Curses - Kevin Huizenga

Curses by Kevin Huizenga / ISBN 9781770466951 / a 180-page paperback with flaps, 7.7 x 10.2 inches, published in 2024 by Drawn & Quarterly

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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.

“A deeply surreal journey through work, computer games, law enforcement, geology, married life, and robots.” ―The Guardian

“Funny, intelligent, and beautiful, [blending] formalist experimentation with a heartfelt sincerity and curiosity about how we interact with the world.” ―WIRED

“Alternately surreal and mundane, profound and silly.” ―Chicago