KITCHEN SINK PRESS 355
Wisconsin, Kitchen attracted Midwestern artists, including Jim Mitchell (Smile) and
Jay Lynch, but soon developed national relationships, including with Robert Crumb
and other San Francisco-based artists. Kitchen was one the most historically-minded of
the underground cartoonists, and he developed relationships with Harvery Kurtzman ,
and later and most importantly Will Eisner. Kitchen developed related businesses in
addition to publishing, distributing comics and other products to alternative retail out-
lets, and operating a fl ourishing mail order business featuring his own and others’ pub-
lications. As the underground boom faded, and the comics shop system grew, Kitchen
Sink Press adapted by establishing a more varied publishing line, and creating mer-
chandise, artists prints, and other products. Kitchen had a degree in journalism from
the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and had an appreciation for the history of
comics. He began reprinting classic comic strips, working with Milton Caniff to reprint
Steve Canyon , and launching a comprehensive reprint of Al Capp’s Li’l Abner , which
eventually fi lled 27 volumes. Kitchen also reprinted Eisner’s landmark Spirit comic
book stories, in both magazine and comic book formats. Th ese reprints brought Eis-
ner’s work to a new generation of readers and artists, and had an incalculable impact
on the development of comics. In addition, Kitchen Sink Press became the publisher
of Eisner’s series of graphic novels. Kitchen’s Spirit deal included the right to reprint A
Contract with God (1978), Eisner’s fi rst graphic novel, which had not sold well when
published by a New York trade house. With Kitchen Sink, Eisner continued to create
and publish graphic novels. At fi rst attracted by his Spirit work, readers followed him as
he explored long-form comics in new works appearing every two or three years, includ-
ing such seminal works as A Life Force (1988) and To the Heart of the Storm (1991).
Kitchen Sink Press off ered Eisner eff ective distribution for his work. Eisner also de-
veloped a rewarding professional relationship with the press’ editor, Dave Schreiner, a
journalist and former publisher of the Milwaukee Bugle.
Kitchen Sink also fostered the work of Mark Schultz, the creator of Xenozoic
Ta l e s , a science fiction series featuring post-apocalyptic narratives in which dino-
saurs are reborn. A consummate artist, Schultz went on to write Superman comic
books and the Prince Valiant strip. Some of the ecological awareness of Xenozoic
Ta l e s was transferred to the television animated series adapted from it, Cadillacs and
Dinosaurs (1993–94). In 1994, Kitchen’s reputation as a publisher who maintained
the highest standards, as well as one with business acumen, led to a merger with
Tundra, the idealistic but troubled company founded by Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles creator Kevin Eastman. Th e combined press then moved to Northamp-
ton, Massachusetts. Kitchen Sink continued to publish Eisner and Schultz, adding
James O’Barr’s Crow comics and Alan Moore’s From Hell to its catalog. Th e press
expanded its eff orts in merchandising, creating successful boxed candy bars fea-
turing Crumb’s Devil Girl and Jeff Smith’s Bone , and created fi ner artists’ prints,
including a boxed Schultz set. Eisner authorized the creation of new Spirit com-
ics, which attracted superb artists and writers, including Moore, Neil Gaiman , and
many others. Th e collapse of the speculative boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s
