Denis Kitchen Wins New Boston Comic Arts Foundation Underground Visionary Award

The Boston Comic Arts Foundation has debuted an annual prize, the Underground Visionary Award, to be awarded each year at the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE) to honor the “work of an individual, publisher, or community-builder whose dedication has brought opportunity, attention, and change to the comics medium.” The inaugural winner is the longtime comics publisher and agent Denis Kitchen, who was presented with the award at this year’s expo, on December 8.

“I was surprised, honored, and humbled to receive the first annual Underground Visionary award at MICE, and amused to see that, in my honor, the award will consist each year of a different kitchen utensil,” Kitchen said. “What a unique idea. The only challenge for me is how to display this year's spatula on our mantelpiece!”

“Denis Kitchen has been, quietly and modestly, one of the most important individuals in independent comics for as long as there have been independent comics, having done so much to help and promote other artists and defend their rights,” says Dan Mazur, cofounder and codirector of MICE. “AND, he lives in Massachusetts! So it's very fitting, and a real privilege, for MICE to be able to give out an award in Denis' name that will both honor Denis and continue the practice of cartoonists helping cartoonists.”