Wendy is a hot mess, and that’s why we love her. So what happens when the beloved Canadian art-world anti-hero cleans up her act? A decade ago, Walter Scott’s first Wendy comic book, Wendy, was published. Readers instantly connected with the character’s party-girl persona, multi-page hangovers and relentless insecurities as she navigated the streets of Montreal. Some situations are particular to the time and place, while others remain painfully relatable, like smiling your way through a frenemy’s success or texting a crush and then being left on read.
In Scott’s fourth Wendy book, The Wendy Award (out July 9 from Drawn & Quarterly), we witness Wendy’s latest—and perhaps last—rock bottom, beginning with a twist no one saw coming: a global pandemic. What follows is a story that is as caustic, clever and relatable as ever but takes a deeper look at adulthood, community and the trappings of fame. It also features the ongoing adventures of other Wendy characters (and facets of Scott’s identity), like Screamo, who’s still stumbling into questionable hookups, and Winona, who’s navigating friendship with a fellow Indigenous artist. (Scott is Mohawk and grew up in Kahnawá:ke Mohawk Territory, outside of Montreal.) Scott likens it to a post-apocalyptic tale, with Wendy picking up the pieces of her life and forging her future—just as he shifts his real-life focus to his multidisciplinary-arts practice from his studio in Montreal’s Darling Foundry.
