Comix Book No. 5

COMIX BOOK No. 5 (1976). First printing.

This was an odd beast, Comix Book. Smilin' Stan Lee persuaded a starving Denis Kitchen to work for Marvel Comics in 1974. Lee wanted to capitalize on the "energy" and cutting-edge style of the underground cartoonists. Equally eager to broaden underground comix exposure via newsstands ---and to earn a decent wage--- Kitchen conditionally agreed to create and edit a "hybrid" magazine. Kitchen wrested unprecedented concessions from Marvel: they agreed to return all artwork, to run no advertising in the mag, to throw out the "Comics Code Authority" restrictions, and to eventually allow artists to keep their copyrights ---all policies unheard of from mainstream comics publishers at that time. The result was a short-lived experimental comic magazine that either failed to find its audience, was mishandled by baffled newsstand distributors and/or opened a Pandora's box at Marvel. Lee quickly canceled the series as the third issue hit newsstands. But Kitchen had editorially assembled five issues. After a year back and forth, he persuaded Marvel to let his own Kitchen Sink Press publish the final two issues of Comix Book. (If you'd like a more detailed history of this see Kitchen's interview in Comic Book Artist No. 9, August 2000, TwoMorrows Publishing).

The 5th and final Comix Book, when intended for newsstands, originally scheduled a sexy and more commercial John Pound cover. Kitchen on his own instead went with the decidedly non-commercial Justin Green for the final cover. Green's 5-part "We Fellow Traveleers" story conveniently wrapped with the magazine's capstone issue. Other contributors: Gary Hallgren ("Tom Terkey"); S. Clay Wilson ("The Corpse Gobblin' Ogre of Columbite Mountain"); Ted Richards & Willy Murphy ("Two Fools"); Howard Cruse ("Barefootz" story + color back cover); "Luke," a short horror story written by Will Fowler and illustrated by Peter Poplaski; Sharon Rudahl ("Die Bubbeh: The Grandmother"); Leslie Cabarga ("Buddy Baker, Crooner for Hire" and "Take the A Train"); Skip Williamson ("On the Job"); Trina Robbins ("Panthea" wrap-up); Joel Beck ("Lefty Doomsday"); Tim Boxell; John Pound ("Flip the Bird"); Robert Armstrong ("Those Low-Down Crash Pad Blues"); Murphy ("Henry Henpeck"); and Kim Deitch ("Scooped"). Also: a Trina Robbins Interview, a final Kitchen editorial and a letters page. Imagine [thumb and forefinger held 1/8" apart]... Marvel Comics came this close to publishing S. Clay Wilson!! 64-page magazine. Kitchen Sink Press. NM/Mint condition.