The Patch Interview: Cartoonist Seth

Canadian artist and writer Seth, best known for his New Yorker covers and comic books such as Palookaville, visits Oak Park Thursday with fellow artist Daniel Clowes as part of the Writers at Wright Series.

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On this tour, Seth is promoting his new book, The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists — a loving (mostly fictional) tribute to cartoonists of yore. Seth talked with Patch about his upcoming , the influence of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts on his work and his fascination with architecture.

Q: The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists seems like an absolutely necessary, needed idea. Have any of your fellow artists — in Canada or abroad — suggested such a real-life brotherhood?
Seth: Well — not yet. I suspect many cartoonists would love to have a fraternal (or sororal?) club that they could belong to. Not myself though. I love the idea of tradition and I love the idea of an old club...I am not so fond of other cartoonists though, that I would wish to spend that much time with the majority of them. In imagination, it might be quite charming but in reality it might look a bit more like a private, never-ending comic book convention.

Q: And what would membership require of you?
Seth: Many rude answers come to mind regarding personal hygiene and basic social skills. Perhaps a requirement that one actual book must be read each year which doesn't involve a barbarian or a space warrior or a man in tights.

Q: In your introduction to the book, you are very open about this being an abandoned project. What made you fall in love with it again?
Seth: Truthfully I returned to the book mostly just to finish it up. It was only once I got rolling on it again that I came around to it again. Nothing mysterious — simply put, I started to have fun making things up again. I think I abandoned the project because I hit that mid-project doldrums. Sometimes just getting over that hump creatively makes all the difference.

Q: You've been designing the Complete Peanuts books. What did you learn from Schulz as a cartoonist?
Seth: Practically everything. Simplicity in design. Writing from actual experience. Following your own eccentricities in subject matter. Allowing the work to be melancholy. A rock solid work ethic. The importance of kindness. The beauty of "cartooned" drawing (rather than "realistic" drawing). I could go on and on. Schulz was probably my most seminal influence. The one that made me want to be an artist. Long before I read comic books I loved Peanuts. It's no coincidence that most of the cartoonists I respect hold Schulz in very high esteem.

Q: How did David Michaelis' recent biography make you see Charles Schulz differently?
Seth: It didn't. It simply made me like and respect him all the more. A deep and thoughtful biography though.

Q: You've had a longstanding fascination with architecture, even constructing models of buildings in your fictional city, Dominion. This week, you're speaking in . What's your reaction to his buildings and have you been in many?
Seth: I am profoundly impressed with Wright. A genius, of course. I'm really looking forward to visiting Unity Temple. I know the building but have never actually been there before. I've visited his 1908 Chicago studio several times. and I were just at the Martin House in Buffalo together earlier this year.

I like to feel that I have learned lessons from a handful of great architects (Wright included) about simplicity and the harmonic arrangement of forms. I've learned that good art almost always comes from real life experience and an appreciation of beauty. These sound like really dead obvious statements but I'm not so sure these are general principles for artists any longer.

Q: You and , though at the same press, have very different styles and subject matters. What can the audience expect from an evening with you both?
Seth: That's a good question. I am waiting to find out myself. I believe our plan is to simply talk to each other and try and have a good conversation. Knowing Dan, and his good sense of humour and easy-going manner it should be rather relaxed and amusing. We both love old comics and aren't exactly shrinking violets when it comes to having opinions so hopefully it won't be utterly boring. We've not done this talk before though so who knows? Hopefully it won't be a series of long dull complicated questions followed by one word answers or rolled eyes.

Daniel Clowes and Seth will appear at Unity Temple on Thursday, October 13, as a part of the Writers at Wright program put on by , Midwest Media, Friends of the Oak Park Public Library and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation. Tickets are $10 in advance at the Book Table or here. Your ticket can be redeemed for $10 off the cover price of either The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists or The Death-Ray at the event. Buy both titles and you get $15 off the total.

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