Interview: R.O. Blechman & Seth by Sean Rogers

Peter Birkemoe is owner of The Beguiling, which stocks the largest selection of comics and graphic novels in Canada. He is also co-founder of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.

Born Oscar Robert Blechman in 1930, R. O. Blechman’s internationally acclaimed artwork spans decades, mediums and industries. He was one of the first contemporary cartoonists to pen a full-length graphic novel with The Juggler of Our Lady in 1953, which he published after graduating from Oberlin College. His illustrations and comics have graced magazines, anthologies and newspapers. He has created over a dozen New Yorker covers. Blechman presents Talking Lines, a graphic collection of Blechman’s trademark simple drawings, insightful of a complex world.

“The drawings of Blechman, which are minimalist, trembling, even hesitant, manage to express a universe of uncommon perfection.” Sempe

Sean Rogers writes about comics and cartooning for the Walrus. He is pursuing his Ph.D at York University, focusing on Canad

Revered cartoonist Seth has illustrated several comics including Clyde Fans; It’s a Good Life, if You Don’t Weaken; Wimbledon Green; Bannock, Bean, and Black Tea; and Vernacular Drawings. He is also the designer of the New York Times bestselling Peanuts collections and the Penguin Classics Edition of The Portable Dorothy Parker. He also illustrates for the New Yorker. Part comic book, part sketchbook and part documentation of Seth’s fictional town of Dominion City, Palookaville #20 is the first volume of the seminal comic book series to be published in book form.