The River at Night cartoonist revisits his early-aughts breakthrough
In the two decades since Curses first hit the shelves, River at Night cartoonist Kevin Huizenga has taken his rightful place on a short A-list of comics experimentalists. Deep research and loopy cartooning serve up philosophical musings while maintaining a classic comic-strip devotion to “the gag.” Huizenga remains one of the funniest and smartest cartoonists working today, and now, the very book that heralded his arrival as a talent to watch is available once more in deluxe paperback as the early work of a now true genius.
The short stories collected herewith confront the textures of mortality in unique and peculiar ways. Central character Glenn Ganges is a seemingly middle-class, suburbanite whose blank-eyed wonderment at the everyday brings together diverse aspects of our world—like golf, theology, late-night diners, parenthood, politics, Sudanese refugees, and hallucinatory vision—into a complete experience as multifaceted as each of our own lives.
Kevin Huizenga was born in 1977 in Harvey, IL and spent most of his childhood in South Holland, IL, near Chicago. He attended college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and moved to St. Louis in 2000 where he lives and works.
He began drawing comics in high school, xeroxing his first issue (with friends) at the neighborhood Jewel Osco in 1993. Since that time he's made approximately 30 more. In 2001 the Comics Journal named him "Minimalism Cartoonist of the Year" and called #14 of his "Supermonster" mini-comic series "one of the best comics of any kind released in 2001."