| Denis Kitchen | |
|---|---|
 Denis Kitchen atColumbia University in 2015 | |
| Born | (1946-08-27)August 27, 1946 (age 79) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area | Cartoonist, Publisher |
Notable works | Kitchen Sink Press Comic Book Legal Defense Fund |
| http://deniskitchen.com | |
Denis Kitchen (born August 27, 1946) is anAmericanundergroundcartoonist, publisher, author, agent, and the founder of theComic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Kitchen grew up in Wisconsin, attendingWilliam Horlick High School,Racine, where he cofounded and editedKlepto, an unofficial school paper, also contributing stories and illustrations to the paper. He continued this interest at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where in 1967 he cofounded and served as art director for the humor magazineSnide, also supplyingcartoons.[1] He also provided cartoons for theUWM Post.
Originally a member of theROTC on campus, Kitchen left ROTC, a decision he later attributed to an allergy to the wool uniform pants ("...had the pants been made out of cotton, I might be a lieutenant colonel today," he later said). He took classes injournalism and started frequenting a local coffeehouse called the Avant Garde. He became opposed to theVietnam War and joined theSocialist Labor Party of America.[2]
In 1969 Kitchen decided to self-publish hiscomics and cartoons in the magazineMom’s Homemade Comics, inspired in part byBijou Funnies andZap Comix. The selling out of the print run of 4000 inspired him further, and in 1970 he foundedKitchen Sink Press (initially as an artists' cooperative)[3][4] and launched theunderground newspaperTheBugle-American, withJim Mitchell and others.[5] Under the name of the Krupp Syndicate,[a] he syndicatedcomic strips to almost 50 other underground andcollege newspapers.[7] In addition to theMilwaukee artists like himself, Mitchell,Bruce Walthers, Don Glassford and Wendel Pugh, Kitchen began to publish works by suchcartoonists asHoward Cruse,Robert Crumb,Art Spiegelman,Justin Green,Trina Robbins, andS. Clay Wilson, and he soon expanded his operations, launching Krupp Comic Works, a parent organization into which he placed ownership of Kitchen Sink Press and through which he also launched such diverse ventures as a record company and a commercial art studio. In 1980 he invited Cruse to editGay Comix, one of the first comics to feature the work of openly gay and lesbian cartoonists.
In the 1980s through the early 1990s, Kitchen Sink Press would publish industry legends such asWill Eisner,Harvey Kurtzman,Al Capp, and award-winning alternative creators such asMark Schultz, Monte Beauchamp, andCharles Burns.
In 1993, Kitchen Sink Press merged withKevin Eastman'sTundra Publishing and relocated toNorthampton, Massachusetts. It would go on to publish works byAlan Moore,Neil Gaiman,James O'Barr,Don Simpson, andScott McCloud, winning numerous Eisner andHarvey Awards.[citation needed]
In 1986 comic store manager Michael Correa wascharged with possession and sale ofobscene material. Since two of the works cited in the case as obscene were published by Kitchen Sink Press, Kitchen felt some responsibility for Correa's predicament. He raised money for the defense of Correa who saw his conviction overturned onappeal. Kitchen used surplus funds to incorporate theComic Book Legal Defense Fund as anon-profit charitable organization in 1990. Kitchen served as the fund's president from its inception until 2004, noting on his retirement from the board that "The challenges facing comics are different from when I founded the Fund … I think it's fitting that the generation directly facing these challenges … should be the ones standing up to them."[8]
Kitchen Sink Press went out of business in 1999. Kitchen later established himself as an art agent, handling the art sales of bothWill Eisner andHarvey Kurtzman amongst others through his company Denis Kitchen Art Agency. He is a partner with Judith Hansen in Kitchen & Hansen Agency, LLC, which serves as a literary agency for Will Eisner's estate.
Kitchen was a partner in Kitchen, Lind & Associates which served as agency and book packager[9] for clients including The Estates ofHarvey Kurtzman andAl Capp,Rebecca Guay,Howard Cruse,Eleanor Davis,Todd M. Hignite,Mark Fearing, andWilliam Stout.
In 2010,Dark Horse Comics releasedThe Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen which served as part art book and part autobiography. In 2011, it was nominated for an Eisner Award[10] (for Best-Comics Related Book) and a Harvey Award[11] (for Best Biographical, Historical Or Journalistic Presentation). It went on to win a 2011 American Graphic Design Award[12] in the editorial category.
In 2013,Dark Horse Comics announced it had established a joint venture imprint entitled Kitchen Sink Books, directed by Kitchen and business partner John Lind to focus on art books, historical collections and reprints."[13] The first large format hardcover wasThe Best ofComix Book, a collection of work edited by Kitchen andStan Lee in the mid-1970s.[14] The imprint's most recent title, a collection of the work ofWill Eisner, was published in 2018.[15]
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