Subplot and Canada Post celebrate Canadian graphic novelists through a new stamp collection

Graphic novelists tell rich stories by deftly interweaving words and images. Since emerging nearly a half-century ago, this narrative form—which can include anthologies, memoirs and other non-fiction works—has steadily grown in popularity and has captivated readers around the globe.

Subplot Design and Canada Post Corporation launched the first set of four artists in the spring of 2024, and a second set of six artists in November 2025, celebrating Canadian Graphic Novelists. The collection includes six stamps, a booklet and six official first day covers (OFDC) with custom cancels.

Individually, these six graphic novelists have inspired readers at home and abroad and have elevated the graphic novel form. Collectively, they have helped establish Canada’s reputation in the comic arts world. And while Canada Post has issued stamps featuring comic book superheroes, it has never before showcased the unique work created by Canadian graphic novelists.

This stamp issue features six influential Canadian artists:

Kate Beaton is the creator of the autobiographical Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, which depicts her experience working in the Northern Alberta oil sands and in 2023 became the first graphic novel to win CBC’s prestigious Canada Reads

Jimmy Beaulieu is a prominent figure in the francophone comic book community with a number of titles to his name, including 2013’s Non-aventures: planches à la première personne, a collection of anecdotes and reflections of the ordinary “non adventures” of his everyday life in Montréal.

Guy Delisle uses a simplistic drawing style and sparse, candid storytelling to chronicle his extensive travels in places like North Korea, Burma, as well as parts of Palestine, the West Bank and Israel, which became the basis of the award-winning Chroniques de Jérusalem.

Julie Doucet is included in the Joe Shuster Awards’ Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Grand Prix for lifetime achievement at the Angoulême International Comics Festival—the most prestigious award in the comic's industry. Her autobiographical works include Journal (365 Days).

Bryan Lee O’Malley is the writer and illustrator behind the popular Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series, which found a cult audience and spawned a popular major motion picture, video game and animated series.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a multimedia visual artist who created his own illustrative style by blending Asian brush techniques with North Pacific Indigenous iconography, which can be seen in his 2009 graphic novel Red: A Haida Manga.

“When approaching the design for these stamps, we didn’t just want to reproduce the covers of their most well-known graphic novels, we were keen to collaborate with each artist to create a new, original illustration that would be unique for their stamp. Our idea was to feature the main character from their most beloved books, engrossed in their own stories.”

Roy White RGD