Seth (cartoonist)
Encyclopedia
Seth is the pen name
of Gregory Gallant (born September 16, 1962), a Canadian
comic book
artist and writer. He is best known for comics such as Palookaville
.
Born in Clinton
, Ontario
, Seth attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto
. He currently lives in Guelph
, Ontario
, with his wife and two cats.
series Mister X
, but he soon moved to his own series, Palooka-ville
(published by Drawn and Quarterly
), which was part of a miniature boom in non-genre
alternative comics
from Canada in the 1990s. Seth, Chester Brown
, and Joe Matt
not only also began their own semi-autobiographical
series at the same time but were friends and sometimes depicted each other in their stories. Palooka-Ville began as a low-key chronicle of the artist's daily life but moved on to longer and more ambitious stories, including what was later collected as the graphic novel
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken
— an apparently autobiographical tale that was actually fiction.
He is also a magazine illustrator and book designer, perhaps best known for his work designing the complete collection
of Charles M. Schulz
's classic comic strip
Peanuts
. The books, released by Fantagraphics Books
in 25 separate volumes (so far) combine Seth's signature aesthetic with Schulz's minimalistic comic creation. Similarly, he is designing the Collected Doug Wright
, and the John Stanley
Library.
He provided the artwork of Aimee Mann
's 2001 album Lost in Space
.
Clyde Fans, the story of two brothers whose trade in electric fan
s suffers and eventually goes out of business from the failure to adapt to the rise of air conditioning
, was serialized in Palooka-ville. Seth's short graphic novel Wimbledon Green, about an eccentric comic-book collector, was published in November 2005.
In April 2006, Penguin Classics released the revised Portable Dorothy Parker
, with a jacket and French flaps designed and illustrated by Seth. He said, "It’s fun when you care about the project, definitely. In fact, I’ve been a commercial illustrator for years, besides being a cartoonist, and that's not fun. That's like the kind of thing, I find, you're just selling style in a way."
Seth's affection for early- and mid-20th century popular culture
and his relative disdain for pop culture since then is a recurrent theme in his work, both in terms of the characters (who are often nostalgic for the period) and his artistic style. (Although, as a teenager, he was a vocal fan of mainstream superhero comics; he even had a couple of fan letters
published.)
Seth's artwork has landed on the cover of The New Yorker
three times, which he said was a professional milestone he was happy to achieve.
in Phoenix, AZ from April 21 through August 19, 2007.
In a collaboration between the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Seth, and RENDER, one of the buildings from Seth’s Dominion City project has been re-built as a walk-in theatre in KW|AG’s Eastman Gallery.
Harvey Award
Ignatz Award
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Gregory Gallant (born September 16, 1962), a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist and writer. He is best known for comics such as Palookaville
Palookaville (comics)
Palookaville is a comic book written and drawn by cartoonist Gregory Gallant, better known as Seth, and published by Drawn & Quarterly. The first issue appeared in April 1991 and it has been irregularly published ever since...
.
Born in Clinton
Clinton, Ontario
Clinton is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the municipality of Central Huron. Established in 1831, Clinton first began when Jonas Gibbings, Peter and Stephen Vanderburg cleared out a small area to start. Clinton started to grow in 1844 when William Rattenbury laid out...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Seth attended the Ontario College of Art in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. He currently lives in Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, with his wife and two cats.
Career
Seth's first published comics work was as an illustrator on the Vortex ComicsVortex Comics
Vortex Comics was a Canadian independent comic book publisher that operated during the years 1982 to 1994. Under the supervision of president, publisher, and editor Bill Marks, Vortex was known for such titles as Dean Motter's Mister X, Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss, and Chester Brown's Yummy Fur...
series Mister X
Mister X (Vortex)
Mister X was a series of comic books first published in 1983–90 by Toronto-based Vortex Comics. Created by album and book cover designer Dean Motter, it was developed for a year in close collaboration with comic artist and illustrator Paul Rivoche, whose series of poster illustrations stirred up...
, but he soon moved to his own series, Palooka-ville
Palookaville (comics)
Palookaville is a comic book written and drawn by cartoonist Gregory Gallant, better known as Seth, and published by Drawn & Quarterly. The first issue appeared in April 1991 and it has been irregularly published ever since...
(published by Drawn and Quarterly
Drawn and Quarterly
Drawn and Quarterly is a Canadian comic book publishing company, headed by Chris Oliveros, and based in Montreal, Quebec. Its focus is on graphic novels and underground or alternative comics. Drawn and Quarterly was also the title of the company's flagship quarterly anthology during the 1990s...
), which was part of a miniature boom in non-genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
alternative comics
Alternative comics
Alternative comics defines a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to "mainstream" superhero comics which in the past have dominated the US comic book industry...
from Canada in the 1990s. Seth, Chester Brown
Chester Brown
Chester William David Brown , is an award-winning, best-selling Canadian alternative cartoonist and, since 2008, the Libertarian Party of Canada's candidate for the riding of Trinity-Spadina in Toronto, Canada....
, and Joe Matt
Joe Matt
Joe Matt is an American cartoonist. He started drawing comics in 1987 and is best known for his autobiographical work, Peepshow. In addition to his cartooning career, he is known for his large collection of vintage Gasoline Alley comic strips. Matt lived in Canada from 1988 to 2002...
not only also began their own semi-autobiographical
Autobiographical comics
Autobiographical comics are autobiography in the form of comic books or comic strips. The form first became popular in the underground comics movement and has since become more widespread...
series at the same time but were friends and sometimes depicted each other in their stories. Palooka-Ville began as a low-key chronicle of the artist's daily life but moved on to longer and more ambitious stories, including what was later collected as the graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonistSeth, published in collected form by Drawn and Quarterly in 1996. It was originally serialized in issues four through nine of Seth's comic book series Palookaville from December 1993 to June 1996...
— an apparently autobiographical tale that was actually fiction.
He is also a magazine illustrator and book designer, perhaps best known for his work designing the complete collection
The Complete Peanuts
The Complete Peanuts is a series of books containing the entire run of Charles M. Schulz's long-running newspaper comic strip Peanuts. A new book in the series is released every six months, and each contains two years of strips . Slipcased sets of two volumes are also available...
of Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.-Early life and education:Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul...
's classic comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
. The books, released by Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, graphic novels, and the adult-oriented Eros Comix imprint...
in 25 separate volumes (so far) combine Seth's signature aesthetic with Schulz's minimalistic comic creation. Similarly, he is designing the Collected Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cartoonist)
Douglas Austin Wright was an English-born Canadian cartoonist. Creator of the long-running comic strip Doug Wright's Family, or Nipper, he is the namesake for the Canadian Wright Awards....
, and the John Stanley
John Stanley (comics)
John Stanley was a comic book creator, best known for writing Little Lulu from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also was an accomplished artist who drew many of his stories, including the earliest Little Lulu issues. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed...
Library.
He provided the artwork of Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
's 2001 album Lost in Space
Lost in Space (album)
Lost in Space is an album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, released on her own label SuperEgo Records in 2002 . A special edition released in 2003 featured a second disc containing six live recordings, two B-sides and two previously unreleased songs.Mann performed the songs "This Is How It Goes"...
.
Clyde Fans, the story of two brothers whose trade in electric fan
Fan (mechanical)
A mechanical fan is a machine used to create flow within a fluid, typically a gas such as air.A fan consists of a rotating arrangement of vanes or blades which act on the air. Usually, it is contained within some form of housing or case. This may direct the airflow or increase safety by preventing...
s suffers and eventually goes out of business from the failure to adapt to the rise of air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
, was serialized in Palooka-ville. Seth's short graphic novel Wimbledon Green, about an eccentric comic-book collector, was published in November 2005.
In April 2006, Penguin Classics released the revised Portable Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, with a jacket and French flaps designed and illustrated by Seth. He said, "It’s fun when you care about the project, definitely. In fact, I’ve been a commercial illustrator for years, besides being a cartoonist, and that's not fun. That's like the kind of thing, I find, you're just selling style in a way."
Graphic novels
From September 2006 to March 25, 2007, Seth serialized a graphic novel titled George Sprott (1894–1975), for the Funny Pages section of the New York Times Magazine. Selections from George Sprott were featured in Best American Comics 2009. In the liner notes of that publication, Seth announced he was expanding Sprott into a book, filling in gaps that were cut to meet the restraints given by NYTM. The book was published by Drawn & Quarterly in May 2009.Seth's affection for early- and mid-20th century popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
and his relative disdain for pop culture since then is a recurrent theme in his work, both in terms of the characters (who are often nostalgic for the period) and his artistic style. (Although, as a teenager, he was a vocal fan of mainstream superhero comics; he even had a couple of fan letters
Comic book letter column
A comic book letter column is a section of a comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns , letter pages, letters of comment , or simply letters to the editor...
published.)
Seth's artwork has landed on the cover of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
three times, which he said was a professional milestone he was happy to achieve.
Model buildings
A selection of Seth's original models (studies for his fictional city, Dominion) was included in an exhibition at the Phoenix Art MuseumPhoenix art museum
The Phoenix Art Museum is the Southwest United States' largest art museum for visual art. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western...
in Phoenix, AZ from April 21 through August 19, 2007.
In a collaboration between the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Seth, and RENDER, one of the buildings from Seth’s Dominion City project has been re-built as a walk-in theatre in KW|AG’s Eastman Gallery.
Awards
Eisner Award- Best Publication Design (The Complete Peanuts), 2005
Harvey Award
- Special Award for Excellence in Production/Presentation (The Complete Peanuts), 2005
Ignatz Award
- Outstanding Artist, 1997
- Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection (It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken), 1997
External links
- "Quirky Canadian Leads the Return of the Classic Graphic Novel, Globe and Mail, August 6, 2005
- "Retro Man", Toronto Life, Dec. 2005
- An audio slide show from Toronto Life profile
- "Q&A: Seth", The Walrus, August 21, 2008