Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006
Curses by Kevin Hulzenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
A top-ten choice last year as well as in 2006, Kevin Huizenga continues his very strong body of work by putting out a hardcover collection of short stories titled Curses as well as a pair of comic books (Ganges #1 and Or Else #4). Specializing in stories planted in America's suburban sprawl, Huizenga discovers the magical and cosmological possibilities hidden in plain site of "average" lives. In one story a plastic grocery bag becomes a "magic mask" that protects a young husband when he visits a feathered ogre to help his wife conceive. Another story features the only convincing and sensitive portrait of a conservative, religious-minded "red state" character I have ever seen in the medium.