Tag Archives: denis kitchen

Review: Will Eisner’s The Spirit: The New Adventures HC (Second Edition)

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WILL EISNER'S THE SPIRIT THE NEW ADVENTURES HC (SECOND EDITION)The Spirit is one of those enduring characters that not only have outlasted its creator which is a feat in and of itself but inspired tens of thousands of characters made from the same ilk. The fact that Will Eisner’s name carries so much love and respect throughout the industry, is truly unprecedented. I have heard other writers compare him to Jack Kirby and Bob Kane, but no one was quite like Mr. Eisner, as his feel for story and character are very much different than those icons. In all honesty, it truly is a travesty that The Spirit has not been translated into other mediums like the lesser characters it inspired.

After its initial publication, in 1939, it had a long and storied history, some involving controversy with the introduction of the character of Ebony White and some very depressing lows, with the publication, of The Spirit’s adventures involving John Law. The fact that he has appeared in print in just about every decade of the 20th century, speaks to infamy of the character, and how well written it as by Eisner. I really got into the character not from the original archived comic that DC Comics collected back in 2007, but from Jeph Loeb’s and Darwyn Cooke’s highly entertaining one shot involving his encounter with the Dark Knight. Then Dynamite enlisted Matt Wagner for a whole new series which definitely stayed true to Eisner’s original vision.

In this collection, a who’s who of the comic world showed up to tell their interpretations of the character to include Paul Chadwick, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, Mike Allred, Jay Stephens and many more. Every story is each creator at their peak talents, especially Gaiman’s “The Return of Mink Stole”, which he is particularly adept at, and I wish he wrote more of. Another standout is Chadwick’s” Cursed Beauty”, which definitely reminds of Brubaker’s recently concluded Fade Out and some elements of his Fatale. Moore has contributed various stories to this collection, but the one that stands as my favorite is “Last Night I Dreamed of Dr.Cobra”, which now reading it again has definite influences over his ongoing Providence.

Overall, a strong collection, as it seemed as though every creator stepped knowing who each other was, and how important Eisner’s legacy is. The stories are iconic Spirit at their best, definitely some twists and turns , but always staying true. The art by the varius artists , is a nice contrast in various hues and styles that makes this a must buy. Altogether, if you love crime noir , if you love your heroes dark and brooding, then you will love The Spirit, as well as these creators.

Story: Paul Chadwick, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman , Mike Allred, Jay Stephens, Denis Kitchen, John Wagner, Mark Kneece, Kurt Busiek, Matt Brundage, Michael Avon Oeming, John Ostrander, Scott Hampton, Dennis Eichorn, Eddie Campbell, Jay Stephens, Joe Lansdale, James Vance, Gary Chaloner
Art: Dave Gibbons, Dan Burr, Daniel Torres, Bo Hampton, Brent Anderson, Laura Allred, David Lloyd, Tom Mandrake, Scott Hampton, Gene Fama, Eddie Campbell, Paul Pope, John Lucas, Gary Chaloner
Story: 10 Art:10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Baltimore Comic-Con 2015 Welcomes Kitchen, Moore, Root, and Veitch

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Al CappThe Baltimore Comic-Con returns to the Baltimore Convention Center on September 25–27, 2015 for its 16th annual show! The have announced returning guests, Denis Kitchen, Terry Moore, Budd Root, and Rick Veitch.

The Harvey Award-winning Denis Kitchen began his comics career as a self-published underground cartoonist (Mom’s Homemade Comics, 1969), but quickly became primarily a publisher. His Kitchen Sink Press for three decades published such legendary and diverse artists as Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Mark Schultz, Charles Burns, Al Capp, Scott McCloud, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell, Dave McKean, Howard Cruse, and countless others. Kitchen also founded the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and chaired it for eighteen years. A monograph of his cartoons, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen, was recently published. Kitchen curates exhibitions, is an art agent, a literary agent, a comics historian and author (The Art of Harvey Kurtzman and a biography, Al Capp), and has recently brought back Kitchen Sink Books as an imprint of Dark Horse Comics with partner John Lind. This is Denis’s 6th appearance at Baltimore Comic-Con where he has a special connection: as the representative of the Kurtzman estate, he was responsible for bringing the annual Harvey Awards to the convention.

Rachel RisingHaving decided to publish his initial work, Strangers in Paradise, via his Houston-based Abstract Studios, Terry Moore won an Eisner award for his work. Since then, he has gone on to write several titles for Marvel, including the hit series Runaways. Through Abstract Studios, he created the Harvey award-winning Echo, which ran for 30 issues and has since been collected, and his current title, the Harvey-nominated Rachel Rising, for which Moore both writes and provides the art.

Budd Root initially broke into the mainstream comics industry with his first published work at London Night Studios. Ultimately, Root decided he would publish his own comics, forming Basement Comics in 1993 and issuing the now-synonymous Cavewoman. The title has since gone on to see publication with Caliber Press and Avatar Press. It has also garnered an Ignatz Award nomination in 1999.

A member of The Kubert School’s first graduating class, Rick Veitch made a name early in his career as a fantasy artist and writer for Marvel’s Epic line of titles, where he worked on Epic Illustrated, Heartburst, and The One. He went on to work on the critically acclaimed Swamp Thing from DC Comics, as well as Miracleman from Eclipse Comics, for which he both wrote and provided art. Veitch then moved into the indie comics scene, working initially on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Mirage Studios and then launching his own King Hell publishing house, with titles like Bratpack and The Maximortal. Returning to larger publishers, Veitch has worked on Image’s 1963 and Supreme, and DC’s Tomorrow Stories, America’s Best Comics, The Question, and Aquaman. More recently, he wrote the Vertigo title Army@Love and The Big Lie from Image. You can find his Miracleman work reprinted these days from Marvel Comics.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Neal Adams (All-New Captain America); Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl); Christy Blanch (The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood); Mark Buckingham (Fables); Sean Chen (Secret Origins); Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman); Frank Cho (Jungle Girl); Steve Conley (Bloop); Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn); Katie Cook (Gronk); Darwyn Cooke (Richard Stark’s Parker); Ramona Fradon (Spongebob Annual-Size Super-Giant Swimtacular); John Gallagher (Buzzboy); Cully Hamner (Convergence: The Question); Dean Haspiel (The Fox); Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets); Klaus Janson (Superman); Dave Johnson (Inhumans: Attilan Rising); JG Jones (Strange Fruit); Denis Kitchen (The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Went Underground); Barry Kitson (Empire: Uprising); Seth Kushner (Schmuck); Paul Levitz (Convergence: World’s Finest Comics); Mark Mariano (The Other Side of Hugless Hill); Ron Marz (Convergence: Batman and Robin); Terry Moore (Rachel Rising); Tom Palmer (The Avengers); Jimmy Palmiotti (The Con Job); Dan Parent (Archie); David Peterson (Mouse Guard); Ron Randall (Convergence: Catwoman); Budd Root (Cavewoman); Don Rosa (Donald Duck); Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo); Matteo Scalera (Black Science); Bart Sears (Bloodshot); Louise Simonson (Convergence: Superman – The Man of Steel); Walter Simonson (Convergence: Superman – The Man of Steel); Andy Smith (Earth 2); Charles Soule (Uncanny Inhumans); Ben Templesmith (Gotham by Midnight); Frank Tieri (Suicide Squad); Peter Tomasi (Green Lantern Corps); John Totleben (Swamp Thing); Rick Veitch (Saga of the Swamp Thing); Charles Vess (Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream); Mark Waid (Daredevil); John Watson (Red Sonja); Kelly Yates (Doctor Who); and Thom Zahler (My Little Pony: Friends Forever).

Baltimore Comic-Con 2014: Calafiore, Chen, Curtis, Kitchen, and Stanton

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manowarBaltimore Comic-Con is expanding, and this year marks their inaugural 3-day event which takes place on Friday-Sunday, September 5-7, 2014! Joining them in Baltimore‘s Inner Harbor for their 10th annual show are Jim Calafiore, Jo Chen, Mike Curtis, Denis Kitchen, and Joe Staton!

Jim Calafiore, whose early work was for the now-reformed Valiant Comics on titles like X-O Manowar and Armorines, has made a name for himself working extensively for the Big Two: DC and Marvel Comics. Calafiore had noteworthy runs at Marvel on titles such as Black Panther, Deadpool, Exiles, and Iron Man, and over at DC on Aquaman, Batgirl, Red Lanterns, and Secret Six. More recently, his successful Kickstarter effort, Leaving Megalopolis (with Gail Simone) has been published by Dark Horse Comics, he’s done interior work for Dynamite’s Red Sonja title, and he’s provided covers for Archer and Armstrong at Valiant.

buffy Jo Chen (at the show Saturday and Sunday only!) was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and came to the US in 1994. Working professionally in the Asian comic book industry since age 18, her work in the U.S. comic book scene caught people’s attention with her art work for the Racer X mini-series from Wildstorm/DC Comics in 2000. From there, her artwork graced interiors and covers of titles like Fight For Tomorrow, The Demon, and Robin from DC Comics, Runaways, Taskmaster, and Thor from Marvel Comics, and her covers for Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer became the title’s trademark. Recently, her work has been seen on covers of DC Comics Presents: The Demon – Driven Out.

alcappThe Harvey Award-winning (and nominated again this year!) Denis Kitchen began his comics career as a self-published underground cartoonist (Mom’s Homemade Comics, 1969), but quickly became primarily a publisher. His Kitchen Sink Press for three decades published such legendary and diverse artists as Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Mark Schultz, Charles Burns, Al Capp, Scott McCloud, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell, Dave McKean, Howard Cruse, and countless others. Kitchen also founded the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and chaired it for eighteen years. A monograph of his cartoons, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen, was recently published. Kitchen curates exhibitions, is an art agent, a literary agent, a comics historian and author (The Art of Harvey Kurtzman and a biography, Al Capp), and has recently brought back Kitchen Sink Books as an imprint of Dark Horse Comics with partner John Lind. This is Denis’s 5th appearance at Baltimore Comic-Con where he has a special connection: as the representative of the Kurtzman estate, he was responsible for bringing the annual Harvey Awards to us. Nominated for the same awards this year are Denis’s work on Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Comics Went Underground from Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse Comics and Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary with Michael Schumacher from Bloomsbury.

dicktracyMike Curtis and Joe Staton are the writer and artist respectively of the Harvey Award-winning (and, like Denis above, nominated again this year!), Dick Tracy comic strip. Curtis, began working in comics in the 1980s for kids comics publisher Harvey Comics, writing for titles such as Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and New Kids on the Block. From there, he created Shanda the Panda for Mu Press and, later, Antarctic Press. He later went on to create the publishing house Shanda Fantasy Arts. Staton got his start in the comics industry in 1971 with publisher Charlton Comics, where he worked on E-Man, and went on to work for Warren and Marvel Comics as well. He moved to DC Comics to provide art duties on All Star Comics, Adventure Comics, and DC Special where he illustrated tales of the Justice Society of America, and on titles like Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Showcase, Metal Men, and Green Lantern. His career at DC Comics brought him to other titles too, like Millennium, Guy Gardner, The Huntress, and, most recently, Scooby Doo.

2 Dark Horse Collections Released Early For Black Friday!

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As fans around the world fill out their holiday wish lists, Dark Horse has released two of the year’s most anticipated collections early, in time for Black Friday!

Polar: Came from the Cold, by Victor Santos, is a guns-blazing espionage action-adventure in the grand tradition of Jim Steranko and Frank Miller. This graphic novel is a brutal, fast-tempo story of revenge that Newsarama says is “as ice-cold as its name.” Though Polar was originally released as a silent webcomic, Santos has crafted a script as hard boiled and intriguing as his art for this hardcover collection.

The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Comics Went Underground! is a collection of the long-out-of-print underground Comix Book series (1974–1976), originally edited by Denis Kitchen and Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The collection includes work from underground creators such as Joel Beck, Kim Deitch, Justin Green, Harvey Pekar, Trina Robbins, Art Spiegelman, Skip Williamson, and S. Clay Wilson. The book features an introduction by Lee, a foreword by Kitchen, and an essay by James Vance, accompanied by unpublished artwork, photographs, and correspondence from Kitchen’s archives.

Both Polar: Came from the Cold and The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Comics Went Underground! move up from an original release date of December 11 to a November 27 on-sale date. Now, that’s something to be thankful for!

PolarCameFromColdBestofComixBook

Underground Comix Legends Frank Stack and Denis Kitchen at the Baltimore Comic-Con

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Frank Stack Amazon Comics StackThe Baltimore Comic-Con has announced that two prominent figures who originated in Underground Comix, Frank Stack and Denis Kitchen, will be coming to the 14th annual show, taking place September 7-8, 2013.

Frank Stack is credited by some comics historians with creating the very first underground comic (The Adventures of Jesus) back in 1962, well before R. Crumb’s first ZAP in 1967. Frank is not merely a respected cartoonist — he is an accomplished painter and for many years was a tenured art professor at the University of Missouri. But we know him in our corner of the world as the creator of such comics as his iconoclastic Jesus series, Feelgood Funnies, Amazon, and Dorman’s Doggie, and contributions to underground anthologies like Rip Off Comix and Snarf. Frank collaborated with the late Harvey Pekar on American Splendor and the graphic novel My Cancer Year.

Frank, who very rarely attends any comics conventions, is making his first appearance at Baltimore Comic-Con. Though now retired from teaching, Frank continues to paint, make prints in his own print-making studio, and has a new comics project underway.
  Denis Kitchen cover Denis Kitchen wears many hats in comics (“Too many,” he tells us). Like Frank, he began as a self-published underground cartoonist (Mom’s Homemade Comics, 1969), but quickly became primarily a publisher. His Kitchen Sink Press for three decades published such legendary and diverse artists as Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Mark Schultz, Charles Burns, Al Capp, Scott McCloud, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell, Dave McKean, Howard Cruse, and countless others. Kitchen also founded the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and chaired it for eighteen years.

A monograph of his cartoons (The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen) was recently published. Kitchen curates exhibitions, is an art agent, a literary agent, a comics historian and author (The Art of Harvey Kurtzman and a brand-new biography Al Capp), and just last month announced with partner John Lind that they are bringing back Kitchen Sink Books as an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. This is Denis’s 4th appearance at Baltimore Comic-Con where he has a special connection: as the representative of the Kurtzman estate, he was responsible for bringing the annual Harvey Awards to us.

Stack and Kitchen joins the previously announced guests, including: Josh Adams (Doctor Who); Neal Adams (First X-Men); Art Baltazar (Aw Yeah Comics!, Tiny Titans); Brian Bolland (Dial H); Harold Buchholz (Archie Comics); Mark Buckingham (Fables); Sal Buscema (Amazing Spider-Man); Frank Cammuso (Knights of the Lunch Table, Otto’s Orange Day); Jimmy Cheung (Avengers vs. X-Men); Frank Cho (Savage Wolverine); Steve Conley (Bloop); Amanda Conner (Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre); Jamie and Tyler Cosley (Cody the Cavalier, Ninja Squirrel); J.M. DeMatteis (Phantom Stranger); David Finch (Justice League of America); Franco (Aw Yeah Comics!, Tiny Titans); John Gallagher (Buzzboy, Roboy Red); SL Gallant (GI JOE); Zack Giallongo (Broxo); Chris Giarrusso (G-Man); Keith Giffen (Masters of the Universe); Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules!, The Dumbest Idea Ever!); Joe Hill (Locke and Key); Jason Horn (Ninjasaur); Adam Hughes (Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan); Barry Kitson (Empire); Roger Langridge (Popeye); Paul Levitz (World’s Finest); Kevin Maguire (World’s Finest); Mike Maihack (Cleopatra in Space); Mark Mariano (Happyloo); Dave McDonald (Hamster Sam); Mark McKenna (Star Wars, Banana Tail); Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie); Mike Mignola (Hellboy In Hell); Jamar Nicholas (Leon: Protector of the Playground); Chris O>Matic (The Chris O>Matic Show!); Jimmy Palmiotti (Batwing); Dan Parent (Archie, Veronica, Kevin Keller); George Perez (World’s Finest); David Petersen (Mouse Guard); Joe Prado (Earth 2); Ivan Reis (Aquaman); Dave Roman – Saturday only (Astronaut Academy, Teen Boat); Chris Samnee (Daredevil); Jeff Schultz (Archie, Jughead); Louise Simonson (X-Factor); Walt Simonson (The Mighty Thor); Kevin Smith (Batman: The Widening Gyre); Allison Sohn (sketch card artist); Bobby Timony (Night Owls, Detectobot); Mark Waid (Indestructible Hulk), and Bill Willingham (Fables).

Dark Horse Announces All-New Kitchen Sink Imprint!

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Dark Horse Comics announced today that they have entered into a joint venture to add the newly formed Kitchen Sink Books as an exclusive and independent publishing imprint.

Kitchen Sink Books will begin a publishing program in late 2013, focusing on large-format, heavily illustrated art books, archival reprint collections, and original graphic novels.

The new imprint will be headed by alternative publishing pioneer Denis Kitchen and book designer/editor John Lind, who will share duties including acquiring and editing new projects, developing talent, and strategically guiding the imprint.

Their previous partnership, Kitchen, Lind & Associates, served as a packager on numerous award-winning and award-nominated books for companies including Abrams, Chronicle Books, Disney/Hyperion, and Bloomsbury. KLA also represented creator-owned projects at major publishing houses from an eclectic client list, including Todd Hignite, Jerry Robinson, Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing, Joey Chou, Rebecca Guay, Liniers, Howard Cruse, William Stout, and the literary estates of both Harvey Kurtzman and Al Capp.

Publisher Mike Richardson, editor Philip Simon, and assistant editor Everett Patterson will oversee responsibilities on behalf of Dark Horse Comics.

Kitchen Sink Books will initially release four to six books per year. The first book, scheduled for release in November 2013, will be The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Went Underground!, a collection of the long-out-of-print underground Comix Book series (1974–1976) that was originally edited by Denis Kitchen and Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The collection will include work from underground creators such as Joel Beck, Kim Deitch, Justin Green, Harvey Pekar, Trina Robbins, Art Spiegelman, Skip Williamson, and S. Clay Wilson. The book will feature an introduction by Lee, a foreword by Kitchen, and an essay written by James Vance, accompanied by unpublished artwork, photographs, and correspondence from Kitchen’s archives.

Look for more announcements in this exciting new line of books in the months to come!

BOCB FC SOL

Around the Tubes

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It’s new comic book day, what’s everyone getting?

Around the Tubes

CBLDF – CBLDF Establishes Advisory Board: Denis Kitchen and Neil Gaiman Named Co-Chairs – Congrats!

The National – Sufi Comics now share Islamic stories with the world – Interesting.

MTV Geek – Brian Wood’s Lost DC Pitches – I’d probably read all of these.

Bleeding Cool – As Issue Seven Sells Out, Image Decides To Stop Reprinting Comics Like Saga – This means make sure to get your pre-orders in and digital never sells out!
 

Around the Tubes Reviews

IGN – Avengers Arena #1

Bleeding Cool – Batman #15

MTV Geek – Batman #15

CBR – Batman #15

IGN – Cable and X-Force #1

Bleeding Cool – Happy #3

Bleeding Cool – Nowhere Men #2

Baltimore Comic Con 2011 Recap

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It’s not even 24 hours since the end of 2011’s Baltimore Comic Con which took place near the harbor of Baltimore, Maryland.  The convention was packed, seeming to draw record crowds for the weekend.  Saturday was wall to wall people making it at times difficult to make it through the crowds.  It seems legends like Stan Lee did their job, sparking people to come downtown and check out the convention.  Even with the massive crowds, I constantly heard from those exhibiting that sales were down slightly from last year.  No matter, you couldn’t help be impressed by the crowds.

But, what I like about Baltimore is the focus on comics.  It’s one of the few big name shows that keeps it’s focus on it’s roots.  You won’t find movie or television celebrities here, but what you will find is writers, illustrators and publishers interacting directly with the fans.  This is a perfect show to come to where you can shake hands with legends, get autographs and photos and interact directly with creators.  Fans are able to ask directly what they’re working on and you can often find the greats hanging out during and after the show, completely approachable.  I might be a blogger, but I’m a fan first, and it’s such a fun time to talk comics with those who are involved creating them.  It’s often eye opening and you learn a ton.

But, the show isn’t all dealers, publishers and artist alley.  There’s also a decent selection of panels where you can catch some industry titans talking about history or what’s coming up.  There were a few bumps this year, but after sitting through Saturday’s spotlight with Shannon Wheeler, I’ve made a promise myself to attend more panels at future shows.  It’s entertaining and you get stories you’ll hear nowhere else.  I also had the pleasure of moderating the BOOM! 6th Anniversary Panel with BOOM! Studios founder and CEO Ross Ritchie.  1) being on panels are fun; 2) I really need to get better at it; 3) I learned a hell of a lot.

You also get to see so much you won’t necessarily find at your local shop.  Small publishers, self-publishers line places like Artist Alley.  You also get to find new ways people are telling stories.  This show Heretic City stood out to me.  It’s not the traditional comic book, instead, it tells a graphic story through t-shirts.  A great idea and very unique.  It shows graphic story telling can happen outside of the traditional panel format.

But, in the end, for some one like me it’s all about catching up with old friends and making new ones.  Here’s the rundown.

Old friends:

  • Len Wallace and Jessica – always great hanging out with you two.  I think we’ll have to make Saturday dinner a tradition.  Look forward to seeing you both at NYCC.
  • The Top Cow crew – Atom! and Filip – always great catching up, and hope to hang at at NYCC.  Top Cow has a special place as the first company we really covered and I look forward to continue to support them.  Great guys, great product, great attitude.
  • Ron Marz – I promise to get you the script – folks, one of the nicest people you’ll meet at a con, great with the fans.
  • Drew Gaska – a true talent and awesome guy.  Love his writing and ideas and so happy the person behind them is so smart, fun and friendly.
  • The Kill Shakespeare guys – Anthony and Conor, so talented and I can’t wait to see what they have coming up.  You want to watch a great pitch and interaction with fans, go see them at cons. You can’t help but dig Shakespeare after.
  • The BOOM! Studios crew – Ross and Chip, always fun. Let me know when I can moderate another panel… The product is fun and quality, they’ve got a great attitude, it’s no wonder I’m looking forward to shining the spotlight on them more and more.
  • ComiXology – Taking five minutes talking to this team and you can’t help be excited about the future of digital comics.  John and the team are brilliant and will win you over on the digital medium.

New friends:

  • Shannon Wheeler – the creator of Too Much Coffee Man is a legend, and hilarious. If he’s on a panel, go see it.
  • Denis Kitchen – All I want to do now is sit this industry legend down and just film him talking. Amazing stories.
  • CBLDF – I finally connected with the CBLDF team and look forward to helping support them more and more in the future.
  • Chandra Free – the writer and artist of The God Machine is so talented and being able to watch her sketch is amazing.  It just solidifies my opinion of her talent.

Twitter/Digital friends now in person!:

  • PLB Comics – a small publishing company, their book The Fall is a great read.  They’re also very friendly in person and I’m feeling really good after meeting them to support their efforts.
  • Joshua Hale Fialkov – the writer of Echoes and Tumor is a talent and his upcoming book The Last of the Greats is just as solid.  We were early supporters of his, and so happy to continue to do so.
  • I loved Rahsan Ekedal art on Echoes and was so happy to meet him at the show as well.  You better believe I’ll be picking up some of his original work at NYCC.

There’s also a bunch of indie books I picked up and you better believe I’ll be letting you know my thoughts in future reviews.  Next up is SPX in two weeks!

Dark Horse Announces The Oddly Compelling Art Of Denis Kitchen!

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Official Press Release

NEW COLLECTION FEATURES INTRODUCTION

BY NEIL GAIMAN!

February 23, 2010, MILWAUKIE, OR—A well-known personality in the comics world, Denis Kitchen has worn many hats. While he is best known as a longtime publisher, founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, author, and literary and art agent, his career as a pioneering underground comix artist has been overdue for rediscovery.

First announced for publication from his own Kitchen Sink Press over twenty years ago, but never produced, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen is the first collection of work by the underground cartoonist and acclaimed publishing pioneer. In addition to his comix, this book features a wealth of unpublished material: paintings, covers for underground newspapers and comix, rare strips and illustrations, and historic photos of Kitchen and many of his contemporaries.

Acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman provides a funny and insightful introduction, and an essay by Charles Brownstein (Eisner/Miller) provides context and a career overview.

The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen finally brings Kitchen the artist to the stage. This compendium includes approximately two hundred illustrations, most of which have remained unseen since their original publication in the late ’60s and ’70s, and is guaranteed to serve as an essential piece of history for modern comics fans.

“I think Oddly Compelling is a very good title for a book of Denis Kitchen’s work, and describes it very well,” said legendary artist R. Crumb. “I always thought it was rather a shame that Kitchen became a publisher and businessman to the neglect of his artistic talent . . . He was a gifted and exceptional artist . . . I think his downfall was women . . . The big sap!”

Designed by John Lind, winner of a 2009 American Graphic Design Award for his work on Underground Classics, The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen will appeal to underground comix fans and comics historians alike.

The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen is a full-color, 200-page, nine-by-twelve-inch hardcover priced at $34.99.

Currently offered in this month’s Previews catalog with a Diamond code of FEB100040, the book arrives on shelves on June 23, 2010.

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