even has the audacity to be offended over criticism of spoiled white people in their 20s living in Brooklyn, calling it "just plain rude" to judge an entire neighborhood by one specific demographic. (Gee, wonder what that must be like...)

---Is incredibly ungrateful about any job opportunity she manages to get and doesn't seem to take them seriously for long...

---.... then, doesn't even seem to care when she inevitably gets fired, laughing it off and going to the bar to drink.

---Thinks herself too good for basically any job even though she sets the bar for herself seriously low and doesn't even bother dressing up for a job interview.

---Got an internship with a major magazine and after two days of doing office work, went to the editor stating that she's simply "overqualified" for this job and asked if she could write for the magazine.

---And then proceeded to not take it seriously and fall flat on deadlines!

--- If that weren't enough, began trash-talking about said magazine online (seriously, how stupid/careless can you get?!) during her internship and inevitably got fired when the magazine saw her comments.

---^ Her reaction was basically "fuck it" and didn't show any remorse or guilt for her actions. Like... WHAT.

THIS. GIRL. IS. SUCH. A. LOSER. I caaaan't. She completely irritated me, and the entire time I just wanted to scream, "YOU'RE NOT A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE. YOU'RE NOT TOO GOOD FOR ANYTHING. YOU'RE NOT A TRAGIC, STARVING ARTIST. You're literally just a loser who wanders through life blowing off every opportunity that comes your way and not putting in any effort or taking any responsibility because you have this delusional superiority complex, thinking you're more important than you really are.

[Sian Lile-Pastore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book read with a cold.... This time also drinking a beer and half watching Autumn in New York.
I liked this a lot - only criticism was it felt a bit episodic, so hard to get totally into it. But it was sweet, funny, a little dark, and I liked it, love these graphic memoirs.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an autobiographical comic about Julia Wertz's move from San Francisco to New York in her early 20s and the trials and tribulations associated with the transition, as well as the foibles of her own life, friends, and family.

While there are several stories of persons moving to the big city, it's not so much the story as it is the reactions of the characters or the main character in the story that make it stand out. "Drinking at the Movies" works as a great comic book read because Julia Wertz is such a pleasant, funny, and original person to tell that story.

It might be coloured by the fact that I too am in my 20s and have gone through a lot of what Wertz went through, but while there's a lot of things anyone who grows up in their 20s in a big city can relate to, Wertz's humour colours the experience from an alien, disturbing one to a charming and humour filled catalogue of short stories.

Wertz herself is very open about the kind of person she is - awkward, uninterested in "girly" things, likes to be alone, likes junk food and alcohol far too much, is unconcerned with relationships, and has an aversion to work in favour of the kind of whimsy and freedom being an artist brings (and the near poverty standard of living as well). I found myself thinking of the kind of cool, cute girls I knew in high school who never felt beautiful even though they were or confident in themselves or their abilities, and thinking Wertz must have been one of them, and that this book is testament to those qualities.

In terms of art style it's quite simple with panels used, and it reminded me of Jeffrey Brown's drawing style, and the diary format along with the exuberance of life was reminiscent of James Kochalka's "American Elf" comic. It's a style that's disarmingly straightforward but really effective in this kind of storytelling.

I really enjoyed the book and genuinely laughed at a few of the stories in here. It never felt boring or too self-absorbed as the artist is too self-aware to allow that kind of naval gazing. A great read for fans of indie comics, I highly recommend giving this book a chance - I'm glad I did.

[Ksenia (vaenn) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Завжди було цікаво читати, як живуть мої плюс-мінус двійко років однолітки в різних країнах: як облаштовують життя, на що звертають увагу, як ставляться до глобально значущих політичних подій або розповсюдження новітніх технологій/ідей/маскультурних стандартів і всякого такого різного. От Drinking at the Movies - якраз воно, і в коміксовому форматі вигляда чомусь навіть переконливіше за текстовий. Отже на календарі 2007 рік і двадцять-з-чомось-літня Джулія переїжджає з Сан-Франциско до Нью-Йорка.

Далі буде: про життя молодої білої середньокласової американки (як постійно і з кілометровою іронією наголошує авторка) - творчі негаразди, низькооплачувана прекарна праця, ніфіга-не-дешеве дешеве бруклінське житло, веселе існування поза межами медичної страховки, звичка заливати будь-які проблеми алкоголем та десятикілометрове почуття провини щодо старшого брата, чиї залежності куди як масштабніші за вайлуватий роман із пляшкою бурбону. І якраз іронія допомагає Джулії Верц балансувати на волосинці над проваллям "Багаті також плачуть". Не те, щоб багаті, але з подушкою безпеки та родиною, що може в разі чого допомогти, але так - іноді плачуть. Читаючи, зрозуміла, що дещо в житті пройшло повз мене, що недооцінювала деякі специфічно-американські проблеми, що ще трішки - і, здається, зможу зрозуміти, як зародилася ота політична криза, яку теперка весь світ розгрібатиме. А от як можна поміняти Сан-Франциско на Нью-Йорк так і не зрозуміла (хоча не мені фонити, у Києві клімат теж не фонтан). Але Бруклін тут змальовано з великою любов'ю - що є, те є. Занотувала дещо в записничок, а раптом на власні очі колись вийде побачити.

[Sarah Beaudoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drinking at the Movies seems straightforward on the surface. Wertz (a cartoonist known for her comic Fart Party) writes and draws an account of her first year in New York City. It is a memoir of a 20-something striking out on her own in the model of countless prior stories. In reality though, Wertz creates a memoir that is both funny and painful and provides an entertaining look at what life is when you are a young, underemployed (and frequently unemployed) and unmotivated. No matter what life (or her own inactivity) throws at her, Wertz bounces back with a witty comment. She is self critical without being annoying and despite some very tough situations (her drug addicted brother goes missing, her stepfather has cancer), her humor doesn't falter. It is so easy for memoirs to slip into sappy self reflection, that bore everyone but the author, but Wertz avoids that. She doesn't shy away from pointing out her faults, nor does she simply milk them for humor. At no point in Drinking at the Movies did I feel sympathy for Wertz, (which I think says far more about the flippant tone of the book than my own cold heart.) Instead, I finished this book wanting to meet her.

[Hannah Garden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julia Wertz you little tiny king of the world I fucking love your moves, your moves are solid ass gold.

^^oh that is nice I guess I read this for the first time on July 7 2012

Anyway

I like these strips and hadn't read any in a few years, but after a recent thing at Desert Island for the re-release of this volume decided to re-check em out and yep, still good, still solid ass gold. I remember originally being like oh what a small coincidental world I have had some experiences that mirror such and such to a tee, but I forgot that her brother gets and stays sober, which in the beginning when she's all fucked up wondering if he's dead I was able to identify with so strongly but then because mine cannot I just feel fucking bummed about. But hey such is life. A little up a little down. I too have had my wallet since i was a young junior scud. Who knows what the future holds.

[Licha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a coming of age story about a 24 yr. old who decides she needs a change in life and moves from San Francisco to New York. She struggles plenty in New York but sticks it out. For most of the book, she drinks, drinks, drinks her problems away. After a night of heavy drinking: "Nnng...I feel like ten kinds of ass."

I enjoyed reading the author's journey of self-discovery, even if she stills has a long way to go. As her mom says to her: "Life is a shit sandwich. You gotta eat it one bite at a time."

[Stephanie (aka WW) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Julia Wertz book and it won't be my last. When I'm reading her, I find myself looking forward to a daily dose of her wry observations on life and self-deprecating humor. She sees small moments of humor everywhere, which, I believe, is the only way to live life sanely. Now, to get my hands on The Fart Party, her best-known book, which, unfortunately, is out of print.

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meghan was right - I liked it a lot. I was aware of Julia Wertz before this - I read that I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections she edited and her iconic character stand-in for herself has been in my peripheral vision for several years. But my preferred illustration style tends toward Craig Thompson and the like, plus if I had actually investigated the character, I would have found that she starred in a comic called Fart Party. Not one to enjoy bathroom humor (unless I'm recommending books to upper-elementary-aged boys), I would have stopped right there. I can't remember if said instance ever actually happened, but it easily could have. It took Meghan recommending it for me to actually pick this up, I'm sad to say.

But she was SO right. Wertz was born the same year as I was and she pulls no punches talking about her time living in NYC. I appreciated her honesty about her family circumstances and financial instability and alcohol problems, while at the same time remembering that she was a relatively privileged middle class white girl. I should mention that she talks about traveling across the US (to Chicago, California and Arizona) in some sections, so I'm including it as one of my graphic novel travelogue collection, even though it isn't dedicated to that purpose. I'm still not the biggest fan of her caricature style, but I can get over that for storytelling this riveting. At least to me.

I was particularly impressed by the craft of this. Many of the pages feel like a daily comic, although there are definitely larger works and other elements tying the story together. She's put a great amount of thought into making this a cohesive story and she was mostly successful. Also, in the daily comics, she does a really great job of using punch lines and bookends to make her pages stand alone.

I adored the maps she included of each of her apartments (I'm a map person), and I think the only thing that would have improved them would have been a little more commentary on the images - notes about various things in the space, how many people lived there in which rooms, amusing anecdotes, etc. Wertz does a little of this in some of the comics themselves and I wanted that in the maps.

I was totally blown away when I got to the acknowlegements and she named both Sarah Glidden and Aaron Renier in the same sentence. Before this, the last comic book I read was Glidden's and I really loved Renier's Spiral-Bound! :)

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belated happy birthday.

[Aloke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laughing (and drinking) to keep from crying.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Julia Wertz's sense of humor, that she has a critical eye for things around her and for herself, and that she knows a mistake before she even makes it. Next time she's looking for a place to live, she should consult with me (I would have totally ruled out WB and recommended Greenpoint. Are you kidding? You like to go to bed early, wake up early, and you give not a fuck about the way you dress? Why would you live in WB? You need the old, far away, un-hip 'hoods full of middle class 1st-3rd generation immigrants: Astoria, Greenpoint, Forest Hills...) And is she ever considers buying a place (ha ha!) in New York, she should definitely call me first! (bottom line: a co-op full of old people, no children or hipsters... Do not make the mistake of buying a condo in an up-and-coming neighborhood [Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, etc.])

What's interesting is that reading Drinking at the Movies made me feel more foreign than I have felt in a while. It's hard to explain, but I will try: This 20-something-year-old "independent" woman living alone in the big city and making all the wrong decisions seems soooooooo American. It's overflowing with privilege, not in that "I'm rich and careless" kind of way, but more in the American white, middle class kind of way. I feel the same way about the young hipsters in my neighborhood, the TV shows they makes about these people [granted, I have never actually watched any...], the "existential" crises they seem to have, all the while failing not to make stupid mistakes all the time, putting themselves in ridiculous living situations, hanging out with people that irritate them more than anything else, not doing anything interesting in NY yet paying shit loads of money to live in NY... And I think of myself in my 20s, and I say, perhaps I am just old now. Then I go back to my country and look at the 20 year olds there, and find them much more sensible, responsible, in touch with their families, OK, under the strict scrutiny of their families for the most part, but hey, perhaps that's what makes them sensible and responsible... And just when you think THAT is boring, who wants that, they'll come out and say something like they are obsessed with fishing rods even though they've never gone fishing or they love the Quay Brothers even though nobody in their country has ever heard of their names... So you realize, hey, it is possible not to be a fuck up in your 20s and still be interesting, have a life, have hobbies, live. And let's not forget, these kids manage to make plenty of mistakes, too. They are just not the same kind as the ones chronicled by Wertz and the plethora of similar stuff related to the younger generations in media today. Maybe, then, these are the kind of mistakes that make sense for the type of people they are: privileged Americans who leave home before they are married or not for school, usually come from a divided house [divorce], allowed to drink, smoke, and do drugs as much as they want, have no financial bang-for-your buck understanding, perhaps have too much money even though they are complaining of being broke...

I could go on, but I'll stop. No idea what I am saying anymore...

The book is engaging and fun to read. Wertz is annoying at times, but not as annoying as character(s) in some other Brooklyn-based, "look, I'm an ass" graphic memoir stuff... (I just realized this does not pinpoint at all who I mean; they all live here now!!!) I am infinitely baffled by people who keep making the wrong choices, young'uns who pay an arm and a leg to live in a dump, or even pay little to live in a dump, and so on... I am also in awe of having a talent that one can use to make a living with, and combined with privilege, how it can just lift you out of the mess of bad mistakes you have made.

Wertz has a great way of convincing the reader of her own point of view. She is so convincing that it is hard to step back and see the good things she has done, which ultimately help her get through everything: she is close to her family who care about her, she has friends who she can talk to, she has a fairly resilient work ethic when it comes to drawing, she reads, and she manages to keep her spirits up for the most part.

In terms of drawing style, Wertz keeps it simple when it comes to people, though expressions and emotions are well drawn. Her paneling is funny at times. The architectural details, store fronts, apartment layouts, parks, trees are all awesome! The adventures her brain and her wallet have are hilarious!

Highly recommended for those who are fascinated by who these kids are today. Too late to recommend it to that kid you are sure will turn out just like Wertz, or much much worse. They wouln't read it anyway (unless it is etched at the bottom of a beer glass in the new local beer garden, and even in that case, they might not see to read it from their giant beard or their friend's giant beard, or the bar tender's giant beard... Maybe if it is etched on the lid of the new local organic beard pomade, then... I can't wait to grow a beard! Oh, wait...)

[Jason Pettus · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

I've been a fan for a long time now of Julia Wertz's funny, filthy web comic The Fart Party, so I'm glad to see her get a little more recognition here with her first mainstream, nationally released collection, Drinking at the Movies. And indeed, although a lot of this book simply reprints material already seen at the website, at least half of it is brand-new stuff exclusively for the book, where Wertz takes the opportunity to expand certain storylines and to get a little more serious and introspective, as only a book format allows you to. Granted, I'm not sure how charming any of this stuff might be when Wertz is forty, and no longer behaving in the life-changing, sometimes outrageously trainwreckish ways that make the comic so godd-mn funny (in this collection, for example, she moves from San Francisco to Brooklyn, all while drinking too much and going on a series of comically horrible dates); but I suppose it's then that we'll see whether Wertz is able to morph into more challenging work as she gets older, or if she'll become the ten thousandth twentysomething confessional comics artist to hang it all up right around the same time as her first mortgage. For now, I highly recommend this fascinating, hilarious look at why exactly youth is wasted on the young.

Out of 10: 9.0

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esse é mais daqueles quadrinhos que tu acha que não vai gostar por causa dos desenhos toscões e quando tu percebe já tá super envolvido com ele e se pega tendo arroubos de gargalhadas em lugares que você não deveria ter arroubos de gargalhadas. Você se identifica com a Julia Wertz porque ela é uma fudida na vida e sabe, com certeza, que é fudida na vida e que a vida dela é uma merda. Coisa que nós nem sempre gostamos de admitir para nós mesmos quando precisamos admitir isso. Outra coisa legal é que ela compara a sua vida em duas metrópoles norte-americanas e seus ritmos de vida. São Francisco no extremo oeste e Nova York no extremo leste. O quadrinho Entre Umas e Outras não tem bem uma linearidade, é composto de causos aqui e ali dentro da mesma temática. Este é o último quadrinho que li da promoção da Editora Nemo do mês das mulheres, que tem no seu catálogo muitos quadrinhos bons feitos por mulheres e com um alcance de diferentes estilos, caindo por terra o mito de que quadrinhos feitos por mulheres, ou quadrinhos femininos possuem um estilo próprio e de fácil identificação. Entre umas e outras é uma hilária prova disso.

[brunch hashbrowns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't write without apologizing for myself. Even if I try not to, the apologies slip by in secret. Nuances of word choice. What themes are emphasized.

Then I read another autobiographical comic and realize how commonplace all this is. Drinking at the Movies is no exception.

While there were a few minor annoyances in Wertz's style -- her eyes are huge (and oddly asymmetrical?) so she's the most sympathetic, everyone else is exaggerated into how they best reflect her own self-deprecating attitudes -- I enjoyed Drinking at the Movies for everything it was. Wertz's strong personality shines through in her art and makes everything damned lovable. Yes, all your assumptions about autobio comics will be confirmed. But it's also uniquely and distinctly Julia Wertz, and that makes it funny and engaging.

[Ma'Belle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I normally love graphic memoirs like this, I really do. But the banality of Julia Wertz's boring existence just made me wonder why anyone thought her days were worth being chronicled and published. The only virtue to this book I could think of would be possibly helping someone else out of a slump of alcohol-induced depression. It might sound egotistical, but I have more interesting adventures, introspections, and random encounters with strangers on the street on just about any given day than Wertz had in this entire collection combined.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel was a real mixed bag. For the most part I really related to the author, moving to NY is a bewildering experience for everyone, however I didn't self-medicate my first year here with alcohol. I was quite concerned for the author's liver by the end of the novel. However, like the author I did move to NY from Northern California and, like her, I miss good Mexican food frequently.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I believe for this book to hold any value for you, you need to be a NYC transplant. If you have never moved to NYC this book will probably not make any sense!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this a while ago, but love anything Julia Wertz writes. She isn't for everyone, but if you love a very honest story, espeically this one, of her drinking problem, but told from a humors point a view...give it a try.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars