Kenny Rubenis (1984) is one of the Netherlands best known cartoonists. His popular comic strip Dating for Geeks is published daily in the country’s largest newspaper Metro, and is read by close to a million people every day. To date, 9 collections of the strip have been published and the 10th book in the series is coming out later this year.
Dating for Geeks details the lives of 7 nerdy characters. There’s Jasper, who’s searching for true love (and mint condition comic books) with the help of dating-consultant Yvon, there’s geeky couple Renee and Edward who have just moved in together and now have twice as many collectables, there’s hopeless romantic Claire, not so much looking for a Prince Charming on a white horse, but more for a Doctor in a bright blue box and there’s Jeff, your typical gamer who isn’t really looking for a girlfriend, but more for someone to play “two player games” with, if you know what I mean. And finally the author himself is one of his own characters. A little bit dumber, more insecure and less charismatic than in real life.
The first proper English translation for Dating for Geeks comics will debut at SPX this year.
Besides working on his daily strip, Kenny is currently writing and drawing his first long form Graphic Novel (with the working title Wanaque) and also publishes small press independent comics from time to time. His latest is called Tumor and will (hopefully, if he finishes it in time) also debut in English at SPX. It’s an autobiographical story about the stupidest benign brain tumor one could get and how to deal with everything around that.
See him at SPX in the Oakley Room on Sunday, September 15th at 3:00 pm in a workshop titled “Shared Studios Vs. Solo Workspaces For Cartoonists: The Ins And Outs With Aimée de Jongh And Kenny Rubenis.”