Palookaville #24

Palookaville #24

by Seth

An intimate, unforgettable, and exquisite collection, Pallookaville 24 is an essential for your Seth library.

Palookaville 24 marks the long-awaited return of Seth’s beloved series, which offers readers an invitation into the world and varied artistic practice of the iconic cartoonist.

Beginning with Seth’s serialized adolescent autobiography, Nothing Lasts , we enter the fleeting summers of his late teen years, specifically focusing on his summer jobs―a stint as a gofer at the Ministry of Natural Resources and his experiences as a bellboy, dishwasher, and cook at a local inn. A memoir ruminating on memory and place and the people who pass through his life, this chapter of Nothing Lasts closes with a seminal event in Seth’s young life.

An intriguing visual feast, The Apology of Albert Batch is the culmination of ten years of collaboration between the director Luc Chamberlane and Seth―a short film documenting Seth's venture into puppetry. An extensive photo essay detailing the making of the film accompanies a DVD.

And lastly, Seth presents, warts and all, an exercise from his sketchbook. A simple Select five names from a list and produce five stories to go with them. Drawn loosely with poster paint and ink, the work is spontaneous, showing a different side of the master artist. Palookaville 24 showcases Seth’s artwork alongside his continually evolving artistic practice with unique elegance.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Memoir

112 pages, Hardcover

Published July 25, 2023

About the author

Seth, born Gregory Gallant in Clinton, Ontario, is a Canadian cartoonist celebrated for his distinctive visual style, deep sense of nostalgia, and influential contributions to contemporary comics. Known for the long-running series Palookaville and the widely acclaimed graphic novel It’s a Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, he developed an aesthetic shaped by mid-20th-century magazine cartooning, particularly from The New Yorker, which he blends with themes rooted in Southern Ontario’s cultural memory. After studying at the Ontario College of Art and becoming part of Toronto’s punk-influenced creative scene, he adopted the pen name Seth and began gaining recognition through his work on Mister X. His friendships with fellow cartoonists Chester Brown and Joe Matt formed a notable circle within autobiographical comics of the early 1990s, where each depicted the others in their work. With Palookaville, published by Drawn & Quarterly, Seth refined his signature atmosphere of reflection, melancholy, and visual elegance. Beyond cartooning, he is an accomplished designer and illustrator, responsible for the celebrated book design of the ongoing complete Peanuts collection from Fantagraphics, as well as archival editions of Doug Wright and John Stanley. His graphic novels Clyde Fans, Wimbledon Green, and George Sprott explore memory, identity, and the passage of time through richly composed drawings and narrative restraint. Seth also constructs detailed cardboard architectural models of his imagined city, Dominion, which have been exhibited in major Canadian art institutions. He continues to live and work in Guelph, Ontario, noted for his influential role in shaping literary comics.

Reviews

[Megan Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read the other Palookavilles yet, but this one is easy to jump right into. Seth's style is so easy to read--they're comics you fall right into. His reflections on the nature of memory add a nice depth to his nostalgic journeys. There are some multimedia components to this book--photos and even a DVD performance--and in typical Drawn & Quarterly format, the book is a beautiful object. Highly recommend!

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any new edition of Palookaville is a welcome addition to my Drawn & Quarterly shelf, and the new one is great. We’re treated to more of Seth’s sketchbook comics (five short stories in the back of the book), which are a lot looser than his more formal stories, like Clyde’s Fans, and It’s A Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken (still my personal fave). This volume—it stopped being a comic with #20, I believe, and is now a hardback book—also includes a DVD plus photos from Seth’s performance art, a film called The Apology of Albert Batch, directed by Luc Chamberland and featuring puppet work by Seth (who insists, in an introduction to the film framed by beautiful color photos in a 20-page section of the book, that “he’s no puppeteer”). The real star of the book though is the opening story, Part Four of Nothing Lasts. It’s a reminiscence of Seth’s teenage years working at a local restaurant. Presented in what is basically a 16-panel grid format over almost 45 pages, this is Seth at his best, with an autobiographical story that shares not only his life but the transience of his memory of these times. It’s evocative, almost poetic, and filled with beautiful cartooning. I know it’ll be a number of years until Seth gives us Palookaville #25, but I’ll be here, patiently waiting for another lovely work of art.

[Peter Landau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the simple drawings and smart design. The stories are like a maze, no, more of a labyrinth. It’s a meditative journey. I just wish my kids would fix their Xbox so I can watch the accompanying CD. Kids.

[Cameron Chesney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very much enjoying Seth’s continuing new memoir.

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 biblio

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite easily the most lavishly presented serialized comic ever.

But with a cover price of $40 I don't think too many creators are trying to replicate this! This even comes with a DVD.

Nothing Lasts (Part 4)
Seth is a bit older now, so I found this the most interesting of the parts so far. He's working at Cove Inn as a busboy. I should look back, but I think he covered this part of his life in Palookaville #1. It's kind of nice and reminds me of Mimi Pond's The Customer is Always Wrong (they even use the same blue hues).

The Apology of Albert Batch (Article and DVD)
A little article about this which was filmed during the documentary Seth's Dominion (Luc Chamberland). Not sure why this wasn't just included with that release since it was a pretty thin package. Seth seems to be very hesitant to share this (okay I think I just answered my own question!). He is credited as "performer" in quotes.

Anyways, Seth got interested in the idea of moveable puppeteering storytelling. Essentially stories performed with miniatures all fitting inside an oversized briefcase. He moves the puppets around and narrates the story. It's essentially a physical presentation of a typical Seth story. Albert Batch is a disliked man who drew a famous Canadian comic strip. Similar to Gasoline Alley, it starts off with fishing gags but eventually he develops a large cast of characters who all age in real time.

It was quite cool. Actually reminiscent at times of those descriptive segments in a Wes Anderson film. Seth even sounds a bit like someone Anderson would cast with a very distinct voice. I liked the part where Seth scrolls through a bunch of drawn images. The puppeteering is definitely not good, but I was prepared for that fact.

But a story of an old disliked cartoonist of a fictional newspaper strip? That's quintessential Seth.

Selections from Sketchbook 13
This was really nice. Seth does some improvised storytelling using the name of a flower and that flowers color. So the first story is "Blue Delft" and uses blue on top of Seth's line work. Most of the stories are typical Seth... meandering down old streets talking about how things used to be. Nostalgia for the old Canada. But it's quite beautiful and I enjoy that its presented as photos of the sketch book instead of scanned.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seth’s back with a new “issue” of Palookaville even though they’ve stopped being single issue comics for some time now and have morphed into high-end glossy, pricier hardcovers over the years. Palookaville #24 has the fourth instalment of Nothing Lasts, a photo essay on a short film collaboration called The Apology of Albert Batch, a copy of the short film, and Selections From Sketchbook Thirteen, a series of short comics.

Seth is a great cartoonist with a unique style but Palookaville #24 wasn’t for me. Nothing Lasts Part 4 is hella boring. It’s a reminiscence from when Seth worked as a busboy at the Cove Inn (on the cover) as a teenager in the early ‘80s. He also worked for the Canadian Fisheries or something. Nothing interesting happens (which this new serial may as well be called) and that’s that.

The Apology of Albert Batch is a hand-made puppet show enacting a story Seth wrote, which was filmed by Luc Chamberland. The short film is included in this book as a DVD on the inside back cover, for anyone who still has a DVD player, or you could watch it on YouTube.

“Puppet” is a generous word to describe the hand-made things in the film. They’re crudely-made dolls that are stationary except for the hands which Seth jiggles about while telling his boring story of an old, fictional cartoonist from yesteryear. It’s worse than it sounds and I didn’t make it through the 24-minute short.

Selections From Sketchbook Thirteen are short stories based on random flower names. They’re instantly forgettable, pseudo-spooky tales - just filler basically.

Seth’s art is great. I love his view of the world as this moody, twilit place. He’s as fascinated with things more than people, as ever, with the stories featuring eerily empty streets, buildings, furniture, objects, and only very occasionally people.

Even as a Seth fan, there’s really not much to enjoy with Palookaville #24 - it’s visually compelling but the stories are immensely dull. You’re not missing out on anything if you decide to skip this instalment.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Palookaville is back! Seth’s sporadically published serial “comic book” returns after a couple of years after the publication of the complete “Clyde Fans,” chapters of which had been serialized for years in the pages of earlier Palookaville installments. Part an examination of the lives of various denizens of Seth’s invented town, Dominion (presumably somewhere in Ontario, Canada), part chronicle of Seth’s other ongoing projects (often physical realizations of some aspect of Dominion or its inhabitants). I had assumed—wrongly, I am happy to report—that the finale to Abe and Simon Matchcard’s decades-long, desultory mismanagement of the family business (selling oscillating fans) did not mean the end of the Palookaville series, too.

Palookaville 24 comprises three sections: the fourth installment of “Nothing Lasts” (autobiographical snippets about growing up in semi-rural Canada); photographs from the filming of “The Apology of Albert Batch,” a puppet show designed, built, and performed by Seth (and included as a DVD with the book!); and excerpts from his sketchbooks, which show how he turns a set of prompts (list provided) into stories.

The book is excellent. Seth seems to have reached a creative apex in which story ideas and their layout seem to flow effortlessly from his brushes. Visually, every page of “Nothing Lasts” is a surprise of design in which the story’s emotional content is conveyed by the mutual support the story’s words and images lend each other—a surprise but always understated and never garish. Even though “Nothing Lasts” is in its fourth chapter, knowledge of the previous installments is unnecessary for understanding and appreciating it. Strongly recommended for those who appreciate excellence in graphic design, storytelling, and/or cartooning.

For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...

[David Karlsson]

Den kanadensiska serieskaparen Seth är en av mina favoriter. Jag har läst de flesta av hans serieromaner, men har av nån anledningen inte gett mig in på hans oregelbundet utkommande samling Palookaville föränn nu med nummer 24.

Seth tycks vara mer eller mindre besatt av det förflutna. Hans verk utspelar sig nästan alltid i mitten av det förra seklet och handlar inte sällan om mer eller mindre bortglömda pionjärer inom seriekonsten, och han går själv alltid klädd i rock, kostym och hatt.

Den här samlingen är inget undantag. Vi bjuds dels på en längre självbiografisk serie där Seth kämpar med minnets begränsningar när han försöker återskapa de jobb han hade som ung. Sidorna är som vanligt fantastiskt tecknade och komponerade, och förstår jag saken rätt är detta bara en del av ett större projekt som förhoppningsvis kan resultera i en egen bok en dag. Vi får också ett antal kortare stämningsfulla serier baserade på blomnamn som även de målar upp platser ur det förflutna.

Slutligen innehåller boken en presentation av kortfilmen "The apoplogy pf Albert Batch", som även medföljer som dvd. Det är en filmad dockteater som bygger på en verklig serieskapares liv och död, skapad och berättad av Seth. Trots att han rör sig utanför sin normala form känns både stil och teman igen och det är en rolig twist på hans normala skapande och dessutom väldigt snygg.

För den som gillar serier är der en varm rekommendation att spana in Seth. För egen del kommer jag försöka få tag på några av de tidigare numren av Palookaville.

(Tidigare publicerad på Instagram utan betyg, sätter därför inget såhär i efterhand.)

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Palookaville #24 (2023) is like a party for Seth friends, though I’ll admit I am only getting it now, in 2025! But I read it all in one sitting, and then viewed the DVD film of his puppeteering story. The first section is the fourth installment of Nothing Lasts, and it focuses on Seth’s working two summers in a restaurant, and a summer for The Ministry of Natural Resources. Part of it, like any memoir, is about memory, the fading past, the best way to represent what you still recall. Sometimes that is through anecdotes, through portraits of key people, boring work, sometimes through images he recalls. It reminded me a bit of Guy DeLisle’s Factory Summers, though it is consistent with the nostalgic tone that Seth brings to everything he does.

The second part is a short chronicle of the making of a short film of Seth’s puppet play, The Apology of Alfred Batch, which is one of Seth’s sad, isolated cartoonist stories. You get a dvd with the book of the film, by Luc Chamberland, and it is interesting, and as promised, the puppeteering isn’t very good, but that’s in a way part of the point, its charm.

The third part of the book is an experiment from his sketchbook. He finds a list of flowers, chooses various names that interest him, then writes a story for each flower name, coloring it appropriately. These stories have an air of mystery to them that reminds me of his Ghost Stories illustration project. An idea for a creative writing or art class! Are thse stories great, as good as the classic ghost stroies he illustrates? Nah, but I like anything he does and they are good stories. I like the approach.

Honestly, though it is a grab bag of recent work, this will still end up as one of my favorite comics productions of the year.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Review based on advance copy.) Issue 24, after too long a wait, is finally here, and is as usual a quiet delight. There are three sections, a continuation of Seth's ongoing memoir of his youth, "Nothing Lasts"; a series of photos from preparations for the film of his puppet show (included as a DVD with the package); and five sketchbook stories with titles derived from the names of flowers. These are perhaps the most interesting feature. Unlike "Nothing Lasts," with its resolute focus on character, these are all mood pieces, almost devoid of characters, reflecting instead on places. They have a mysterious, almost uncanny feel to them, and are tantalizingly ambiguous. The "Nothing Lasts" section continues to play with the conventions of autobiographical comics, stressing the imperfections of memory and the irretrievability of the past. So, very much Seth territory, and consequently, a cold, reserved sort of delight.

[Regis Philbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This latest issue of the semi-annual hardcover version of Seth's long-running comic is chockfull of value for money: the fourth chapter of his teenage memoir, a selection of four gorgeous themed short stories from his sketchbook, and a photo essay section devoted to the making of Luc Chamberland's film of "The Apology of Albert Batch" which is a puppet show created by Seth, included as a dvd with this issue.

[William Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful package, but I was left disappointed. Not sure how I feel about Seth going back to re-do the "Peaches" story from issue 2 and 3 of Palookaville. I felt way too many pages were taken up with the photographs of the puppet show, especially since we're provided with a physical and on-line way to watch the production itself. The sketch book pages saved this issue for me. I will always be interested in checking out whatever Seth produces.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great cartooning as always, I just wish there were more of it.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange suitcase play included.

[Evan Suggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A master of small moments

[Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Can a memory die of neglect?”

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the wait? Maybe but if you like Seth, you'll find lots to love here.