Wimbledon Green

by Seth

From the critically acclaimed cartoonist of Clyde Fans and It's A Good Life comes a humorous graphic novel on the obsession of comic-book collecting.

Taking a break from the serialization of his saga Clyde Fans and the design of The Complete Peanuts, critically acclaimed cartoonist and illustrator Seth creates a farcical world of the people whose passion lies in the need to own comic books and only in pristine, mint condition.

Meet Wimbledon Green, the self-proclaimed world's greatest comic-book collector who brokered the world's best comic-book deal in the history of collecting. Comic-book retailers, auctioneers, and conventioneers from around North America, as well as Green's collecting rivals, weigh in on the man and his vast collection of comic books. Are Green's intentions honorable? Does he truly love comics or is he driven by the need to conquer? Lastly, is he really even Wimbledon Green?

A charming and amusing caper where comic-book collecting is a world of intrigue and high finance. Part riotous chase, part whimsical character sketch, Wimbledon Green looks at the need to collect and the need to reinvent oneself.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Canada, Comix

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Seth, born Gregory Gallant in Clinton, Ontario, is a Canadian cartoonist celebrated for his distinctive visual style, deep sense of nostalgia, and influential contributions to contemporary comics. Known for the long-running series Palookaville and the widely acclaimed graphic novel It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, he developed an aesthetic shaped by mid-20th-century magazine cartooning, particularly from The New Yorker, which he blends with themes rooted in Southern Ontario’s cultural memory. After studying at the Ontario College of Art and becoming part of Toronto’s punk-influenced creative scene, he adopted the pen name Seth and began gaining recognition through his work on Mister X. His friendships with fellow cartoonists Chester Brown and Joe Matt formed a notable circle within autobiographical comics of the early 1990s, where each depicted the others in their work. With Palookaville, published by Drawn & Quarterly, Seth refined his signature atmosphere of reflection, melancholy, and visual elegance. Beyond cartooning, he is an accomplished designer and illustrator, responsible for the celebrated book design of the ongoing complete Peanuts collection from Fantagraphics, as well as archival editions of Doug Wright and John Stanley. His graphic novels Clyde Fans, Wimbledon Green, and George Sprott explore memory, identity, and the passage of time through richly composed drawings and narrative restraint. Seth also constructs detailed cardboard architectural models of his imagined city, Dominion, which have been exhibited in major Canadian art institutions. He continues to live and work in Guelph, Ontario, noted for his influential role in shaping literary comics.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seth writes in his introduction that this is not a good book; it's poorly drawn, the lettering is sloppy, the pages are done poorly, the narrative is badly done, and so on. This is honest of him, and like Chris Ware, his friend, typically self-deprecating. He dedicates the book to Ware and tells us to read Rusty Brown and not read his own inferior-in-comparison work. But I really liked it.

No, more than that, I loved it. It's a kind of screwball comedy send-up and homage to the work of comic book collecting and making, too, very odd and quirky and funny and who would care about some obscure Canadian small town nerd comics guy, but he makes us care, and helps us see how important comics were to him and so many of us.

So I disagree with him. He is wrong, this is not poorly done, it is greatness, in a small and understated package, about a guy most people might not cross the street to address, but this is his point, he is every man, not Superman. He is Charlie Brown, grown-up!

As with Susan Orleans' The Orchid Thief, another book about a collector and collecting, this is a look into a world and life that you may have thought you didn’t exactly care about (or wow, maybe you are indeed a collector! Eureka!!) but either way, now you do care, because Seth shares it so lovingly, you do. I do, anyway, I really liked it. Read Seth and fall in love with him and Wimbledon Green.

[S. Zahler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've not read a better comic created during this millennium than Seth's Wimbledon Green, excepting only Chris Ware's incomparably brilliant (and far more challenging) first Rusty Brown collection, which is my favorite work in the medium.

A number of great comics have come out in the 2000s: I adore Chris Ware's Building Stories & Rusty Brown, Baby Boom (Yuichi Yokoyama), Birds of Maine (Michael DeForge), Bad Gateway (Simon Hanselmann), Prison Pit (Johnny Ryan), Powr Mastrs (C.F.), Survive 300 Million & Infinite Bowman (Pat Aulisio), Identity Crisis (Brad Meltzer/Rag Morales), The Vision & Mister Miracle & Up in the Sky (Tom King/Various Artists), Battlefields: Dear Billy (Garth Ennis/Peter Snejbjerg), Punisher MAX: Soviet (Garth Ennis/Jacen Burrows), DC: New Frontier (Darwyn Cooke), Ice Haven & Patience (Daniel Clowes), More than Meets the Eye (James Roberts/Various Artists), George Sprott (Seth), American Barbarian & Go Bots (Tom Scioli), Blades & Lazers (Ben Marra), Paying For It (Chester Brown), American Splendor: Another Dollar (Harvey Pekar/Various Artists), The Gull Yettin (Joe Kessler), Dream of the Bat (Josh Simmons/Patrick Keck), Batman: Black Mirror (Scott Snyder/Jock/Francesco Francavilla), Fragments of Horror & Shiver & Tombs (Junji Ito), and Inuyashiki (Hiroya Oku), but the graphic novel that I've shared with my girlfriend, pals, agent, sister, and mother as the best, most enjoyable example of what the comic medium can deliver is this modest little green package drawn up north.

Seth's simple art conveys just enough detail--exactly the right amount--for his story, and his approach compels the reader to look both deeper and inwards as a comical and quietly tragic narrative unfolds around the titular character, a very flawed and divisive comic book collector who is one of my favorite protagonists in fiction.

Although many great E.C. comics artists emulated the visual style of Orson Welles's masterpiece Citizen Kane, Wimbledon Green is the unassuming comic book that actually delivers that movie's multifaceted depth, obfuscated content, and mystery in the medium of illustrated stories.

Put this gem in a time capsule to show what a gifted human being can express with ink and paper.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world's greatest comic book collector, profiled documentary-style by his colleagues, acquaintances and admirers: this is "Wimbledon Green", Seth's most enjoyable book. Through small panels done in single colours we hear about the great collector and his habits. How he came to be, allegedly stealing comics from unsuspecting members of the public, winning all the auctions, outfoxing his competitors with either money or other ways. We hear about the Wilbur R Webb collection, a fabled store of mint condition Golden Age comics. We hear the conspiracy theories about Green's true identity. And along the way we are treated to the obsession of comics collecting as memorably explained via the collectors, as well as Seth's knowledge of the era reproducing facsimiles of comics from that time. We learn about Green's favourite comic "Fine + Dandy" a limited comic run about hobos in the '30s. And in the middle is a racy Tintin-esque search for an elusive comic "The Green Ghost #1".

Seth's work is always among the best the indie comics world has to offer. Here he scales back the art to become more sketch-like with smaller panels like Chris Ware's work. The single tone colours of the pages, sometimes chrome, sometimes golden, sometimes a dull green, add to the atmosphere of the book.

Seth hints at darker secrets to Wimbledon Green, chiefly among them the identity as well as the scene at the end where a thug tears up some rare comics leaving Green in a ball on the floor sobbing - blackmail? It all adds to the richness of the story. And even if the world of comics collecting feels a bit stuffy, Seth throws in a hammy chase quest for Green and his competitors to go on to stir up the reader's attention.

Seth mentions in his introduction that this was a way of reconnecting to his youth which was spent with similar comic books and a way of remembering his recently deceased mother as she was when he was a child. The final few pages of the book deal with Wimbledon's own mother succumbing to dementia and the scenes bring a powerful resonance that is missing from the generally jolly tone of the book.

I read this a few years ago when it came out and I just re-read it today and am pleased to see that it still holds up really well. The book itself is a small hardback, about the size of a regular paperback, with wonderfully crisp pages bound nicely and with an embossed cover. The overall design of the book is really wonderful, as the inside of the book is such a treat. Seth's best book in my opinion, it's definitely the place to start for new readers looking to enter into Seth's melancholic world of comics. Hooray for Wimbledon Green!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to think that this fictional world of wealthy and incredibly eccentric comic book collectors really exists. I only know the broke-ass kind. I also wish I could read all the made up titles in this story like those "Fine & Dandy" hobo comics. Furthermore, I wish I had a secret underground hideout full of rare comics. And maybe that turban wearing manservant to fly me around in a helicopter in search of rare hobo comics.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supposedly taken from Seth's sketchbooks, the book is a lively, jaunty, hilarious read. As Seth notes, inspired by recent work from Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, and David Heatley, the book uses short fragmented episodes, featuring many characters, to tell one over-arching story. The story, ostensibly about a master comic book collector, is a loving portrait of the comics industry, one that encompasses creator, readers — and comic book stores! At the same time, it is a mystery, an adventure story, and a screwball comedy. (And there's even one character who looks strangely like Seth.) In a manner similar to Michael Chabon's brilliant Kavalier and Clay, Seth creates out of whole cloth a history of comics similar to our own. Fitting his own tastes, most of the comics are of the non-superhero variety, reflecting a much more ecletcic mix of genres.

And despite its less-polished style, the artwork is classic Seth, with that beautiful clean line, use of simple shapes, loving attention to architectural detail, and his characteristic ink wash shading.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't read any Seth books before, but knew of him through his depictions in Joe Matt's harrowing book, Spent. This is a complex little comic (book) novel told through varying POVs of more than a dozen characters. It imagines a world where the top comic book collectors in the world scheme and steal from one another, are rich men, and all live in Canada. It's the antithesis of Chris Ware's collector Rusty Brown, though even here there's no pretending that such an obsession will ever get you a girl.

It's wonderful story-telling, particularly when we spend time with the main character traveling cross the country, visiting old farmers and forgotten book stores looking for hidden treasure.

Good stuff. Rambling, full of characters trying to recapture childhood memories and fight off the coming darkness. Also a better little mystery than say, the Ice Haven book by Dan Clowes

Seth appears in the book as a thinly disguised character named Jonah, proudly displaying his quirks and faults.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

More loose character studies than a flowing story, it's structured like a bad documentary and numbingly repetitive in its layout, but the humanity shining from the page makes up for those flaws.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

this review first appeared on [http://intraspace.blogspot.com]

this is the second graphic novel i've read in the last couple of weeks. this one wasn't overly brilliant - but it was reasonably interesting.

it is all about a mysterious comic collector named wimbledon green. it is kind of a character sketch of green and is told mainly through the recollections of other collectors who have had dealings with him. we find out that he's been involved in a number of scandals, no-one knows his true identity and he is a man of strange habits. the comic collecting world is divided between those who loath him and those who think he is a genius. the recollections of the collectors are presented in kind of an interview format - so panel after panel just feature the head and shoulders of the character telling the story. this gets a bit monotonous. occasionally there are narrative sequences and it's really a shame that the whole book isn't like this, or mainly like this.

it is nicely presented - i love it when graphic novels are enhanced by nice book design. this one has a green hard cloth cover with rounded corners and gold embossing - making it look vintage in style - i suppose to match the era of the comics that wimbledon green collects. seth, the author, is friends with chris ware - whose book design is always brilliant. the 'about the author' blurb cites seth as a book designer in his own right.

maybe this book would be more interesting if you were more familiar with the collector world. but somewhat enjoyable nonetheless. doing some reading on seth on the internet, i discover that he nearly always has characters who are collectors - "Collectors are interesting because they seek out things that no one cares about and find out the vital information regarding those items. They catalogue and interview related creators, manufacturers etc. They preserve important cultural items."

[Punk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic Novel. No one knows much about Wimbledon Green except he's probably the greatest comic book collector in the world. At least, that's what they think they heard. This is framed as a documentary, a sort of Behind the Music for comic book collectors, told through interviews and short flashbacks, no section more than a few pages, some even as short as five panels. The story builds slowly and takes off on a few tangents, part history and part action-adventure.

The paper is heavy and thick and the artwork on it is all matte browns and greens, tiny one inch squares usually filled with a person or two and little to no background detail. In the forward, Seth calls it "good enough" for a book he put together on the fly and even admits he considers some of the characters ugly, but it's undeniably his quirky style, just simplified, and I found nothing ugly about it. It's not beautiful, certainly, but it's homey and whimsical. Seth isn't afraid of a blank panel with just a character walking, or thinking, and that's a refreshing change from superhero comics. It creates a pause very much characteristic of human thought and only adds to the sense that this is a documentary.

Three stars -- I really liked the way the story was framed, told in pieces and broken up with small intermissions.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and different graphic novel, Wimbledon Green orbits around the mystery of a notorious comic book collector of the same name. Who is Green, where did he come from and why is he causing such ripples in the highly competitive world of comic collecting?

This book is an outright parody. Born from doodles and sketches made by the cartoonist Seth, the book is a fun little yarn that leaps from interview to interview, interjecting with the odd story to give context. It never takes itself very seriously, so the joy of this book is not in the outcome but the journey.



The art is beautiful in a minimalist way, with small frames housing tiny images of ink, markers and watercolors. The colours are very dull - intentionally grey and brown to give the book a rustic and older feel. But it all comes together nicely and shows Seth's confident hand at his craft.

Wimbledon Green is not for everyone. You should enjoy experimental comic art and minimalist cartooning for this one to bite. But I loved its simplicity and yet detailed design.

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Przemysław Skoczyński · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeden z bohaterów „Clyde Fans” – Simon – był zafascynowany dziwnymi pocztówkami z przeszłości, z kolei tematem „Życie nie jest takie złe, jeśli starczy ci sił” jest obsesja na punkcie prac nieznanego rysownika – Kalo. Seth uwielbia freaków zafiksowanych na jakimś skrawku kultury, co najwyraźniej widać w „Wimbledon Green”.

To komiks o kolekcjonerach powstały z miłości do gatunku. Seth początkowo rysował go jako wprawkę między tworzeniem innych prac, jednak z czasem skierował te szkice w kierunku większej fabuły. Fabuły nie zawsze spójnej, poskładanej z krótkich historii, fragmentów, relacji czy prezentacji kolekcjonerskich rarytasów i składającej się na nostalgiczny obraz zrodzony z młodzieńczych fascynacji dziecka i wyobrażeń o tym jak mógłby wyglądać świat, gdyby komiksy miały wartość rynkową i prestiż porównywalny z dziełami wielkich malarzy.

Fikcyjna opowieść o Greenie pełna jest sprzecznych relacji i skrawków, które zawierają sporo niewiadomych. Brakuje jednego narratora, są spekulacje, poddawane stale w wątpliwość tezy i mroczna tajemnica. Są także wplecione w całość przygodówki, które cechuje intensywność sensacyjnego filmu.

Mimo, że styl grafik jest tu dosyć przejrzysty, a postacie niemal bajkowe, zachwyca warsztat i budowanie historii z szeregu małych kadrów podobnych do projektów Chrisa Ware, który zresztą jest przyjacielem autora i sporą inspiracją. W niedzisiejszym i eleganckim sznycie tego komiksu można się zakochać

[Maximilian Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know you're truly encountering the mastery of a comic book artist when a captivating tale like Wimbledon Green emerges seamlessly from the pages of their sketchbook. Each intricate story harmoniously weaves together, forming an organic tapestry that unveils the remarkable journey of the ultimate comic book collector. A resounding triumph, Wimbledon Green deserves a resounding hurray!

[David González López · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seth, en la introducción: "este libro no es más que un boceto, básico, torpe y funcional".

Lo que viene a continuación: *el mejor tebeo que has leído en los últimos cinco años*

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.6

[Miguel Jiménez · Rating 3 out of 5]

"¿Quién es Wimbledon Green?" es el tema recurrente de esta novela gráfica. A través de historias cortas -la mayoría sin ninguna conexión entre sí-, la gente que conoce a Wimbledon Green, entre vendedores, coleccionistas y estudiosos del cómic van dando forma a la imagen de este personaje particular. Esto porque su personalidad genera asombro y misterio, a veces transformándose en admiración y alegría por hablar de algo tan maravilloso como pueden ser los cómics, al centrar la vida de una persona en eso: juntar cómics y ser el mayor coleccionista del mundo, como es Wimbledon Green.

Daría la impresión de que el tono de la novela gráfica se movería entre la alegría y la extrema amabilidad, dejando de lado un punto fundamental de la realidad como lo sería la tristeza o el resentimiento. Sin embargo, el dibujante Seth fabrica de forma magistral dichas sensaciones a través de la estructura de la historia. Estaría de más señalar cómo resuelve esto, lo que importa es que lo hace, incluso repuntando la historia.

Wimbledon Green es, ante todo, una expresión directa hacia lo que significan los cómics y las personas que se sumergen en ellos. Por ejemplo, cultivar un gran cariño hacia aquellas historias que tan buenos ratos te pudieron hacer pasar. Pero sobretodo, el momento en que te ocurrieron, como puede ser la infancia. También aparece la obsesión y lo que se hace para conseguir ese cómic.

Algo llamativo es el reconocimiento que comparte -en la introducción del libro- el autor canadiense Seth hacia sus colegas estadounidenses del cómic alternativo, como Daniel Clowes o Chris Ware. Señala su admiración, así como la inspiración para hacer cosas semejantes. Si se creería su comentario tiene algo de envidia -sea mala o buena, es igual- o algo semejante, su misma obra Wimbledon Green, dibuja una inusual sencillez de quien acepta como ejemplo a sus contemporáneos.

[Glen Farrelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early in my first term of film school, the professors were adamant that talking heads made for dreadful films and television. Talking heads are close-up shot where all the viewer sees is the head and shoulders of the speaker as they drone on. It's fine to use these shots sparingly, but rely on them is deadly boring. Graphic literature borrows so much from cinema - so there are lessons to be learned from it as this book proves. This books is mostly just a series of very-talky talking heads drawn in tiny panel grids. Just like there are good stories that don't make for good movies, this book does not make for a good graphic novel. It's visually boring, overwhelming and relies much too heavily on "interviews" of talking heads to tell the story. If this book had been written by someone without such a well-established name, it would not be anywhere near as well received as it.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost passed this up because of the word "sketchbook" on the cover. I assumed it might be another collection of drawing and studies without any real story. There is a story however, so don't be fooled. It is a surprisingly slight story set in a heavily realized world of super wealthy comic book collectors who fly around in gyrocopters and travel by rocket train in search of rumored issues of vintage pulp fiction magazines.

I took Seth's advice and saved the forward, reading it as an afterword instead. I'd recommend skipping it altogether since Seth's poor opinion of his own work made me feel kind of dumb for liking it.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite graphic novel. I loved visiting a world where not only were comics considered the legitimate art form they actually are, but also where there was intrigue surrounding the medium. It also had a Citizen Kane feel to it when it came to people talking about Wimbledon and we never get to directly see his behavior.

[Olavia Kite · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this book is poorly drawn, as the author mentions in the foreword, what hope is left for us who really draw quite poorly?

The book itself is beautiful. The story, scattered about like a puzzle, was intermittently gripping. It's a dreamy, nostalgic view into the world of comic books and collecting in general.

[George Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whenever I think that comics are coming into their own as a new confident art there is this kind of self referential twaddle. This is a great medium, Seth is a great talent, they should be producing really interesting challenging work. And this is not it.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Seth! This is so, so good! Thank you, Seth!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every comic book nerd is gonna wanna read this.

I recognized myself or some other collector in practically every page of this little book.

It's all so simple, really.

[Arka James Saha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seth never disappoints. And Wimbledon Green is no exception.

[Emre Yavuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anlattığı hikâye çok eğlenceli olsa da kareleme ve balonlama açısından okuması çok zor ve yorucu bir grafik roman.

[Jake Nap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is lightning in a bottle. I’m familiar with Seth having read his 2 major graphic novels (It’s a Good Life and Clyde Fans). With Clyde Fans, I was mesmerized and in love. It’s a Good Life was pretty decent, but there’s something about it I admire. I’ve read it twice and while I didn’t necessarily enjoy reading it, there’s something about it that brings my mind back to it constantly. That’s why I picked Wimbledon Green up. I knew it was about comic collecting from the title and after listening to an interview with Seth I knew I had to have it. I absolutely loved every single panel of this book.

Wimbledon Green paints a picture of the title character through a lot of short stories and vignettes. There aren’t many stories in this that are too long, but the narrative of the book is the mystery of Wimbledon. Questions are brought up and most of the time never answered. But that doesn’t matter. The journey this book takes the reader in is so god damn fun and entertaining. It paints this exaggerated world full of cut throat comic collectors that id just such a joy to read. I love all the over the top personalities and made up comics history that’s detailed throughout. A lot of the story is told through these interview segments that on paper would seem boring, repetitive and redundant. But Seth writes them in a way that kept me really engaged. The over the top personalities of these different collectors were so fun to read. I also love how much Seth pokes fun at the comic book fandom and the art of collecting. You can tell how in tune he is with the comics fanbase due to all the satirization of people anyone into comics knows.

The art in this book is great, some of my favorite Seth pages are in this book. I really like the layouts, especially when Wimbledon explains his favorite comic. He’ll have this large image surrounded by 4 panels (2 on each side) that are meant to be read as a 2x2 grid. The large panel in the middle serves as context for the 4 panels surrounding it and I thought it was a pretty ingenious layout that never really got too confusing. I love his character designs in this book, especially for the main antagonist (if there is one) Jonah. It’s a huge caricature and satire of himself down to the singular name. Seth pokes fun at his fear of technology and pretentious view in comics through this character and it was really awesome of him to do that.

The writing like I mentioned earlier is constantly great. It has a good pace and has a large amount of wit to it that keeps the book fresh and entertaining. My only nitpick is that I wish there was more to read here. I would love for more Wimbledon Green, and this is coming from a guy who’s not too big on sequels.

Wimbledon Green is a fantastic reading experience and one I’d recommend to anyone involved with comics as a medium. It’s so fun and charming that I just want to read it over and over again.

10/10

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a child and we lived in a city, my father used to take my brother and I to a comic stores once a month. We would be given a few dollars each and would confer so as to get as many comics between us both that we would both enjoy - mostly Scrooge McDuck, Richie Rich, that sort of thing. Da would steer us to the Beanos and Dandies - he would read them to us in his thick Glaswegian accent, the way they were meant to be read. My brother and I would sprawl out in the van and read at lightning pace, swapping back and forth as we finished. There weren't many left in the to-read pile by the time we returned home.
The only time I didn't read them all the same day was when we had to go to hospital. My brother had medical issues - it was normal, back then, to be tucked up in the ward's visiting chairs for the night, dozing under flourescence.
I remember the thrill of choice, of checking carefully the stickers to make sure our returns would cover the purchases - for they did returns, it must have been Elizabeth's or similar - of the paper, the smell of collected paper, of collected comics, the plastic and paper and the knowledge that the future was infinite and filled with vast comics, an unending stream that one human could never completely read.

We moved from the city, and the only place that stocked comics was the newsagents on the corner, and even then it stuck to the Archieverse, new editions once a month.

My grandmother bought us TinTins when she visited - after she passed I sent them all to my brother, because they were really for him, because comics were for boys. I begrudge him that, a little, and remember him walking through the CBD, reading and walking, the one with the shark submarine.

I have them digitised, of course. I'm collecting again, and it's easier on my hands to read them on my Kindle Fire, on my Surface.

But reading this book made my heart ache for the promise of those mornings when I was 4 and the world was big and we would get dressed to go to the comic book store and rummage through dusty piles to find that one gem. You can't digitise the endless wonder of a comic book store, or the elusive joy of finding that one book you're been looking for.

I've only recently gotten back into the comic scene due to the Xena new releases and the Adventure Time serialisation, and I hadn't realised how much of this world I had missed.

It's an incredibly evocative piece of work for anyone familiar with the golden era of comics, or for anyone with the nostalgic quality of regret for the bygone era of paperback and plastic sleeves.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wimbledon Green: The Greatest Comic Book Collector in the World (2005) by Seth: Canadian cartoonist/graphic novelist Seth (his pen-name, natch) spends a lot of space criticizing his own work here in both the Introduction and the Acknowledgements. It almost seems like a Mea Culpa for not sticking to serious and semi-comic explorations of his own life. I find it interesting because Wimbledon Green is the most engaging thing I've ever read from Seth!

Begun as a sort of time-wasting finger exercise, Wimbledon Green came to somewhat obsess Seth. It's a graphic novel told in semi-independent short pieces from a wide variety of points-of-view. All centre upon the mysterious Ontario comic-book collector Wimbledon Green and his shenangans (most of them oriented around finding and acquiring rare comic books) over the last half of the 20th century.

Seth simplifies his style here, pleasingly so. It suits the material, which spices up the weird world of comic-book collectors with intrigue, deadly rivalries, collectors with private train cars, and Wimbledon Green's own autogyro. Along the way, Ontario residents will notice some now-gone landmarks -- the late Golden Pheasant Motor Inn in London, Ontario, for one.

In a way, this is a tale that applies to all obsessive collectors. The rivalries just involve deadly battles. Or nearly deadly battles, anyway. Through it all runs the question of just who Wimbledon Green is. A fake name? A real man? What real man? That questions weaves in and out of various sub-plots involving the acquisition of legendary comic collections, comeuppance for legendary thieves from the collections of others, and various internecine struggles within the comic collecting community.

It's all great fun, with satiric stretches also devoted to (fictional) comic books and comic-book creators, and to the strange obsessions of Wimbledon Green himself. Things can get a little microscopic at times in this compact and handsome volume -- it really would be swell on much larger pages. Nonetheless, while Seth mocks the collectors, he also shows a great affection for them, and for comics in general. Most of the characters are fictional, though a few real comic shop owners do show up to share their stories of Wimbledon Green. Recommended.

[Kit Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

After reading Clyde Fans, I appreciated the confident style and sleek design of Seth's work. After reading It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, I was blown away by the depth of his narratives. In constructing a mock-autobiography, he's playing with all manner of narrative positions, questions of self and legacy, and the meaning of art. I picked up Wimbledon Green expecting more of what I got from Clyde Fans--attractive design and well-composed pages, but less in the way of experimental storytelling.

Holy hell does Seth have it going on. The most major detail that he slips into this book is the character of Jonah, a narcissistic, sleazy comic thief who dresses exclusively in vintage clothing, is known only by a mononym, and is generally reviled by all those who know him. He is, of course, drawn just about identically to how Seth tends to draw himself. With this (relatively minor) character, I'm left rethinking the entire construction of Seth as a writer and artist. His affectations, styles, and chosen subject matter have been recast into some kind of elaborate performance art. Wimbledon Green seems to represent some kind of ideal for him--a person who is in emotional pain, who idealizes a past that he either never knew or is otherwise completely inaccessible to him, but who finds meaning and the respect of his peers through complete and utter mastery of a highly niche (and otherwise societally maligned) interest.

Alternating between a sort of documentary interview format and stylized, fantastical comic strips, Seth is constructing a mythology of Wimbledon Green, complete with an uncertain origin, rumored omnipotence, and a cast of enemies praying on his downfall. As much as the comic is a satire of obsessive collecting, it's also a celebration of its finer instincts, particularly that of finding beauty and value in forgotten works. Seth especially seems to revere the craft of the forgotten artist, placing a high value on technically competent art that is perhaps wasted on its application.

Trying to pick apart and unfold exactly what the entity that styles himself as "Seth" has been a fascinating experience so far. I can foresee my interest evolving into obsession quickly.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seth's mockumentary-styled comic about the elite comic book collectors is easily one of my favorite books I've read by him. The story mostly focuses on Wimbledon Green, a prolific comic book collector who routinely outfoxes rival collectors in auctions and makes clandestine deals to fill in his massive collection. Seth's deep knowledge for the medium is really infused into this comic, with Wimbeldon navigating the complex world of facsimile reproductions, reprints and restorations. There isn't much of main story in Wimbledon Green aside from the hunt for an elusive comic ("The Green Ghost #1), instead much of this comic is vignettes featuring different mishaps in the collecting world.

It's really the meta-narrative of Wimbledon Green that was so engaging and funny throughout. Seth pokes fun at the idea of taking comic collecting too seriously, with tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars being exchanged for comic collections being something worthy of mockery, and yet its clear that Seth has a deep reverence towards collections enriched with hard to find stuff. The satire is thus quite well balanced, and more time is spent parodying colletor mentality without taking too much of a piss about the actual value of those comics. One of my favorite bits is the interrogation into how Wimbledon Green came into possession of his collection, and how he even has the capital to make these massive purchases to begin with. The accounting into how some collectors can sustainably continue to accrue such priceless pieces has always confused me, so it was splendid to see Seth take this idea on.

Seth regards this as one of his weaker works, and I can't disagree more. The comedy, the clean layouts and soothing color palette really all worked splendidly for me. Easily one of my favorite comics about comics, and one that I feel deserves a place in my own collection.