Readers may recall my sad, failed attempt to get the now-defunct customize-your-own-stamp company PhotoStamps to print stamps featuring “Surly Squid”, a piece of art by my artist friend El Rey. They claimed that the image — a little, scowling orange squid — was somehow objectionable, but they never explained precisely how or why.

Nonetheless, it appears that while The Man down here in the US is hotly opposed to cephalopod philately, the Canadian postal service has no such compunctions. Back in 1990, they even created their own stamp specifically to commemorate the Kraken! That’s it pictured above — and it’s taken from Philip Burns’ excellent web site, at which he has collected an amazingly comprehensive archive of pretty much every giant-squid-themed stamp that has ever been printed.

(Thanks to Brian for this one!)