25 years as an illustrator, Quebecer and his comic honoured with Canada Post stamp

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.

JC: What was it like to see the final result? Have you seen it on an envelope or on a postcard?