A Table Talk at Berkeley Con 1973, with l-r, Great Speckled Bird proprietor (un-named); Dave Moriarity, Rip Off Press; Denis Kitchen; Ron Turner; Don Donahue, Apex; Don Schenker, Print Mint
Our history of the Direct Market continues with a conversation with two publishers of underground comix, Ron Turner, founder of Last Gasp, and Denis Kitchen, founder of Kitchen Sink Press.  Both Ron and Denis were distributors as well as publishers, and both started their businesses in 1970.  Part 1 of this interview focuses on the Golden Age of underground comix, the early 1970s.  In Part 2, we discuss the evolution of the underground comix market as well as Denis’s shift toward non-underground comics at Kitchen Sink.  And in Part 3, we talk about the very early days of manga publishing in America and the drift toward the book channel.

We are also making available lightly edited transcripts of the interview, in three parts:
ICv2 Interview Transcript: Ron Turner and Denis Kitchen, Part 1
ICv2 Interview Transcript: Ron Turner and Denis Kitchen, Part 2
ICv2 Interview Transcript: Ron Turner and Denis Kitchen, Part 3

This interview and article are part of ICv2’s Comics Direct Market 50th Anniversary celebration; for more, see "Comics Direct Market 50th Anniversary."