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A review by davramlocke
The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists by Seth
4.0
Reading The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists is like walking through an old, dusty downtown area of some small midwestern town. You can picture what it must have looked like in its heyday when the cobbled roads were still fresh and every store still held a sign for some antique shop or corner cafe instead of the "for rent" and "closed" signs that are more common. It's a graphic novel about the history of cartoonists in Canada, a relatively obscure topic unless you happen to be acquainted with the Drawn and Quarterly Crew of artists (or unless you're a middle-aged Canadian).
The book takes its reader on a tour of a building called the GNBCC, a sort of club for cartoonists to gather, an Elk's Club for artists. It's unclear to me whether or not this building is factual or if its merely a metaphor for Canadian cartooning, and a quick internet search doesn't yield much in the way of results, but regardless, it's a surprisingly fascinating look into a history that most people, at least in the US, have no clue about. It's also very apparent just how much Seth cherishes this history and the legacy that is has left to him and to his peers.
His style is reminiscent of many old cartoonists, a move that is probably deliberate and flattering to the masters of the art. His writing is both dry, but reverential, making a reader feel like he's talking more about a religion than about a sect of popular culture. This is my first foray into Seth's work, but I find myself every bit as impressed as I was with Chester Brown or Matt Joe, and whether or not this is the best introduction to his work is debatable, but I know I'll be seeking more of it out.
The book takes its reader on a tour of a building called the GNBCC, a sort of club for cartoonists to gather, an Elk's Club for artists. It's unclear to me whether or not this building is factual or if its merely a metaphor for Canadian cartooning, and a quick internet search doesn't yield much in the way of results, but regardless, it's a surprisingly fascinating look into a history that most people, at least in the US, have no clue about. It's also very apparent just how much Seth cherishes this history and the legacy that is has left to him and to his peers.
His style is reminiscent of many old cartoonists, a move that is probably deliberate and flattering to the masters of the art. His writing is both dry, but reverential, making a reader feel like he's talking more about a religion than about a sect of popular culture. This is my first foray into Seth's work, but I find myself every bit as impressed as I was with Chester Brown or Matt Joe, and whether or not this is the best introduction to his work is debatable, but I know I'll be seeking more of it out.