Palookaville #20 is the first volume of the seminal comic book series
to be published in book form. The expansion into hardcover from pamphlet
is a parallel that illustrates Seth's growth into an award-winning
cartoonist, book designer, hobbyist, editor, essayist, and installation
artist.
Seth's first autobiographical comics since Palookaville #2 and #3
will be featured in #20. Drawing in his loose sketchbook style,
similar to his book Wimbledon Green, Seth details his trip to a book
festival and his awkward struggle to overcome isolation and communicate
with the people around him. Seth continues the serialization of his
acclaimed Clyde Fans story line, about which The New York Times Book
Review aptly noted, Seth truly believes in his wares--the little
meanings of regular lives. This is, perhaps, nowhere more apparent than
in the cartoonist's ongoing three-dimensional rendering of his fictional
Dominion City, most recently featured in his book George Sprott. Using
sketches, photographs, and an essay, the cartoonist explains why the
need to conceptualize the fictional city in sculptures was a natural
extension from comics storytelling, and how if he had his way, it would
have stayed in his basement forever.