With the Kickstarter campaign live for the Oddly Compelling documentary, we are delighted to be joined by Denis Kitchen. Denis is a cartoonist, publisher and the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Hi Denis, it’s so lovely to have you here with us. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Sure. My name is Denis and I’m a comicaholic.
Can you tell us about Kitchen Sink Press?
I founded Kitchen Sink in (gulp!) 1969, initially to self-publish Mom’s Homemade Comics: Straight From the Kitchen to You. Unlike the vast majority of cartoonists, I had a knack for business, so before long I was publishing other “underground” cartoonists, like Robert Crumb, Jay Lynch, Skip Williamson and many others, and then prior generations like Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner, Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond and so on. Running a growing publishing company meant less time at the drawing board for me, but I loved assembling books and comics and even crazy merchandise. It was a wild ride for thirty years.
Could you tell us about the origins of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund?
In the late ’80s I got a call from Frank Mangiaracina who owned a small chain of comic shops in Illinois and Indiana. The manager of his Lansing IL shop, Michael Correa, had just been arrested and charged with displaying obscene material. Among the items confiscated was Omaha the Cat Dancer, a series I was proud to publish. I was irate because Omaha definitely had erotic content, but along with highly literate story lines and complex characters who were feminist, gay, handicapped and political. Other dubious titles were confiscated too, like ElfQuest, Heavy Metal and a Richard Corben title. Frank assured me his attorney was on it, but she had no First Amendment experience and before long Michael was convicted. At that point I was really upset, so I quickly assembled a portfolio with new art by Eisner, Crumb, Corben, Reed Waller, Frank Miller, Howard Cruse, myself and several others. I convinced my printer to do it at cost, persuaded distributors to forgo their normal percentage, and all 1,250 or so portfolios rapidly sold out. That allowed me to hire the best First Amendment attorney in the Midwest, Burt Joseph. He overturned the conviction on appeal. There was still considerable money in the war chest, so I decided to make the C.B.L.D.F. an ongoing non-profit organization “just in case” the comics industry suffered any additional attacks.
Why is the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund so important?
Prior to its inception comics shops could be easily intimidated by puritanical cops or headline-seeking prosecutors, Most retailers could not afford the legal costs of defending their right to responsibly carry products of their choice, and so the easiest option was to acquiesce. The advent of the CBLDF meant any shop could quickly get an experienced First Amendment attorney with all fees paid by the fund. Soon it effectively became the first “umbrella” organization in the comics industry: something that pulled together retailers, publishers, creators and distributors in a common cause. I made it a point to have the board of directors reflect all of those constituencies.
How would you describe Creatures From the Subconscious?
Hah! That book comprises a hundred and fifty or so very unusual creatures or surrealistic situations, all drawn on “chipboard”—the stiff grainy board at the base of writing pads. The images literally emanate from my subconscious mind. I begin with no conscious idea whatsoever; I just start making lines with a Sharpie marker and soon images form without any prior thought. I’m basically entertaining myself. Then, at a certain point, I consciously interact with the image, adding shading and details with a fine point black pen. Chipboard is an unforgiving surface: you can’t pencil on it or correct mistakes, so every line is permanent. I love that kind of dangerous element, sort of like a trapeze artist without a net. The results range from funny to disturbing, and I’m often at a complete loss to understand what just erupted from my pens! I had been doing these for many years, strictly for myself, assuming they were non-commercial. But a collection, Chipboard Sketchbook, came out fifteen years ago, and then recently Tinto Press published Creatures From the Subconscious, a really lovely hardcover edition. I’ve almost created enough since for a followup edition. Any curious reader can find it via Tinto, amazon, eBay, or selected retailers.
Do you have a favourite writer, artist or creator with whom you have worked?
That’s tough. I’ve been lucky to work with so many wonderful talents. I have to cite Harvey Kurtzman first, because MAD and his later satire publications like Humbug and Help were truly inspiring to me, and to much of my generation. Working with Harvey was a dream come true. The other big one was Will Eisner, who also became a friend and mentor. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Robert Crumb, Mark Schultz, Howard Cruse, Charles Burns and, gosh, so many others I admired and enjoyed publishing and knowing.
What can you tell us about Tinto Press?
Ted Intorcio—who’s creating the terrific animation in the Oddly Compelling doc—runs this sweet small press in Denver. He publishes various artists whose work he likes, in formats ranging from small zines to big hardcovers. I love his art direction, attention to detail, and his genuine love of the comics medium. Ted’s also a talented cartoonist who spends more time being a publisher. I can relate!
Can you tell us about the origins of Oddly Compelling?
Well, I met Ted at a Denver comics convention and immediately liked him. Then he did my book via Tinto. Earlier in his career he worked at the Starz network and with a friend, Soren Christiansen, a long time producer at CNN. Ted had visited me a couple of times, seen all my weird collections, the Valley of the Dolls, etcetera, and next thing I know they pitched the idea of a documentary. The title comes from Dark Horse’s monograph, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen, edited by Diana Schutz and John Lind, around 2010. The phrase originated many years earlier in a dream: I was in a bookstore perusing The Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, when I vividly saw a book on the shelf titled, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen. It obviously stuck!
How would you describe Oddly Compelling?
They essentially take a look at my long career, from my being a psychedelic era underground cartoonist to founding and running Kitchen Sink Press, then the CBLDF and the anti-censorship angle. But it’s punctuated by non-professional “oddly compelling” elements, like the, honestly, ridiculous kinds of things I collect: tens of thousands of politically incorrect and weird postcards from 1900 to the 20s, vinegar valentines, steampunk ray guns, peculiar eyeglasses, Kewpies, Big Boy, tin toy cars, actual vintage cars, and Nancy & Sluggo memorabilia. Then they explore the admittedly pretty crazy path deep in my woods festooned with thousands of Frankenstein dolls. It’s difficult for me to have any real objectivity, but I guess they thought my life and eccentricities were interesting enough to try to capture. Being the subject has definitely been strange.
Do you have a favourite Kickstarter reward for The Oddly Compelling?
Yes! Tinto Press is publishing The Giant Penis That Invaded New York, an anthology book inspired by an infamous cover I drew for Bizarre Sex #1 back in 1972. That underground comic had no interior story explaining the cover’s mystery. So in this book other artists tell “the rest of the story.” It was first assembled a couple years ago by Chris Bango in the German magazine U-Comix. For the expanded American edition Ted gave the big phallus a few more Yanks, so Noah Van Sciver, Mark Schultz, Gary Hallgren, Hilary Barta, Jonathan Bayliss, Karl Christian Krumpholz, and Gideon Kendall are among the participants. I did new work for it too. It’s earthy and not for the faint-hearted, but the collection is a real hoot. Definitely my favorite Kickstarter reward.
Can you tell us what projects you are currently working on?
Aside from Oddly Compelling, I’m involved in several other comics-related documentaries: one about the Nancy/Ernie Bushmiller cult, one about Harvey Kurtzman, and another on Al Capp. The sequel to Creatures From the Subconscious is on the horizon. A related creature collection in 3-D—with glasses—is coming from Fantagraphics. I’m starting to develop topical books based on my strangest vintage postcards. I also create “assemblages”—vintage printer type cases filled with small dolls and pop culture flotsam that slowly evolve over months. I’m working with colleague Jim Danky and ProQuest, clearing rights and assembling massive databases of comic books—200,000 pages each—for the library market. I’m regularly adding notes and anecdotes to a growing folder that will, I think, eventually become a memoir. Meanwhile, I’m trying to downsize three different art and literary agencies and a small publishing arm. My wife Stacey insists that I retire when I hit 80 next year, and I’ve assured her I’m working on that (wink, wink).
Any message for the ComicBuzz readers?
First, thanks for getting this far in the interview.
Some ComicBuzz readers are doubtless already deeply knowledgeable about comics. But for newer fans, or more casual but curious followers I encourage an exploration of the rich history of the comics medium, from its early newspaper origins to the evolution of comics books and graphic novels, with an opportunity to savor proven classics and also to discover many often forgotten gems. More and more of the classic comics are being collected, so they are increasingly accessible. Film lovers tend to dive deep into the silent era and countless movie sub-genres, but too often I don’t see a similar curiosity with young comics fans I meet.
I’d also encourage prospective or struggling writers and artists reading this to stick with their own creative projects and dreams when the publishing world at all levels can often be discouraging or difficult to navigate. I recommend considering collaborators—playing to respective strengths—and brainstorming with friends and colleagues to get over creative humps. Success seldom happens overnight. I was quite literally a starving cartoonist for a couple of years before my career began to click, so I can still relate to entry level despair. It’s not an easy path for most, but a life in comics can be a most satisfying journey if you are among the lucky ones to survive or thrive.
We would like to say thank you to Denis for chatting with us, and wish him the best of luck with the Oddly Compelling documentary.
Feel free to check out Oddly Compelling on Kickstarter.
