Karl Stevens (born November 21, 1978 in Concord, Massachusetts) is a graphic novelist and painter. His first book, Guilty, was published in 2004 with a grant from the Xeric Foundation. His comic, Whatever, ran from 2005-2008 in the alternative weekly the Boston Phoenix.
Guilty is set in Allston and Cambridge, and chronicles the events following an unexpected bus stop encounter between exes.
Reviews of Guilty noted its "painstaking cross-hatch[ing] ... and its pitch-perfect, 'overheard' dialogue" and its extremely ... even "overwhelmingly" ... detailed realism. In addition to receiving the Xeric award for comic self-publishing, Guilty was nominated for the 2005 Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent, has been translated into French (published by Ego Comme X) and Dutch, and is included in Stephen Weiner's The 101 Best Graphic Novels.
Whatever
Stevens' weekly comic Whatever appeared in the Boston Phoenix for three years, beginning in spring 2005. A collection of the strips was published in April 2008 by Alternative Comics. In May 2008 Whatever was replaced by a new comic, Succe$$, illustrated by Stevens and written by Gustavo Turner.
Painting and other work
Stevens' oil paintings and watercolors, predominantly portraits, have been exhibited at the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston. As an illustrator, Stevens collaborated with Anthony Apesos on the book A New Approach Discovering, Learning, and Remembering the Body, released in October 2007 by North Light Books. His short stories have appeared in Volumes 1 and 3 of Blurred Vision, anthologies of "New Narrative Art" published by Blurred Books.