#Kitchen Sink Comix

[holy-shit-comics]

[cryptocollectibles]

The Crow Waking Nightmares #1 (January 1997) by Kitchen Sink

Written by Christopher Golden, drawn by Phil Hester, cover by Miran Kim. 

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Feral Friday! 

This week we’re diving into zine history. 

Zines amplify marginalized voices & stories excluded from conventional publishing, challenge authority, and provide egalitarian channels for creative expression and alternative community building.

Though often dated to the sci-fi fanzines of 1930s, some argue that zine history originated in the context of early printing in the 16th century with Martin Luther’s self-published 95 Theses. Given Luther’s use of vernacular, critiques of established ideologies, and use of pamphleteering to spread his message, we tend to agree! Following suit overseas, the cheaply produced broadsides of the 18th century American Revolution were quickly disseminated to influence public opinion.  

In the 1920s artists in Europe produced radical journals and periodicals which spread the ideas of Surrealist and Dada movements and critique of bourgeoise culture. In the 30s sci-fi fanzines provided platforms for fan content and dialogue. The Beat poets produced low-cost mimeographed chapbooks and broadsides in the 40s & 50s, challenging the censorial nature of American society with writing on civil rights, the anti-war movement, environmentalism, and free love.  

During the same period the Soviet Union DIY (aka Samizdat) movement, in which Eastern Bloc activists reproduced and distributed state censored publications by hand (often on typewriters), emerged. Xerography became popularly available in the 60s and low-cost offset printing and the electric typewriter were introduced, spurring the rise of underground comix & alternative newspapers.  

Punk zines appeared in the 70s, followed by the DIY movement and the indie music scene. In the 80s copy machines became ubiquitous, and in the 90s the Riot Grrrl underground punk movement and rise of third wave feminism produced a slew of new publications.     

Because forms of zine production have proliferated in various contexts throughout printing history, even a Western-centric overview was hard to capture succinctly. Stay tuned for more in future posts!  

Images:

Dada germanico. Gabriele Mazzota editore, Milan, 1970. Facsimile edition of 1920 original.

Dada germanico.

from Disputatio D. Martini Luther theologi, pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum, a bound edition of Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Adam Petri, Basel, 1517.

How industrial unionism was won : the great Flint sit-down strike against General Motors, 1936-1937. Progressive Labor Party, Brooklyn, NY.

Prose contribution to Cuban revolution. Allen Ginsberg. Artists' Workshop Press, Detroit, 1966.

Russian samizdat and photo negatives of unofficial literature in the USSR. Moscow. Wikimedia Commons.

The Bunch's power pak comics. Aline Kominsky-Crumb. Kitchen Sink Enterprises, Princeton, WI, 1979.

Plunger. Alison. Team Plunge, New York, NY. Dec. 1994.

FAT! SO?. Marilyn Wann. San Francisco, CA. no.4 1995.

Angry black-white girl : reflections on my mixed race identity. Nia Diaspora. Publication year unknown (between 2000-2009).

View more Feral Friday posts.

View more posts with zines.

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[panelswithoutpeople]

Baby Talk: A Tale of 3 4 Miscarriages

from Twisted Sisters Comics No. 4

by Diane Noomin

[fredseibertdotcom]

We was chocolate before chocolate was cool. 

It was a great idea, before its time. Oh, and I didn’t exactly know what I was doing. 

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw me straying into some areas that were a result of my arrogance and ignorance. I haven’t written yet about my short, disastrous foray into comic book publishing, but it led into a fun, but equally calamitous venture. Chocolate bars. 

Long story, short, in 1997 I put together a few people to invest to save storied, but troubled underground comix publisher Kitchen Sink Press, founded in Princeton, Wisconsin, but relocated in Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition to comics, the company put out all sorts of artist tangential products like trading cards, cloisonne pins, and my favorite and their best selling product, R. Crumb Devil Girl Choco(late) Bars.  When it was clear that KSP was going to continue being a black hole of financial losses it shut down. Clearly, I had no idea how to usefully help the company, and my living in Los Angeles with the company 2,920 miles away didn’t help one bit. 

I’d lost a lot of money, including my wife’s savings and my kid’s college fund, and I really wanted to earn it back for my family’s sake. Fast forward, I did, but certainly not in the KSP spin off I conceived. 

For reasons best sorted out with a therapist, I love everyday objects that have cool images printed on them. Skateboards, T-shirts, posters, you get the idea. So the fact that chocolate bars are obsessions of a lot of people, no matter their age, gender, location, and the R.Crumb and Fabulous Freak Brothers bars being a hit that I felt KSP had ignored in their plight, I got the bright idea of partnering with a Massachusetts based KSP consultant to launch a company named True Confections, solely in the business of boxes of chocolate bars with cool images printed on them.  Can’t go wrong, right? 

As I write this post in 2024, it’s pretty common to find “cool” candy bars in gourmet markets around the country. But, that wasn’t the case in the 00′s. We came up with some pretty neat designs (a few of them above), and our sales team did pretty well too. We sold pretty successfully everywhere from Toys’R’Us to Home Depot to my local Santa Monica pharmacy (they could keep Devil Girl’s in stock!). But, we didn’t know how to source the bars with good chocolate at a good price, and of course, we had no idea how to ship the candy properly when the weather turned hot. Long story short, True Confections was eating money faster than KSP was, and honestly, I got sick of eating chocolate myself. 

It was fun while it lasted, but like I said up above, we were ahead of our time. 

And, as I’ve learned, over and over, a great idea is all well and good, but if you can’t execute... well, that’s that. 

[hippycomix]

Empire Comic Fest is pleased to welcome back writer, editor, and publisher Dan Fogel! Beginning in the late '80s with creator Larry Welz's best-selling line of Adult comix starring CHERRY, Dan’s stories published by Last Gasp, Kitchen Sink Press, Tundra, and Slave Labor Graphics had multiple printings and foreign translations. As a publisher Dan’s produced dozens of books with scores of creators spanning Robert Crumb to Neil Gaiman. A leading authority and historian of Underground, Alternative, and Independent comic books, Dan’s currently working on V.5 of FOGEL'S UNDERGROUND COMIX PRICE GUIDE, since 2006 the industry standard for retailers, collectors, and investors.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE INDIGENOUS-AMERICANA STYLINGS OF THE DEAD -- A CULT STATE OF MIND.

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1280x1648 -- Spotlight on the roots imagery of an American cultural institution -- Cover art to "Grateful Dead Comix" Vol. 1? #3, c. 1991. Published by Kitchen Sink Press. Artwork by Tim Truman.

"Leaving Texas, Fourth day of July, Sun so hot, clouds so low, The eagles filled the sky.

Catch the Detroit Lightning out of Santa Fe, Great Northern out of Cheyenne, From sea to shining sea."

-- "Jack Straw" (1972) by GRATEFUL DEAD

Source: www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldead/comments/1w1nf0.

[muspeccoll]

From the classroom last week: Twisted Sisters Comics, an anthology edited by Diane Noomin. Noomin originally became involved in the underground comics movement through Wimmen's Comix, a feminist collective that published a comics anthology through Last Gasp Press. Noomin and Aline Kominsky-Crumb left Wimmen's Comix in 1975 to publish Twisted Sisters, which was revived in the early 1990s by Kitchen Sink Press. We had this item out for a class on feminist art on Friday.

[balu8]

Xenozoic Tales #3: Benefactor

by Mark Schultz

Kitchen Sink Comix

[nermal]

reading kitchen sink’s gay comix from the 80s. a good handful of strips have themes of “gay men and lesbians dont get along” or “lesbians hate gay men” and it makes me really sad. we shuld all be united together... i know its probably also because these are a bit older, but i still see this sentiment today 

[screamingreek]

Melting Pot - Books 1 & 2 Kitchen Sink Comix

Melting Pot - Book 1 (December 1993) & Book 2 (February 1994) Kitchen Sink Comix By Simon Bisley, Kevin Eastman, Eric Talbot Pre-Owned - Modern Age Comics - 2 books out of a 4 part mini-series Both issues are Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 I am NOT a professional grader! I use "The Overstreet Guide To Grading Comics" as a reference. The grades I give are my opinion. What you see is what you get! So, please take the time to check out the pics in the item gallery. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or offers: screaminggreek@gmail.com Read the full article

[holy-shit-comics]

[cryptocollectibles]

Steve Canyon in 3-D #1 (1986) Kitchen Sink Comix

Written and drawn by Milton Caniff.

[comic-covers]

(1989)

[panelswithoutpeople]

Baby Talk: A Tale of 3 4 Miscarriages

from Twisted Sisters Comics No. 4

by Diane Noomin

[thefugitivesaint]

Brian Biggs, 'Cut Up', ''Death Rattle'', Vol. 3, #1 & #2, 1995