Robert Kirby (cartoonist)

Robert Kirby (/ˈkɜːrbi/; born 1962) is an American cartoonist, known for his long-running syndicated comic Curbside – which ran in the gay and alternative presses from 1991 to 2008 – and other works focusing on queer characters and community, including Strange Looking Exile, Boy Trouble, THREE, and QU33R.[1]

He has worked alongside critically acclaimed queer artists including Diane DiMassa and Alison Bechdel.

Robert Kirby
BornSeptember 1962
Detroit, Michigan
Other namesRob Kirby
Alma materUniversity of Minnesota
OccupationCartoonist
Years active1993-present
Notable work
Curbside Boys

Boy Trouble

Marry Me a Little
Spouse(s)John C.

Background

Robert Kirby was born in Detroit, Michigan in September 1962. He lived in Manhattan, New York City, New York for a while, during which he worked on Curbside Boys: The New York Years.[2] He attended the University of Minnesota. Kirby has been publishing comics

since Strange Looking Exile, a zine published in the early 1990s, and grew popular through his long-running comic Curbside Boys.

Kirby was married in October 2013, after same sex marriage was legalized in Minnesota in May of that same year.[3]

Kirby currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his spouse, John, and continues to write and review comics.

Career

Robert Kirby has been interested in comics since he was a child, and drew influence from artists like Charles Schulz.

Kirby had his first venture into producing comics with the comic zine Strange Looking Exile, which also featured work by Diane DiMassa, Roberta Gregory, Nick Leonard and Alison Bechdel. The zine ran from 1991 until 1994.

Following that, Kirby began producing a new comic zine called Boy Trouble with co-editor David Kelly, a comics anthology that was published four issues as a zine, followed by a book in 2004. Boy Trouble features contributions and collaborations from the editors as well as a number of other artists and writers including Anonymous Boy, Craig Bostick, Jennifer Camper, C. Bard Cole, Michael Fahy, Tim Fish, Leanne Franson, Andy Hartzell, G.B. Jones, Steve MacIsaac, Sina Shamsavari, Ivan Velez Jr. and others.

In 2002, State Representative Nancy Sheltra (R-Derby) protested the presence of the publication Out In The Mountains in the Vermont Statehouse due to its inclusion of Kirby's strip featuring two bare-chested male cartoon characters kissing, which she deemed "pornographic".[4]

In 2006, an anthology of the best of Boy Trouble was released, entitled The Book of Boy Trouble, which also included new work and work in color. Besides the editors, Kirby and Kelly, the book featured sequential art by Anonymous Boy, Craig Bostick, C. Bard Cole, Jaime Cortez, Michael Fahy, Justin Hall, Andy Hartzell, Victor Hodge, Brett Hopkins, Nick Leonard, Steve MacIsaac, Josue Menjivar, Sina Shamsavari, D. Travers Scott, and Russ Turk. This work had comics that focused on topics including love, sex, and punk rock, among other things.

In 2008, The Book of Boy Trouble Volume 2: Born to Trouble was published, featured work by many of the artists from the first volume as well as work by Jennifer Camper, Derek Charm, Howard Cruse, Abby Denson, Tim Fish, Joan Hilty, G.B. Jones, Nick Leonard, Ed Luce, Jon Macy, Steve MacIsaac, Dave Ortega, Bill Roundy, and Robert Triptow.

Kirby was also a regular contributor to the ongoing queer comics anthology Juicy Mother, edited by Jennifer Camper, and released in 2005 and 2007.

In 2010 Robert Kirby began his ongoing LGBT comics anthology, THREE, and in 2014 his 33-person anthology QU33R was published by Northwest Press.

As of November 2019, Kirby is still active in the comics sphere, writing comics as well as reviewing comics.

Curbside Boys

Curbside is the story of two young men: Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship. The comic was syndicated in several periodicals, including Chicago Nightlines, Out In The Mountains, Lavender Magazine and others, as well as on the internet. The series has also been collected into two books. The first book published with the aid of a Xeric Foundation grant. A translation into Spanish has also been published.

Curbside Boys, the sequel to Kirby's first book Curbside, went out of print in 2013, however it is still available to read online.

Boy Trouble

Boy Trouble is a zine by Robert Kirby and David Kelly that was made in order to highlight some queer comics. Four issues were published since 1994. A fifth issue was published in 2004. The Book of Boy Trouble, an anthology of these zines, was published in 2006, followed by The Book of Boy Trouble 2: Born to Trouble in 2008.

Current Works

Robert Kirby is currently working on a graphic memoir called Marry Me a Little, which explores marriage as a middle aged gay man. It also discusses the legalization of gay marriage in Minnesota (where Kirby and his husband live) in May 2013. Marry Me a Little was originally published in PEN America in June 2018.[5] It also appears on his personal website.[6] He hopes to complete the work by the end of 2021.

He also reviews comics for The Comics Journal, and has done several of them, including one of the anthology Drawing Power, edited by Diane Noomin.[7] He has also been published in Panel Patter, Rain Taxi, and other publications for his reviews and comics.[8]

Awards and Recognition

In 1997, Kirby was awarded a Xeric Grant, given by the Xeric Foundation to comics artists for self-publishing their work. Kirby used this grant in publishing his first book, Curbside.[9]

In 2006, Kirby's The Book of Boy Trouble was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award [10] in the "Arts and Culture" section.

His anthology THREE was nominated for two Ignatz awards and received a Prism Comics Queer Press Grant in 2011.

In 2014, his anthology QU33R was published and won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology or Collection.

Publications

Anthologies
  • Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby and David Kelly, Boy Trouble Books, 2004, ISBN 0-9748855-0-9
  • The Book Of Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby and David Kelly, Green Candy Press, 2006 ISBN 1-931160-45-7
  • The Book of Boy Trouble 2: Born to Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby and David Kelly, Green Candy Press, 2008 ISBN 978-1-931160-65-0
  • THREE, edited by Robert Kirby. three issues published from 2010 to 2012.
  • QU33R, edited by Robert Kirby, 2014, from Northwest Press
  • What's Your Sign, Girl? Cartoonists Talk About Their Sun Signs, edited by Robert Kirby, 2015 from Ninth Art Press
  • The Shirley Jackson Project: Comics Inspired by Her Life and Work, edited by Robert Kirby, 2016, from Ninth Art Press

Books
  • Los Chicos De la Acera De Enfrente, Ediciones La Cúpula, Colección Novela Gráfica, 2005
  • Curbside Boys: The New York Years, Cleis Press, 2002, ISBN 1-57344-154-6
  • Curbside, Hobnob Press, NY, 1989, ISBN 0-9663241-0-2

Contributions
  • Gay Comix #17, Bob Ross, 1993
  • Gay Comix #20, Bob Ross, 1993
  • The Question of Equality: Lesbian and Gay Politics in America Since Stonewall, Scribner, 1995
  • The Factsheet Five Zine Reader: The Best Writing from the Underground World of Zines, Three Rivers Press, 1997
  • Gay Comix #25, Bob Ross, 1998
  • Spice Capades, Fantagraphics, 1999
  • What’s Wrong? Explicit Graphic Interpretations Against Censorship, Arsenal Pulp, 2001
  • Juicy Mother: Celebration, edited by Jennifer Camper, Soft Skull Press, 2005, ISBN 1-932360-70-0
  • Juicy Mother 2: How They Met, edited by Jennifer Camper, Manic D Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-933149-20-2
  • Young Bottoms In Love, edited by Tim Fish, Poison Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0-9762786-7-2
  • Glamazonia, Northwest Press, 2010
  • No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, edited by Justin Hall, Fantagraphics, 2012 ISBN 978-1-60699-506-8
  • Subcultures, Ninth Art Press, 2015
  • Not My Small Diary #18: The Pet Issue, Delaine Derry Green, 2015
  • Egoscopic #’s 9-14, Studio FGH, 2016-2018
  • Alphabet, edited by Tara Madison Avery & Jon Macy, Stacked Deck Press, 2016 ISBN 978-0-9970487-1-1
  • Not My Small Diary #19: True Unexplained Events, Delaine Derry Green, 2017
  • Rainbow Reflections: Body Image Comics for Queer Men, Ad Astra, 2019

References
  1. "Robert Kirby", Prism Comics, May 1, 2006, archived from the original on August 14, 2007, retrieved 2007-11-23
  2. "Out In The Mountains : Arts - Robert Kirby's Curbside Boys". 2007-09-27. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  3. Kirby, Robert (2018-06-21). "Marry Me a Little". PEN America. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  4. Olson, Paul (February 2, 2003), "Twenty-Something Love in Pictures", Out in the Mountains, archived from the original on 2007-09-27, retrieved 2007-11-23
  5. Kirby, Robert (2018-06-21). "Marry Me a Little". PEN America. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  6. ""Rob Kirby Comics"".
  7. Kirby, Robert. "Drawing Power |". Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  8. Kirby, Robert (2018-06-21). "Marry Me a Little". PEN America. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  9. "Xeric Foundation Comic Book Self-Publishing Grants for 1997". xericfoundation.org. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  10. "Lambda Literary Foundation :: Notable Books 2006 :: LL Awards". 2009-01-30. Archived from the original on 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
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