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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 18, 2017 15:39:16 GMT -5
Time to class things up a bit, though not necessarily that much. AC Comics grew out of the Underground movement and that spawned a few other companies, including one that mixed the Underground sensibility, with a bit of nostalgia and quality storytelling and art. This company had everything and the Kitchen Sink. Dennis Kitchen began his career in comics and publishing by self-publishing his own work in Mom's Homemade Comics. He followed that up with founding Kitchen Sink Press, to publish other Underground comics and Krupp Syndicate to syndicate works in Underground newspapers. He soon found himself taking over books from others, including the inspirational Bijou Funnies Kitchen Sink published the anthologies Snarf and Death rattle in the 70s Kitchen was also involved in the aborted Comix Book, in partnership with Marvel. The magazine was an anthology that brought Underground works to a more mainstream audience, via publication and distribution by Marvel. However, it soon fell apart under stricter censorship and more conservative approaches at Marvel. I've only dabbled in the Undergrounds, so I will have to bow to others on this area. My experience with Kitchen Sink is from the 80s until Dennis Kitchen sold the company. It is that period I will mostly focus upon. I will look at Kitchen Sink's reprinting of Will Eisner's The Spirit, publication of his graphic novels, new works in classic styles, like Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales, Omaha the Cat Dancer, Kings in Disguise, Megaton Man, the work of Charles Burns; reprints of classic comic strips, like Flash Gordon and Li'l Abner, and the merger with Tundra and how it affected the material that came from the company. Kitchen Sink entered the 90s as a strong company; but, the Distribution Wars of the 90s sealed its fate, as it was one of the few companies to side with Capital City Distribution. Capital City had always had far more friendly relations with the independent publishers, compared to Diamond and Heroes World (prior to the Marvel buy-out) and Dennis Kitchen stuck with them. However, with DC, Dark Horse and Image siding with Diamond, Capital fought a losing battle and sold out to Diamond. When Heroes World crashed and burned, under Marvel mis-management, Diamond was left with a virtual monopoly. Diamond, who always favored the big publishers, did little to promote the smaller guys and certainly didn't promote those who stood against them. Kitchen eventually sold out to a media company, who basically wanted The Crow. Kitchen went off and formed an agency to represent comic creators and returned to work with Dark Horse, on Kitchen Sink Books. Along the way, he helped found and raise funds for the Comic Book legal defense Fund, which has battled attempts at censorship, since the late 80s. So, settle in, as we look at the mix of groovy and high profile comics from Kitchen Sink, as well as revisit an old friend, name Denny Colt.
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Post by MDG on Jun 18, 2017 15:54:20 GMT -5
While I bought a large portion of my underground collection though Kitchen's mail order arm (Krupp comic works), I don't have a lot of his art. After the first couple years, creating comics, for him, definitely took a back seat to being a publisher. (I have what is probably one of the few convention sketches he did, in '76.)
He certainly showed that there was a market for both new work and quality, curated reprints, and were benefitting from that still.
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 18, 2017 17:28:26 GMT -5
Codystarbuck, I think we're about the same age, and I too discovered and bought the Kitchen Sink material starting in the 80's. In fact, it was either 1980 or 1981, my freshman year of high school, that one of the first of dozens of orders I placed with Bud Plant included every single Will Eisner item he had featured in his catalog. I'd just learned about fandom and works like The Spirit that I'd never seen before, and based on Bud's high praise, and having never been disappointed by a recommendation of his yet, I started my Kitchen Sink journey as well. I missed most of the previous underground stuff and only have a little here and there, but bought most of what he put out until the business folded. It's too bad his own art is in such limited quantity, cause I love it !
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 18, 2017 19:29:43 GMT -5
There was one panel from this (the "Sorry Clark" one) in Maurice Horn's World Encyclopedia of Comics, for the entry about Denis Kitchen. I was born in '66 and didn't really learn about the Undergrounds until I saw The World Encyclopedia of Comics. That was where I first saw the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Zap, Mr Natural, and the few others illustrated within. Even then, it was only a panel or two. Growing up in a little farm town, with parents who were school teachers, it was easy to dismiss them as hippie drug & sex comics, which is pretty much true, though hardly the totality of the material. It was late in the 80s before I saw whole examples and began to appreciate some of the satire. Still, having grown up on Neal Adams, Mike Grell, Irv Novick, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Dave Cockrum, Joe Kubert, Russ Heath, Gene Colan and the like, it was hard to look at the art, until I had broadened my horizons a bit. I have some scans of a variety of Underground work; but, haven't really explored them much. That's part of the problem of getting digital collections; so much material that you don't know where to start. I got a Richie Rich collection and spent most of my time searching through it for one particular story that I remembered from my youth (found a reprint of it, in one of the various "other" RR comics). My first real exposure to the creators was in the documentary Comic Book Confidential.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jun 19, 2017 12:05:27 GMT -5
I've only dabbled in the Undergrounds, so I will have to bow to others on this area. My experience with Kitchen Sink is from the 80s until Dennis Kitchen sold the company. It is that period I will mostly focus upon. I will look at Kitchen Sink's reprinting of Will Eisner's The Spirit, publication of his graphic novels, new works in classic styles, like Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales, Omaha the Cat Dancer, Kings in Disguise, Megaton Man, the work of Charles Burns; reprints of classic comic strips, like Flash Gordon and Li'l Abner, and the merger with Tundra and how it affected the material that came from the company. I've always been interested in the undergrounds, although I tended to buy more from Last Gasp or Rip Off than Kitchen Sink. Still the Spirit reprints (although I wish they'd been more sequential) were lovely and brought an amazing body of work to a new generation, and Omaha the Cat Dancer in one of my favorite series ever. Kings in Disguise was also a lovely series.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 19, 2017 18:40:10 GMT -5
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 20, 2017 0:27:39 GMT -5
You really begin to get a sense of not only how vast the Golden Age of comics was through Men of Mystery but just what tremendous quality was lost when these publishers disappeared. A lot of the characters being reprinted here weren't simply the product of some overnight start up company looking to cash in on what must have seemed to be a sure bet in the early 40's, but the result of extraordinarily talented writers and artists working their magic seemingly around the clock. Reading quality stuff like Doll Man, The Black Terror, Ghost Rider, Mr Scarlet and Pinky, etc, etc makes me wonder what sort of whim of fate transpired to erase these creations from the public consciousness.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 21, 2017 15:21:14 GMT -5
You really begin to get a sense of not only how vast the Golden Age of comics was through Men of Mystery but just what tremendous quality was lost when these publishers disappeared. A lot of the characters being reprinted here weren't simply the product of some overnight start up company looking to cash in on what must have seemed to be a sure bet in the early 40's, but the result of extraordinarily talented writers and artists working their magic seemingly around the clock. Reading quality stuff like Doll Man, The Black Terror, Ghost Rider, Mr Scarlet and Pinky, etc, etc makes me wonder what sort of whim of fate transpired to erase these creations from the public consciousness. Well, it's just one of those generational things. These companies went out of business, for various reasons, without Roy Thomases to bring their characters to a new generation. DC and Marvel had the advantage of being able to revisit their pasts, while Archie tried it, half-heartedly, on several occasions. They had intended to do a serious take, with name talent, back in the late 80s; but, the boss pulled the plug on it, feeling the material was too dark, for Archie (I believe Spectrum was the name they were going to use, for the line). If you look at tv, how many Millennials even know who Bob Newhart is, let alone watched either The Bob Newhart Show or Newhart? It was a quality show, repeated often; yet, not on their radar.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 21, 2017 17:36:56 GMT -5
One of Kitchen Sink's early, regular projects, was continuing the reprinting of Will Eisner's The Spirit, which had been previously done by Warren, in magazine format. Kitchen Sink took over with issue #17 and continued through issue 41. They also reprinted some of Eisner's most famous tales, in The Spirit Casebook... The series was then reprinted in comics. The series lasted 87 issues, reprinting a large swath of the classic comics, which originally appeared in a color supplement, in subscribing newspapers (along with Mr Mystic and Lady Luck). Kitchen Sink also published collections of the outer space story and the annual Christmas stories... If I need to sell you on the Spirit, you just aren't trying. Suffice to say, it was Eisner's comic masterpiece. Although it started out as a somewhat typical detective adventure, with a mask thrown in to feed the hunger for superheroes, in the 40s, it soon established itself as something more. Since it was aimed at newspapers and an older audience, it was able to be a bit more sophisticated and Eisner revelled in the freedom. It is filled with dark alleys, tenements, seedy bars, sewers, elevated trains, criminals, femme fatales, and a large dose of humanity. The post-war issues have some of the strongest material, as Eisner returned with a sense of purpose and began to do more human interest pieces, like Gerhard Shnobble, about a man who believes he can fly. Eisner had ghosts early on and later, with Jules Feiffer acting as an assistant, before forging his own career as a writer and cartoonist. Wally Wood came onboard near the end, as is wholly evident in the Outer Space Spirit strips. Lou Fine did much of the wartime art, while Eisner was in the Army (Fine was 4F). Kitchen Sink also launched a new series of Spirit stories, The Spirit: The New Adventures. These stories featured a rotating cast of creators who got to work on one of their favorite characters, including Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, Joe Lansdale, John Ostrander, Scott Hampton, Eddie Campbell, Paul Pope, Daniel Torres, Moebius, Paul Chadwick, Mike Allred, Mark Schultz, David lloyd, Peter Bagge, Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and more. Again, if I have to sell you on those names, you're on your own. Granted, many weren't quite the classics of Eisner; but, they were great in their own right. Now, the Spirit wasn't the only Eisner material from Kitchen Sink; they also reprinted A Contract with God and Eisner's subsequent graphic novels... My favorites are the biographical The Dreamer and To The Heart of the Storm. The Dreamer is a slightly fictionalized account of Eisner's pre-Spirit days as a comics packager, with things like the Jack Kirby face off with a thug, the battle of lines with Lou Fine, the court testimony in the Victor Fox plagiarism lawsuit (over Wonderman), and other events. To The Heart of the Storm gets into his younger years, leading to working in comics and the anti-semitism he often faced. Invisible People and Dropsie Avenue are urban tales that make a great pairing, as they reflect Eisner's interest in the human condition. The Will Eisner Reader has a nice collection of shorter stories, of a similar vein. Kitchen Sink also reprinted Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art, one of the seminal texts on comic storytelling. There is also The Spirit Jam, with a meeting between The Spirit and Cerebus (from the Cerebus Jam), as well as the early Underground Spirit tales and other collaborations. Thanks to Denis Kitchen, an entire new generation was introduced to The Spirit and Eisner's brilliant later writing and art. These works eventually found their way into mainstream bookstores, bringing Eisner to the masses (again). Later, Denis Kitchen acted as an agent for Eisner and his estate, as Eisner's work would be reprinted by DC and others, as well as new Spirit material, like the excellent stuff from Darwyn Cooke. And if you've never seen it, Brad Bird and some others were involved in an attempt to create an animated adult Spirit movie.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jun 22, 2017 12:04:02 GMT -5
Eisner had ghosts early on and later, with Jules Feiffer acting as an assistant, before forging his own career as a writer and cartoonist. Wally Wood came onboard near the end, as is wholly evident in the Outer Space Spirit strips. I don't think Feiffer ever reqularly did any art for the series, but he did write many classic episodes (including the arc drawn by Wally Wood). The Spirit has remained for me lightning in a bottle. I have never thought any latter-day writer including recent Eisner has captured the character's essential charm. Maybe Feiffer could do it if he were so inclined. I am dying to see Joss Whedon give it a try (watch the Firefly episode 'Trash' and tell me that isn't a classic Spirit vs Sand Saref or P'Gell tale).
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 24, 2017 18:43:41 GMT -5
Kitchen Sink proved to have an eye in the past and the present and helped showcase some young talent who appreciated that past and were inspired by it to do something unique, in the present. In an era dominated by superheroes and company-wide crossovers, with indy comics often covering similar things, out of Kitchen Sink's Death Rattle comic came something that looked like it stepped out of an old EC or Standard comic, yet read like a modern tale: Xenozoic Tales The series was the brainchild of Mark Schultz and it immediately called to mind the work of EC stalwarts Al Williamson and John Severin, as well as Frank Frazetta and Reed Crandall. It also became known for the two things that gave it its fan title, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs! The series stars "Cadillac" Jack Tenrec, a mechanic and sort of shaman, who acts as a peacekeeper, archeologist, troubleshooter, and conscience of a flooded city, the remains of some past apocalypse. Into this city, from the country of Wasoon (Washington DC), comes ambassador Hannah Dundee. Hannah is trying to build relations between the two peoples, for their mutual benefit and survival. In an early story, she devises an early warning system to protect the city's fishing fleet from monster attacks, by making use of pterodactyls. She is intrigued by Jack, though he considers her a nuisance, at first. Over time, they develop a mutual respect and love interest. The series is one part jungle thrills, one part Turok, Son of Stone, one part CarToons, and wholly awesome. Ecological metaphors fill the book, as Schultz infuses Jack with a desire to maintain the precious balance of nature, which man disturbed so long ago. Still, that doesn't stop him from rebuilding old vehicles. Jack and Hannah are a classic romantic couple, at odds at first, with growing respect and attraction. It calls to mind classic adventure films like The African Queen and King Solomon's Mines. The dinosaurs add a touch of Burroughs and Conan Doyle to the whole thing. Schultz's artwork is gorgeous and the detail is beyond anything he could do on a mainstream book's schedule. As such, you had to bide our time for the next great issue. The series, though small, was popular enough that Marvel's Epic line reprinted it, in color, under the Cadillacs & Dinosaurs name. Kitchen Sink collected the material in trades... The series would spawn a pretty decent animated series, from Nelvana, which premiered in 1993, on CBS. Although it wasn't a direct adaptation, and concessions were made to broadcast standards (no recognizable firearms, no on-screen death), it actually used a lot of story elements from the series and was faithful to the tone of it. Prior to the animated series, there was a video game, which helped sell the idea of the cartoon. With the visibility of the cartoon came toys and a new series of comics from Topps, which was meant to fill in gaps between issues of Xenozoic Tales. Mark Schultz did not create them, but did consult and approve them. Xenozoic Tales was later collected by Dark Horse, in two volumes... ...and by Flesk Publications, in a single volume. Mark Schultz would go on to write the Prince Valiant comic strip, with artists Gary Gianni and Tom Yeates. There is an excellent podcast devoted to it Xenozoic Xenophiles, which is produced by husband and wife team of Darren and Ruth Southerland, who also produce Warlord Worlds, devoted to Mike Grell's work; and, Trekker Talk, devoted to Ron Randall's sci-fi adventure Trekker. They have great summaries of the comics and lend their own observations about the material. They are also the nicest people you will ever encounter and gifted me with a signed copy of the Flesk Publications edition. You gotta love comic people! Check out their podcasts; and, if you like them, consider writing a review at iTunes and other channels to help spread the word. Tell 'em Jeff sent you.
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Post by kirby101 on Jun 24, 2017 19:13:49 GMT -5
I loved Xenozoic Tales. Schultz was (and very much still is) a great talent. The EC influence in XT is obvious. But he started aping Wood and slowly evolved to Williamson/Frazetta.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 24, 2017 22:32:23 GMT -5
I loved Xenozoic Tales. Schultz was (and very much still is) a great talent. The EC influence in XT is obvious. But he started aping Wood and slowly evolved to Williamson/Frazetta. Yeah, I've been looking through the early stories, in the collected volume and there's definitely a Wood feel to it. However, when I first encountered it, he had moved more into the Williamson/Frazetta realm and that is how I always picture the series, in my head.
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Post by kirby101 on Jun 24, 2017 22:35:31 GMT -5
I loved Xenozoic Tales. Schultz was (and very much still is) a great talent. The EC influence in XT is obvious. But he started aping Wood and slowly evolved to Williamson/Frazetta. Yeah, I've been looking through the early stories, in the collected volume and there's definitely a Wood feel to it. However, when I first encountered it, he had moved more into the Williamson/Frazetta realm and that is how I always picture the series, in my head. The joy of buying these books as they came out (yes, I'm old) seeing the slow development of a talent.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 24, 2017 23:36:08 GMT -5
Yeah, I've been looking through the early stories, in the collected volume and there's definitely a Wood feel to it. However, when I first encountered it, he had moved more into the Williamson/Frazetta realm and that is how I always picture the series, in my head. The joy of buying these books as they came out (yes, I'm old) seeing the slow development of a talent. I'm old, too, as these were my college days; but, I heard about the series for a while, before I picked it up. There were a lot of indie books from the mid-to-late 80s that I was aware of, but didn't really investigate until after I graduated and was in the military, and started looking for new stuff to read. Luckily, I was stationed in a port with two good comic shops, one of whom was a strong supporter of indy books, the other had a decent representation of them. Still took me a few more years to finally start reading Love & Rockets, though.
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