Seth is a Canadian cartoonist obsessed with the past, not only his own childhood memories but also the early 20th century. "The bits and pieces of that time still lingering around today seem like remnants of some ghost world - a vanished world." He has been writing and drawing his award winning comic book series Palooka-Ville since 1991. More details can be found here.

If you know of any other comic-related reading recommendations made by Seth in interviews or articles we would love to hear from you. Please provide a scan and/or link if possible.
Email: recommended [at] readyourselfraw [dot] com

When The Wind Blows
by Raymond Briggs
"This is one of the greatest comic narratives ever written. It's such an affecting piece, you'll cry at the end of it."
From an interview, Destroy All Comics #2

I Never Liked You
by Chester Brown
"I really think Chester is a genius, and I don't know too many people I would class as a genius. He's a really individualistic thinker. I really feel his work comes out of the intellect... and things Chester has told me have certainly stuck in my mind and made me think about things I'm doing, especially from a technical stand point. I have so much respect for Chester that I will really take his opinion to heart."
From an interview, Destroy All Comics #2

Schizo
by Ivan Brunetti
"All in all, a pretty impressive first issue. I can't help but agree with you that Life is a terrifying experience. And the world - well, I look around and I find it hard to believe that this is the way things are. It's grim. Anyhow, cheer up. You can always retreat into a complete fantasy world like I have - desperately trying to shut out the real world. Read Charlotte's Web. That makes me want to live."
From a letter in Schizo #2

Caricature
by Dan Clowes
"There are comics that I've been very impressed with. Like Dan Clowes' Caricature story. That was a real high point for him."
From an interview, The Comics Journal #193

That's Life
by Robert Crumb
"I really related to Crumb when I was younger, especially, I remember that story, That's Life, where he's lookin' for the old records. That really struck a cord in me when I was about twenty two. I don't feel that Crumb influenced me, but I feel that when I first read Crumb, there was that feeling that he confirms your own thoughts..."
From an interview, Destroy All Comics #2

Dr Strange
by Steve Ditko
"I do love that Ditko Dr. Strange stuff. Great stuff. Really beautifully drawn."
From an interview, Destroy All Comics #2

Hicksville
by Dylan Horrocks
"Hicksville is filled with life. The drawing sparkles with originality, spontaneity and the obvious pleasure of a cartoonist enjoying himself."
From the introduction

Monkey vs Robot
by James Kochalka
"Each new Kochalka book is like the proverbial onion; new layers are peeled away revealing greater depths to his deceptively simple world. Monkey vs Robot is another piece of that onion skin - it charms, delights and surprises."
From the cover blurb

Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories
by Gilbert Hernandez
"And I think Gilbert's first Heartbreak Soup story, the very first one, I think was probably, it's a terrible think to say to an artist, but to me it's the most affecting work he ever did... I've liked plenty of other stuff he's done after, but there was something really powerful about that first story Heartbreak Soup."
From an interview, The Comics Journal #193

5 Is The Perfect Number
by Igort
"Graphically beautiful, stunningly paced - each panel is a well observed moment frozen in time. Igort focuses the eye of a master craftsman and sensitive artist on his subjects."
From the back cover blurb

Cave-In
by Brian Ralph
"Brian takes us places; I wish I'd had this book when I was a kid, so that I could have studied and pondered it, over and over again, to find the secrets it seems to contain."
From the back cover blurb

Peanuts
by Charles M. Schulz
"He has managed to capture, with these really simple characters and very few continuities, some sort of deep feeling for the human condition. I don't want to make it sound too grandiose or anything, I mean you read Peanuts and you laugh, but there is something underlying it all that's much deeper than almost any other gag strip that's ever come along."
From an interview, The Comics Journal #193

"My wife, Tania, gave me the perfect metaphor for my role in the Peanuts books. I am like a jeweler. Schulz's strips are the gems, but it is my job to create a beautiful setting for them. Hopefully a setting that makes them even more beautiful, yet doesn't overpower the gems with its own garishness or self importance. That is what I'm trying to do - give Schulz's work the dignity and sophistication it deserves. Whether I have succeeded or not depends entirely upon the readers response. Probably no response at all is the best sign that I have succeeded. I've tried hard to steer away for the cheerful pop designs that have almost always hindered Schulz's books in the past. I want the reader, when they see the book, to realize that this is an adult item, something meaningful. God knows the strip is subtle and rich enough - people need to be reminded of that."
From an interview, Book Slut.com

Included with the 8th issue of Comic Art magazine (published by Buenaventura Press, 2006) was a small 96-page booklet titled 40 Cartoon Books Of Interest by Seth. Seth identifies 40 cartoon books from his book collection, emassed during 20 years of collecting. For each of the selected books, Seth explains the significance of the book to him along side a reproduction of pages from each book. The booklet also includes a 10-page cartoon introduction explaining his collecting career.

" To know me is to know that I am a collector. All around me are the fruits of twenty years of collecting labour. I have pursued quite a range of items in my time--but the main thread has always been cartooning... This little book you are holding is my attempt to share some of these 'finds' with you. It isn't a list of the fourty best cartoon books. I've included none of the greats--no Crumb or Herriman. Nor any of my contemporaries. It's not that sort of list. Even among these old books I've tried to avoid the obvious choices. Yet, practically nothing is obscure either. Generally, copies can still be found. It's merely an eccentric grouping of favourite books. Forty cartoon books of interest. Enjoy."
Seth, from the introduction.

Rehistoric Peeps by E.T Reed (1901)
The Office Party by Corey Ford & Whitney Darrow, Jr (1951)
Town Boy by Lat (1981)
Caran D'Ache: The Supreme by Caran D'Ache (1933)
Round The World With The Doo Dads by Arch Dale (1922)
The Drawings Of Clare Briggs Memorial Edition by Clare Briggs (1930)
It Shouldn't Happen by Don Freeman (1945)
To The Kwai - And Back by Ronald Searle (1986)
The New Yorker Album by various (1928)
Das Grosse Trier-Buch by Walter Trier (1972)
It's Better With Your Shoes Off by Anne Cleveland (1955)
The Works Of John Held, Jr by John Held, Jr (1931)
Andy Capp Spring Tonic by Reg Smythe (circa 1958-60)
Fifty Caricatures by Max Beerbohm (1913)
The Projector by Martin Vaughn-James (1971)
A Book Of Drawings by H.M. Bateman (1921)
Lunar Tunes by Wally Wood (2005)
Alay-Oop by William Gropper (1930)
Forty Years With Mister Oswald by Russell Johnson (1968)
The Juggler Of Our Lady by R.O. Blechman (1953)
One Dozen Roses by Carl Rose (1946)
Lover Boy by Stan & Jan Berenstain (1958)
The World Of Donald McGill by Donald McGill (1984)
Oley The Sea Monster by Marie Hall Ets (1947)
The Passport by Saul Steinberg (1954)
M. Pouche Et Le Systeme D by Alain Saint Ogan (1939)
The Crime Busters by Patrick Seguin (1988)
Doug Wright Cartoons From The Montreal Star by Doug Wright (1965)
The Last Flower by James Thurber (1939)
Caricature - The Wit & Humor Of A Nation In Picture, Song & Story by various (1911)
The Broons by Dudley D. Watkins (1955)
The Foreign Tour Of Messrs. Brown, Jones & Robinson by Richard Doyle (1854)
So You're Going To Buy A Book! by Helen E. Hokinson (1931)
Mr Block by Ernest Riebe (1913, reprinted 1984)
Bird Centre Cartoons by John T. McCutcheon (1904)
Mansion Of Evil by Joseph Millard (1950)
Mondo Boxo by Roz Chast (1987)
Feiffer's Album by Jules Feiffer (1963)
East Of Fifth by Alan Dunn (1948)
Pictures Of Life & Character by John Leech (1864)