In Praise of Seth

I was introduced to Seth while reading Comic Art magazine. In the article they visited him in his studio and talked about his influences and process. One of his projects was that he was building a 3D cardboard city in which his comic book "Clyde Fans" takes place. I was convinced and went out and bought his graphic novels. They were great. His line work an dbook design are amazing and at the same time very subtle. "Bannock, Beans and Black Tea" was my favorite with it's tales of Seth's father in depression era Canada.

Well yesturday the new Seth book "Wimbledon Green" appeared at the comic store. I had read about it a few months back and so eagerly snapped up a copy. I was not ready for what was inside. It is an understated masterwork. It deals with the life and times of Wimbledon Green, the Greatest Comic Book Collector in the World. He persues those rare and elusive comics in his own autogyro and spends his days studying their arcane secrets. The story is told from the many points of view of his friends and competitors.

What really made it work for me was that Seth creates another world not unlike are own and it is a world I would love to visit. In this other world a whole new slew of comics exist including comics like All Bedtime and Mighty Orbit which are shown only as thumbnail covers. He takes us a little deeper into the hobo comic "Fine and Dandy" and even reproduces a few tantilizing pages in the end papers. The artwork is throughout the book is stunning with everything done in loose ink wash sketchbook style and the design is top notch as it is with every Seth project.

But the thing that really stands out is how personal and intimate the entire book is. This gets back to the core of what comics are to me, a place where stories are told and where the artwork serves those stories. And the stories in this book are ones worth reading over and over again.