Seth

[Trout]

I just met Seth. He was cool.

In fact, he was so cool that he was dressed in an immaculate 1940s suit, with matching hat. He also had old-fashioned glasses and a fascinating leather satchel full of pens, brushes and the like. A real character and a gentleman.

But the experience had another unusual feature. I'd never seen any of Seth's work, and my first experience of it was the original art on the wall of a gallery. How often does that happen? It was a privilege to get such a good look at it. It was a complete, six-page story about the origins of the little comics that are dispensed in gumball machines and it was utterly, utterly charming.

So I went and found its creator to say thank you. This, by the way, was at the launch of a comic arts festival here in Ontario. Remarkably, Seth (real name Gregory Gallant) was sketching and signing books without the aid of a table, somehow managing beautiful inks with a brush while also holding each book. I said hello, apologized for not having read his work before and promised to seek it out. And I will.

So, hive mind, can you recommend some? Should I start with Palookaville?

And has anyone else had their first experience of great work by seeing the original art?

- Trout

[Skullmo]

Where is the exhibition - i love Seth's work

[Trout]

Where is the exhibition - i love Seth's work

It's at a non-profit called The Arts Project, in London Ontario.

[Dunk!]

My only experience of his work is his Mister X run straight after the Hernandez bros issues.

The clean-line retro 30's sci-fi style was my comic bible back in the late 80's though it got scrappy as it went from issue to issue.

Who you describe sounds exactly like the artist as I imagined back then. Great stuff.

Dunk!

[Colin YNWA]

...in London Ontario.

You're just making that place up to confuse us aren't you!

[TordelBack]

It's A Good Life if You Don't Weaken is his 'big' one, and it's very good,  but I prefer the warmer, shorter Wimbledon Green: I love it.  Both are familiar looks at the comics obsessive.  George Sprott I found quite depressing, although it is beautifully drawn.   Also check out Seth's appearance as a character in Joe Matt's books - very funny - particularly since he goes to such lengths to construct himself as a character.

And call it shallow, but all Seth's books are beautiful objects.

[Grant Goggans]

The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists and Wimbledon Green are my favorites.  I love the town of Dominion.  I wish that I could visit it in the late 1960s.  Probably a lot of things to see there.

[ZenArcade]

....In London, Ontario etc. No Trout isn't making that place name up. I placed a good sized blast crater over it in my Map of Mega City One. It lies in the neck of land between Lakes Eerie and Ontario. Z

[Trout]

Thanks, lads. I'll go looking for books next week. Tordels, from what I saw yesterday, his books are beautiful things. People were lining up with them for sketches and I wanted one. I found myself thinking of Grandville and Kingdom of the Wicked.

Special thanks to ZenArcade for his disturbing map. Hmmm...

Edited to add: I suspect Dominion may be London Ont. Seth grew up in this area and the six-pager on the wall had one or two hints, based on something a city councillor told me at the event. I'll look into it and report back.

[AlexF]

'It's a good life...' is one of my favourite comics ever. As a story it's not necessarily amaznig or gripping, but I think Seth really does have perhapas the best grasp of how to marry words and images to create an enthralling whole. He constructs some delightful wordless panels that just add so much character and flavour to the situations he explores.

I alos recommend looking out for him as a character in Joe Matt's work, along with Chester Brown, too (three cartooning friends who draw on their real life experiences to create very different comics).

[Andrew_J]

Wimbledon Green gets my vote, particularly as this is a forum for comic obsessives. The story about mysterious comic collector Wimbledon Green is a lovingly told tale about this hobby. Highly recommended. Seth's art is just gorgeous to look at too.

Would love to see that exhibition.