Seth's Wimbledon Green- the Greatest Comic Book Collector in the World

“Wimbledon Green”, the latest graphic novel work by the artist known as “Seth”, is an entertaining trifle of a story… but probably of minor interest to anyone but dyed-in-the-wool comic book collectors of a certain age.

The story in “Wimbledon Green” concerns a rich eccentric who proclaims himself “the greatest comic book collector in the world”. This claim is supported through the words of the various supporting characters who have had dealings with Green over the years and have their unique perspectives on what sort of man he is. Some are obviously in awe of his accomplishments and others have come to despise him… sometimes with justification and other times only out of petty jealousy. The narrative is broken up into short chapters (sometimes of only a fraction of a page), most of which consist of these different characters speaking directly to the reader. As the book progresses, these little asides and anecdotes fit together to form a larger story… that of the true identity of Wimbledon Green and the true motivation behind his mania for collecting.

Seth states in a foreword to this book that the genesis of this story came from the major influence of comic books on his life when he was growing up… and I suspect that the childhood experiences of Green greatly resemble that of the author. Personally I found these reminiscences quite resonant with my own past and I suspect that many comic book aficionados of a certain age will have similar feelings of kinship.

This book began as a series of sketchbook exercises done by Seth in between his more “serious” work. As time went on these personal jottings took on a life of their own and began to form a cohesive narrative. Seth apologizes in advance for the sub-par sketchy artwork but personally the line work seems as carefully honed as his more celebrated work in “It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” and “Clyde’s Fans”.