Wimbledon Green

Starred review from August 15, 2005
This "sketchbook story" continues Seth's impressive run of side projects, a densely packed, quirky novel that is some of his most compelling work yet. Wimbledon Green
uses multiple comic strip formats and dozens of characters and points of view to tell the story of the title character, a mysterious comic book collector generally regarded, as the subtitle suggests, as the best around. Through the memories of Wimbledon's associates, enemies and friends, Seth recounts the rise of Wimbledon and key events in the Green legend: the discovery of the priceless Wilber Webb collection and the hunt for the mythical comic book The Green Ghost
#1. All of this is both a loving satire of the milieu the author himself inhabits and also a kind of fictional history of comic book collectors. Free from the graphic atmospherics and demanding literary motifs of his more literary work, Seth is able to stretch out and create a world and a story that is light and funny while still deeply felt and finely crafted. Wimbledon Green
is an excellent comic romp, and will seem all too familiar to collectors and the people that love (or loath) them.

November 1, 2005
Seth, known for his leisurely, meticulously crafted representations of life's minutiae, as in the serialized family saga " Clyde Fans," lightens up in this delightful departure set in an alternate world in which comic-book collectors are sophisticated financiers rather than socially maladroit nerds. Greatest of them all is Wimbledon Green, whom Seth portrays in short vignettes and monologues featuring his fellow collectors as well as when he takes center stage in a story of him and his rivals on an epic, cross-country chase to snag the world's rarest comic, the legendary " Green Ghost" No. 1. Green is admired and envied for his business acumen " nd "his unmatched knowledge of comics lore, though the comics and creators in his world don't exist in ours. Seth's artwork is uncharacteristically and appealingly casual here but still retains the strengths on view in his more typical works: impeccable design sense, elegant wordcraft, and a distinctive, nostalgia-embracing sensibility. This is unpretentious fun with special appeal to hard-core comics collectors who may aspire to Green's collecting triumphs and savoir faire.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)