Denis Kitchen

Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen at the 2007 New York Comic-Con
Born	August 27, 1946 (1946-08-27) (age 65)
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist, Publisher
Notable works	Kitchen Sink Press Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
Official website

Denis Kitchen (born 27 August 1946) is an American underground cartoonist, publisher, author, and agent from Wisconsin, and the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Early life

Kitchen grew up in Wisconsin, attending William Horlick High School, Racine, where he cofounded and edited Klepto, an unofficial school paper, also contributing stories and illustrations to the paper. He continued this interest at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where in 1967 he cofounded and served as art director for the humor magazine Snide, also supplying cartoons.

Publishing beginnings

In 1969 Kitchen decided to self publish his comics and cartoons in the magazine Mom’s Homemade Comics, inspired in part by Bijou Funnies and Zap Comix. The selling out of the 4000 print run inspired him further, and in 1970 he founded Kitchen Sink Press (initially as an artists' cooperative)^[1][2] and launched the underground newspaper The Bugle-American, with Jim Mitchell and others.^[3] Under the name of the Krupp Syndicate, he syndicated comic strips to almost 50 other underground and college newspapers.^[4] In addition to the Milwaukee artists like himself, Mitchell, Bruce Walthers, Don Glassford and Wendel Pugh, Kitchen began to publish works by such cartoonists as Howard Cruse, Trina Robbins and S. 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.

Funding defenses

Kitchen's founding of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund occurred in 1986, after comic store manager Michael Correa was charged with possession and sale of obscene 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, and so he set about raising funds for the defense of Correa, who saw his conviction overturned on appeal. Kitchen used surplus funds to incorporate the fund as a non-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." ^[5]

After the press

Although Kitchen Sink Press collapsed in 1999, subsequent ventures have seen Kitchen establish himself as an art agent, handling the estates of both Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman amongst others through his company Denis Kitchen Art Agency. He is also a partner with Judith Hansen in Kitchen & Hansen Agency, LLC, which serves as a literary agency for Will Eisner's estate.

On June 10, 2006 at the Mocca Art Festival in NYC, Kitchen announced the formation of a new company with partner, book designer John Lind. Their company Kitchen, Lind & Associates serves a dual role as agency and book packager.^[6]

Kitchen is also working with Boom! Studios to release old Kitchen Sink Press titles as part of the company's imprint called Boom! Town.^[7]

He is also releasing The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen through Dark Horse, a collection of his art and reminiscences of his time in the comics industry.^[8]

References

1. ^ Acton, Jay, Le Mond, Alan, and Hodges, Parker. Mug Shots: Who's Who in the New Earth World Publishing: 1972; pp. 121
2. ^ Schreiner, Dave. Kitchen Sink Press, the First 25 Years. Northhampton, MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1994; p. 14 et seq.
3. ^ [Kitchen, Denis. "Notes on the Underground... Confessions of an Underground Comics Publisher." Funnyworld #13 (Spring 1971), p. 30
4. ^ Tanzilo, Bobby. "Milwaukee Talks: Denis Kitchen" onmilwaukee.com July 12, 2006
5. ^ CBLDF archives
6. ^ MacDonald, Heidi (June 13, 2006). "Kitchen, Lind Debut Agency, Packaging House". Publishers Weekly Comics Week. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6343187.html. 
7. ^ Jensen, Van (January 25, 2010). "Boom! Studios to Launch New Imprint". Publishers Weekly. http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6716430.html. Retrieved January 27, 2010. ^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Manning, Shaun (March 18, 2010). "Denis Kitchen Discusses His "Oddly Compelling" Art Book". Comic Book Resources. http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25284. Retrieved March 19, 2010. 

Sources

• Dooley, Michael. "The Unsinkable Denis Kitchen" AIGA Voice August 24, 2005
• The Denis Kitchen interview Accessed January 19, 2006

External links

• Official website
• Kitchen, Lind & Associates

Persondata
Name	Kitchen, Denis
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Date of birth	August 27, 1946
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