Comix Book

Comix Book
Comix Book #1 (Oct. 1974). Artwork by Peter Poplaski.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics Kitchen Sink Press
Schedule	Irregular
Format	anthology
Genre	Underground
Publication date	Oct. 1974 – July 1976
Number of issues	5
Creative team
Artist(s)	Joel Beck, Howard Cruse, Kim Deitch, Justin Green, Will Fowler, Gary Hallgren, Denis Kitchen, Trina Robbins, Art Spiegelman, Skip Williamson, S. Clay Wilson
Creator(s)	Denis Kitchen
Editor(s)	Denis Kitchen

Comix Book is an underground comic book series published from 1974–1976, originally by Marvel Comics. It was the first comic of this type to be published by a mainstream publisher. Edited by Denis Kitchen, Comix Book featured work by such underground luminaries as Justin Green, Kim Deitch, Trina Robbins, Art Spiegelman, and S. Clay Wilson. While it did not depict the explicit content that was often featured in underground comix, it was more socially relevant than anything Marvel had previously published.

In 1973, Marvel publisher Stan Lee became attracted to the energy and cutting-edge art styles of the underground comix movement (which, ironically, by this period was already beginning to wane). Interested in capitalizing on the genre, Lee approached artist and Kitchen Sink Press publisher Denis Kitchen about packaging an underground-style publication for Marvel. Lee requested only that contributors would submit significantly less explicit work, appropriate for newsstands sales. Kitchen, eager to broaden the economic and distribution opportunities for underground cartoonists, agreed to Lee's proposal.

Lee, apprehensive about push-back from fans and distributors, insisted that Comix Book not carry the Marvel name, instead being released by Magazine Management Co. (a Marvel Comics company). Lee himself was only credited on the masthead as "instigator." He and Kitchen agreed to produce a black-and-white oversize magazine similar to that of the contemporaneous Marvel imprint Curtis Magazines. As with the Curtis publications, the format allowed Marvel to dispense with the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority, thereby creating a freer creative space more akin to the no-holds-barred ethos of the underground. In addition, like most underground comics, Comix Book carried no advertising. Kitchen was also able to win a number of unprecedented concessions for his contributors, including the return of all artwork, and eventually allowing artists to keep their copyrights.