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Cartoonist Robert Crumb profiled; cartoonist Dan O’Neill and the Air Pirates collective of cartoonists; and cartoonist and publisher Denis Kitchen and Kitchen Sink Press. The Daily Cartoonist goes underground.
R. Crumb
If acid expanded Crumb’s consciousness, his discovery of underground comics in late 1965 was the real epiphany. Underground newspapers—The East Village Other, the Los Angeles Free Press, the Berkeley Barb—introduced him to a new breed of cartoons. “All of these strips used the panel-to-panel form of comics to hold drawings,” Nadel writes, but they forwent “the telltale big feet, joke setups, and musical rhythms” of traditional comics. Inspired by these debauched comedies, Crumb revamped his own storytelling. In 1966, his “Har Har Page,” a 24-panel strip later included in Zap Comix, set what Nadel calls “the inadvertent prototype for everything that came after.” Proceeding with the rubberiness of a wino’s monologue, “Har Har Page” is a simple cat-and-mouse story, only here the prey is a woman victimized by a nose-picking ogre. He wipes snot on her back and menaces her with a fleet of buses. She throws a toilet at him; he eats her foot. In the final panel, he invites her to come with him and think about fried chicken. “It is misogynist, profane, surreal, and in bad taste,” Nadel writes. In other words, pure R. Crumb.
With the help of Dan Nadel’s authorized biography Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life Jeremy Lybarger for The New Republic profiles underground cartoonist Robert Crumb.
O’Neill, Richards, Flenniken, London, Hallgren – The Air Pirates
In 1971, frustrated by the constraints of mainstream media and fueled by artistic vision, [Dan] O’Neill assembles a crew of like-minded rebels—Shary Flenniken, Bobby London, Gary Hallgren, and Ted Richards. Together, they become the Air Pirates, a renegade collective determined to take on the pseudo-wholesome facade of corporate America. Their first act? Mickey Mouse and friends, in the most anti-Disney way imaginable.
Set against the backdrop of a 1970s counterculture, MOUSETRAP is a tale of creativity, defiance, and the fight for freedom of speech. It shaped the future of parody and fair use practices for decades to come. It’s an entertaining and energetic story that will be told in an artistically creative manner. It’s a story never before told on film … until now.
Jed Riffe, in association with head Pirate cartoonist Dan O’Neill is attempting to raise $51,500 via Kickstarter to produce a film about the Air Pirates comix group.
MOUSETRAP: The Air Pirates War Against Disney
MOUSETRAP: The Air Pirates War Against Disney is told through verité footage, interviews, rare archival material, and 2D animation rooted in underground comix aesthetics.
Denis Kitchen and Kitchen Sink Press
In 1969 Denis Kitchen founded Kitchen Sink Press and, for more than 30 years, he published many of the most prominent and innovative creators in comics, including such legends as Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Crumb, Charles Burns, Al Capp, Milton Caniff, Howard Cruse, Trina Robbins, Mark Schultz, Art Spiegelman, Scott McCloud, Alan Moore, the ground-breaking Gay Comix series, and countless others.
In 1989, Kitchen formed the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund after comic store manager Michael Correa was convicted of possession and sale of so-called “obscene” material, which included a series published by Kitchen Sink Press.
Jonathan James for Daily Dead interviews cartoonist and publisher and cartooning rights activist Denis Kitchen about Comic Book Censorship, Forgotten Horror Comics, and the ODDLY COMPELLING Documentary.
You are the subject of Oddly Compelling, a documentary that chronicles your career as a cartoonist, a publisher, and the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. How did this project come about?
Denis Kitchen: I was approached by the filmmakers; it was as simple as that. One of them, Ted Intorcio, was in the comics biz (cartoonist, publisher, animator) and had visited me, so he saw the many unusual things I collect or create outside the comics realm. I think it was that combination of my long and varied career in comics plus the eccentric sidebars that persuaded him and his film partner Soren Christiansen to think a documentary was a worthwhile endeavor. I’ve been a “talking head” in, I think, eight other documentaries but I certainly never expected to become the focus of one.
Yes, it’s another Kickstarter request for money; this one for a Denis Kitchen documentary.
ODDLY COMPELLING: THE DENIS KITCHEN STORY
Denis Kitchen has been taking on the establishment for decades. Now the all-new documentary Oddly Compelling highlights Kitchen’s long, strange trip — from his early days as a hippie cartoonist, to his thirty years as one of the most important independent comic book publishers and his work as a fierce advocate for the First Amendment.
Filmmakers Soren Christiansen and Ted Intorcio have captured hours of in-depth, candid conversations with Denis Kitchen, as well as fellow cartoonists and colleagues including Alison Bechdel, Warren Bernard, Eddie Campbell, Paul Gravett, Karen Green, Justin Hall, Gary Hallgren, Tom Heintjes, Mari Naomi, Peter Poplaski, Carol Tyler [emphasis added], and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s Interim Director Jeff Trexler. The film also features rare archival footage of comic book legends Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, and Harvey Kurtzman, along with new animation of Kitchen’s iconic cartooning. The film charts Kitchen’s career — as an indie cartoonist, a provocateur and publisher, and founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
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