IDLE RICHARD: Seth, the grand Canadian artist.

An idler such as myself has many interests- probably too many to count, really, but all are sorted within their own compartments in my mind, and sometimes juggled quite flippantly as the mood takes me. While it is true that I am interested in comic books (not graphic novels), I also realize on the flip side that they are for the most part escapist and nonsensical- hardly worth spending any time over. But, very clearly I understand my own nostalgic interest in them, and also that my own preference has always been for works that are aesthetic rather than for the juvenile (or non-existent) story-lines. This, I have known quite well for years...

Now, something which has also followed me for years, well over a decade, really, has been my interest in the Canadian artist Seth. I have to preface with where he is from not to define him, but to indicate my respect for his many works which feature Canada as real or imagined in some way, shape or form. It was his comic Palooka-Ville which first grabbed my attention, and in the years since then, he has come out with lengthier works in a similar and also a different style to reflect his vision. Without fail, I have picked them up, with the exception of one (George Sprott), mainly because it is large sized and I often wonder where to place it on my bookshelf- although I did read it in its entirety already when it first came out.

Well, the other day, Other Half asked me whether I was going to the Seth signing at a local bookstore, and I said, yeah, maybe, but in the back of my mind, I was not quite sure, because I always thought going as a fan reeks of the Comic Book Fanboy, so have always missed out on his few signings here in the city over the years. Anyway, I decided that this time, maybe I would go see him...

After deciding on it, I went into my usual staple bookstore to pick up the George Sprott book, and surprise surprise, there he was in his splendor- the artist Seth himself, looking through the graphic novel section. I pointed out his newest book and said, "That book is very good, I heard" and he responded, "No, it's not very good," and we had a quick exchange of words, and said I looked forward to seeing him the following day. Pretty happy was I, that I walked around for a few hours more, random places as usual, and then at the end of the night I popped into another bookstore to see if the latest issue of a magazine (Monocle) had come out, which it hadn't, but instead, there was Seth again, looking at the non-fiction book display- and, again, I spoke with him.

Two times in one day, that's pretty good.

The next day, I went to his talk (which he held with Daniel Clowes of Ghost World fame), and afterwards, had him sign and make some quick sketches in six of my books of his, as well as in my own recently unused and unloved sketchbook.