Over two decades ago, Michel Rabagliati first introduced his close friends and family to Paul — a teenage boy growing up in Montreal in the 1970s.
Paul was Rabagliati’s creation: a comic that illustrated childhood, first loves, his first apartment and even divorce.
The tender snapshots of daily life packed with cultural references and rich details of Quebec resulted in Rabagliati being chosen as one of the illustrators featured in a new set of four stamps released by Canada Post this month.
Artists Chester Brown, Seth, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki and Rabagliati collaborated with Canada Post to create original drawings featuring main characters from their most beloved books.
“This is really the first time that we’ve honoured Canadian graphic novelists with a stamp issue,” says Eli Yarhi, manager of stamp development at Canada Post.
“It really speaks to Canada’s stature in this field at the international level.”
He says from start to finish, this type of project takes at least 24 months.
“It’s sort of the best day at work when we get to issue the letters inviting people to be honoured on a stamp for the work that they’ve done over the course of their career,” said Yarhi.
Below is an excerpt of the conversation between Julia Caron, host of CBC’s Quebec AM, and Rabagliati. The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Julia Caron: How did you find out that Canada Post wanted to showcase your artwork and your character Paul as postage?
Michel Rabagliati: They started the project a long time ago, in fact, during the pandemic. So they contact me because they wanted to do something about comics and I did some sketches, so it’s not a surprise. It’s a project we work [on] together. I didn’t know exactly who was going to be showcased on the set, but now I see that we’re four and I’m pretty honoured about that. I really like those guys. I used to read all the work from Seth and Chester Brown in the ’90s, so these guys have been working longer than me on comics and it’s really an honour to be with them.
JC: Tell us about the creative process of coming to that final stamp design.
MR: Yeah it was really fun to do because the space is so small but the printing is very, very sharp. All the work that is done by Canada Post is really top notch in the matter of printing and editing and the resolution, it’s magnificent, it’s really sharp, but the space was really, really small.
Quebec AM12:24Michel Rabagliati sends Paul to the Post Office
Michel Rabagliati’s cartoon character Paul is one of four characters and illustrators showcased on a new set of 4 stamps released by Canada Post. It’s just one sign of how the art form of graphic novels has garnered more respect and prestige in Canada – and abroad – over the years. He joins Quebec AM host Julia Caron to talk more about what he has seen change over the course of his celebrated career.
JC: What was it like to see the final result? Have you seen it on an envelope or on a postcard?
MR: Yeah, they sent us what they called the first day’s issue envelope. So yeah, it comes out really nice. I’m pretty proud of that. I started my series 25 years ago and now I have a stamp. For me it’s really an honour. In ’95 they did another comic artist, Superman — Joe Shuster. He’s the creator of Superman and they did a series for him in ’95, but it was Superman and it was about the Canadian superheroes. But now they’re they’re showcasing graphic novelists. It’s a bit different.
JC: That also shows just the leap from talking about comics to taking things a little bit more seriously and respecting the ninth art form.
MR: That’s the beautiful part of it. It’s just that it’s showing people that comics have evolved and that’s where we’re at now. And these books, there’s not a lot of humour in all those books. It’s about real life and the construction of these books now are like real novels. It’s not, you know, to please children or just to have fun. It’s these authors. They have something to say. That’s how I see my work.
JC: The fact that it says Paul à Quebec on the stamp and you’re really showcasing the best of Quebec. What does it mean to be an ambassador for this type of art, in a Quebec context?
MR: Well, it’s always very pleasing and flattering. Here in Quebec in 1998, there was nothing really going on in the comic scene. All the publications.… These magazines were all dead and nothing was going on at the end of the ’90s. But with La Pastèque, my publisher, and Paul, something happened and people started reading these sort of comics. So my comics, my books, encouraged people to go see elsewhere.