Denis Kitchen is the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund, the non-profit organization formed in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers. For thirty-eight years now, the CBLDF has been helping to cover legal expenses and overturn convictions for comics industry professionals facing censorship, legal destruction, and imprisonment over their artistic creations.
Mr. Kitchen was also the founder of Kitchen Sink Press, an artist, an author of numerous comic related books, an agent, a curator, a comic historian, and a pioneer in underground comix.
Mr. Kitchen has worked with many of the comic book greats; Robert Crumb, Stan Lee, and Will Eisner, to name only a few. In this in-depth interview we learn how Mr. Kitchen got his start in comics, the formation of the CBLDF, and the arc of his career right up to present day. Mr. Kitchen discusses his work and his influences and we cover a lot of ground.
Mr. Kitchen talks about how he began each of his various enterprises. That is my favourite part. His technique is essentially just start doing it, pay attention to detail, and don’t be afraid to reach out to others.
If this interview piques your curiosity and you want to know about how Mr. Kitchen tried to avoid the draft for Vietnam, then pick up a copy of the book The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen.
Note: This week, I present to you this 2013 interview, taken from my vaults. There was a leak in my main bathroom and as a result I did not have time to produce new work.
Enjoy this while I clean up at home and get everything fixed. Jump ahead to the three minute, thirty-five second (3m35s) mark if you wish to skip the intro. Mr. Kitchen’s comic book creation conversation begins at the sixteen minute, thirty second (16m30s) mark.
This is one of the first interviews I ever did. I like it as a record of Mr. Kitchen’s humility and affability.
An Interview with Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Founder, Denis Kitchen