American cartoonist
Robert Kirby (; 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."
He has worked alongside critically acclaimed queer artists including Diane DiMassa and Alison Bechdel.
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." He attended the University of Minnesota. Kirby began publishing comics with "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. He and his spouse John live in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Career.
Kirby had his first venture into producing comics with the comic zine "Strange Looking Exile", which also featured work by Diane DiMassa, Roberta Gregory, Joan Hilty, Nick Leonard, Leanne Franson, Michelle Rau, Terry Sapp, 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, C. Bard Cole, Michael Fahy, Andy Hartzell, Steve Matuszak, Sina Shamsavari, 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".
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.
"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.
"Boy Trouble".
"Boy Trouble" is a zine by Robert Kirby and David Kelly that was made in order to highlight alternative queer comics from a newer generation of male artists. 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 recently completed 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. An excerpt of "Marry Me a Little" was originally published on "PEN America" in June 2018. The excerpt also appears on his personal website. The book was published in Feb 2023 by Graphic Mundi, the graphic imprint of Penn State University Press.
He also reviews comics for "The Comics Journal," among them the anthology "Drawing Power," edited by Diane Noomin. He has also been published in "Panel Patter", "Rain Taxi", and other publications for his reviews and comics.
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."
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.
References.
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