The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists

THE COMPANION GRAPHIC NOVEL TO WIMBLEDON GREEN

Whenever you’re in Dominion, on Milverton Street you will stumble across an arresting array of handsome old buildings. The one with the pink stone façade and the familiar Canadian cartoon characters over the doorway is the Dominion branch of the Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists, erected in 1935 and the last standing building of the once prestigious members-only organization. For years, this building, filled with art deco lamps, simple handcrafted wood furniture, and halls and halls of black-and-white portraits of Canada’s best cartoonists, was where the professionals of the Great White North’s active comics community met—so active that there were outposts in Montreal and Winnipeg, with headquarters in Toronto. Everyone from all branches of the industry—newspaper strips, gag cartoons, nickel-backs, comic books, political art, accordion books, graphic novels—gathered in their dark green blazers to drink cocktails, eat, dance, and discuss all things cartooning.

Seth opens up his sketchbook to an unseen world of Canadian comics, sometimes fictional and sometimes not, sometimes humorous and sometimes bittersweet, but always fascinating in its creative exploration of Canadian comics history. Whereas Wimbledon Green celebrated the comics collectors, The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists celebrates the cartoonists the comic collectors love.