A pandemic time capsule by a celebrated underground cartoonist
When COVID-19 hit Montreal, cartoonist Rick Trembles started The Weakly Dispatch, a series of diary comics offering his personal perspective on pandemic life. Trembles' asthma put him at risk of a serious infection so, like many people, he took careful measures to avoid coming into contact with the virus. He self-isolated for months, surviving on grocery deliveries from friends, DIY workouts (to prevent muscle atrophy), and of course, comics.
Leaving the apartment, however, turned out to be even harder than staying isolated. Initially foiled by stair-painters and coughing neighbours, Trembles quickly discovered a newly perilous world, populated by unmasked people and handshake enthusiasts.

The Weakly Dispatch is a wry and vulnerable look at the day-to-day complexities of life during a global pandemic, by the creator of Represented Immobilized.

Rick Trembles is a Montreal-based illustrator, post-underground cartoonist, writer, filmmaker, & musician. Two of his Motion Picture Purgatories books have been published by the UK's FAB Press. He's written for Fangoria & Rue Morgue Magazine, and his comix have been published in internationally distributed books, periodicals & anthologies such as Russ Kick's The Graphic Canon, Robert Crumb's Weirdo, Darius James' That's Blaxploitation, Thomas Waugh's Montreal Main, Fantagraphics Books' Pictopia, Kier-la Janisse's Spectacular Optical Kid Power, Satanic Panic, and Yuletide Terror, and France's Hopital Brut for Le Dernier Cri. His award winning animated film Goopy Spasms has toured the festival circuit globally. He is currently animating a series of cartoon shorts called "Building 108." He's been a singer-guitarist for post-punk band The American Devices since 1980. The L.A. Times has called him "A famous free thinker," the Guardian has called him "Genius."

Rick Trembles' profile page

"Highly entertaining reading. . . The best comics artist in all of North America on the topic of the Covid-19 pandemic." - R. Crumb