The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists

The comics of Seth tend to be miniature universes full of history and myth, harkening back to a bygone era, whether real or imagined. His latest, The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists, which grew out of the same sketchbook as his 2005 book, Wimbledon Green, is no exception. It offers a tour of a venerable institution to which countless north-of-the-border artists supposedly belonged. A nostalgic narrator leads the way through the last remaining branch of the "G.N.B. Double C," frequently digressing on the works of its influential artists. The tour turns fantastical with a trip to the organization's main archive, an igloo-ish museum located in the northern wastelands. Amid these flights of fancy, Seth suggests that the sense of fraternity that once existed among cartoonists is somehow missing now. A lot of panel space is spent juxtaposing Canadian comics' glorious past with its seemingly bleak present. Yet despite the occasionally wistful tone, The Great Northern Brotherhood is never an ordeal to read, thanks to constant segues which present a broad and fascinating range of would-be Canadian cartoons, covering such genres as sci-fi, comedy, and adventure. With each one, Seth shows how a comic strip or cartoon publication can evolve over its lifespan, often in surprising ways. Though the narrator may be eulogizing the demise of Canadian comics, the actual content of Seth's book seems to celebrate their versatility.