Canada Post Honors Comic Book Icons With New Stamp Series

You’ve got mail, or at least what passes for it today. The art of writing a handwritten letter feels almost extinct, drifting toward the same fate as the dodo bird. Most of our physical mailboxes are now filled with flyers, catalogues, and package deliveries, while personal correspondence has quietly disappeared. Letter writing, once a cherished ritual of connection and expression, has become a nearly forgotten craft. Even stamp collecting has faded into nostalgia, yet receiving a postage stamp created in someone’s honor remains a rare and prestigious distinction.

Canada Post is shining a spotlight on alternative and independent comic book cartoonists by celebrating their cultural impact through a special stamp series, and among the honorees are some of the most influential voices in Canadian graphic literature. One of the most exciting inclusions is Bryan Lee O’Malley, one of my favorite Canadian cartoonists, now immortalized through a commemorative stamp. O’Malley began his career as an illustrator and letterer with indie publisher Oni Press, which released his first graphic novel, Lost at Sea, in 2003. He gained worldwide recognition with Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life in 2004, introducing readers to the semi-autobiographical character Scott Pilgrim, a Toronto-based slacker musician who embarks on a surreal quest to defeat his new girlfriend’s evil exes. The Scott Pilgrim series quickly developed a cult following, earned O’Malley the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent, and expanded into a major motion picture, a successful video game, and an animated series. His dynamic visual style, deeply inspired by Japanese anime and manga, helped redefine modern alternative comics.

Also recognized is Kate Beaton, a self-taught artist celebrated for her sharp wit and intelligence. She began publishing comics in her student newspaper while studying history at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. Her history-based strip Hark! A Vagrant was launched in 2007 and attracted a dedicated readership. In 2022, she released Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, a powerful graphic memoir chronicling her experiences working in Northern Alberta to pay off student debt. The book was praised for its honest, deeply human portrayal of the oil industry and in 2023 became the first graphic novel to win CBC’s prestigious Canada Reads competition.

Canada Post’s stamp issue features six influential Canadian artists whose work has shaped the landscape of graphic storytelling. Kate Beaton is honored for Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands and its groundbreaking recognition. Jimmy Beaulieu represents the francophone comic community with works such as Non-aventures: planches à la première personne, a reflective exploration of everyday life in Montreal. Guy Delisle is known for his travel memoirs like Chroniques de Jérusalem, using minimalist illustrations to document life in complex geopolitical regions. Julie Doucet, inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame and recipient of the Grand Prix at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, is celebrated for her autobiographical work Journal (365 Days). Bryan Lee O’Malley is recognized for the globally beloved Scott Pilgrim series. Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is honored for Red: A Haida Manga, a visually striking fusion of Asian brush techniques and North Pacific Indigenous design.

There are now six Drawn and Quarterly cartoonists represented on Canadian stamps, including Beaton, Doucet, Guy Delisle, Jillian Tamaki, Chester Brown, and Seth, alongside one Canadian artist honored by the United States Postal Service, Chris Ware. While this initiative is an important recognition of the power of Canadian graphic storytelling, it is hard not to feel that several formidable cartoonists were omitted from this otherwise impressive list.

Each graphic novelist teamed up with Canada Post and Subplot Design Inc. in a thrilling creative collaboration to produce brand-new illustrations created exclusively for this special stamp release. The artwork brilliantly showcases the main characters from their most celebrated works, cleverly portrayed reading the very graphic novels in which they appear, a playful and brilliantly self-referential touch that comic fans will love. Printed by Lowe-Martin, this highly collectible issue includes a booklet of 12 Permanent domestic rate stamps, with two stamps dedicated to each graphic novelist, along with six Official First Day Covers, one for every featured artist, making it a must-have for collectors and graphic novel fans alike.

This Canada Post tribute serves as both a nostalgic celebration of traditional mail and a powerful acknowledgment of the artists who continue to redefine comics as a vital and respected art form in Canadian culture.