Filmmaker Soren Christiansen and Ted Intorcio’s new documentary on Denis Kitchen (indie cartoonist, publisher, and founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund) is as timely as ever in the face of continued battles over graphic novels across the country.
Their new documentary titled Oddly Compelling: The Denis Kitchen Story (currently available to back on Kickstarter) includes in-depth, candid conversations with Denis Kitchen, as well as fellow cartoonists and colleagues such as Alison Bechdel, Warren Bernard, Eddie Campbell, Paul Gravett, Karen Green, Justin Hall, Gary Hallgren, Tom Heintjes, Mari Naomi, Peter Poplaski, Carol Tyler, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s Interim Director Jeff Trexler.
The film also features rare archival footage of comic book legends like Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, and Harvey Kurtzman, along with new animation of Kitchen’s cartooning.
We spoke to Kitchen about the career-spanning documentary in this exclusive interview.
What was your first introduction into the world of comics and later, the comic industry?
Denis Kitchen: As a child of the 1950s, I grew up with a daily newspaper packed with comic strips, a neighborhood drug store with spinner racks full of ten-sent comics, and friends with stacks of comic books to swap. It was an extraordinary richness of comics.
The “comics industry,” as I entered the field as a self-published young cartoonist in the late ‘60s, consisted of the established mainstream publishers (DC, Marvel, Archie) and a newsstand distribution system that was incompatible with undergrounds. So my colleagues and I had to create an all-new distribution system, initially comprising a network of head shops and paraphernalia distributors and a deep discount/no return system. This eventually evolved into the comic shop system still in effect today.
Were you surprised when you were contacted about the documentary and what questions about it did you share with the filmmakers?
Kitchen: I was definitely surprised when asked to be the subject of a documentary. I had, over the years, been a talking head in at least eight other documentaries, but never expected to be the focus of one. The first issue to resolve was the scope. My wife was adamant that she and our daughters not be involved; that the film be strictly professional. After that, all the back and forth followed a logical pattern. I’m delighted with the just-released trailer, and especially happy with Ted Intorcio’s animation of some of my chipboard creatures and my voice-over. Both he and director Soren Christiansen have been very conscientious and respectful at every stage, so any fears or concerns I might have had quickly disappeared.
What do you remember about the founding and first few years of Kitchen Sink?
Kitchen: At first it was just me. But, separate from forming Kitchen Sink Press and Krupp Distribution in Milwaukee, I almost simultaneously co-founded a weekly alternative newspaper, The Bugle-American, and through that exercise discovered four or five really good young cartoonists in the city. All became regular Bugle contributors.
But my first business mistake was thinking that some of them would also make good partners in the separate comic book business. That assumption proved far off base and as a naive hippie, I ended up giving the majority of the new corporation’s stock away to others before eventually regaining control. So a lot of time early on was just learning how to run a small business, hiring good employees, getting a handle on the accounting side, and all the related demands I was totally untrained and unprepared for. Plus, there was virtually no working capital, and, as noted earlier, I had to figure out distribution from scratch. So it was a rather chaotic first year or two. I was lucky to survive before ultimately thriving.
Is there one comic/graphic novel that helped establish your company?
Kitchen: In 1971 Robert Crumb visited and gave me his solo comic, Home Grown Funnies. That early title ended up going through, I think, fourteen printings of 10,000 copies each, and helped put Kitchen Sink on the map. Picking up the Bijou Funnies series that had been previously published by a competitor also was an important early boost. A little later I struck a deal with Will Eisner to reprint his Spirit, another significant break.
What prompted you to start the CBLDF?
Kitchen: I was indignant when a shop manager in Lansing IL, Michael Correa, was busted for “displaying obscene material,” including Omaha the Cat Dancer, a series I published and was proud of. The shop’s owner hired a local attorney who flubbed the trial and Michael was convicted. At that point I was really upset and decided to raise money to try to overturn the conviction. I assembled an art portfolio with new plates by artists like Crumb, Eisner, Frank Miller, Sergio Aragones, Howard Cruse, Richard Corben, myself and others. I convinced my printer to do it at cost and got the distributors to forgo any mark-up, and with a really good profit margin, the limited edition of 1,200 or so sold out quickly and I had enough in the escrow account to hire the best First Amendment attorney in the Midwest, Burt Joseph, who had been Hugh Hefner’s lawyer.
Burt overturned Michael’s conviction on appeal. And with money still left in the account, I decided to make the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund a permanent organization, setting it up as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit, and creating a board representing all components of the comics industry. I’m very pleased to see that it’s still going strong nearly forty years later.
Comics and graphic novels are under attack to an unprecedented degree over the past few years. What have you learned from the past that can encourage and inspire new artists and writers to keep pushing boundaries in the medium?
Kitchen: By the very essence of their graphic nature, comics have the distinct potential to offend when comparable books with text alone may fly under the radar. There is also a lingering perception outside of fandom that books with words and pictures are inherently “for kids,” so any graphic novel with potentially controversial content that falls into the hands of a young reader may provoke parents or groups with political or moral agendas. So, even when publishers and creators do their best to make clear that certain titles are for “mature readers,” there will always be gray areas that put librarians, comics creators, and publishers under the microscope by any group or individual expressing outrage. A good example not long ago was the parent who made a big media stink over a naked mouse in a gas chamber in Art Spiegelman’s Maus.
It’s important that serious comics artists and writers refuse to let their messages be compromised or extinguished by periodic efforts at censorship or exclusion. Most cartoonists instinctively know that their honest storytelling, depictions, and opinions can result in adverse reactions and so creators need to have thick skins about criticism and full faith in expressing their ideas. When criticism becomes censorship, it’s critical that the comics community be united in defense of free speech, and in certain cases the CBLDF is a resource that can step in to provide legal protection.
How can fans help support the CBLDF?
Kitchen: Become an official member for a nominal fee, and periodically provide affordable donations to help keep the war chest capable of tackling new cases. Follow the fund’s website for information about new incidents and cases and help spread the word to fellow supporters of free speech. The CBLDF often has tables at conventions for educational purposes. When it offers donated books and products for sale, those purchases also help build a fund for unforeseen future battlegrounds.
Upcoming projects that you are involved in?
Kitchen: Well, Kitchen Sink Press is no longer in existence, but I expect a sequel to Creatures from the Subconscious in the coming year, as well as an as-yet-unnamed book of 3-D creatures from Fantagraphics. Tinto Press in Denver is publishing The Giant Penis That Invaded New York as a key reward in the Kickstarter campaign to fund the Oddly Compelling documentary. That anthology was inspired by a provocative underground comic cover I created in the early 70s, with a couple dozen cartoonists all contributing their own “rest of the story.”
Oddly Compelling: The Denis Kitchen Story is available to back on Kickstarter until June 19.