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Friday, September 3, 2010
Wonder Girl
Comics prodigy Alexa Kitchen
When it comes to storytelling basics in comics, there are some professional artists who could learn a thing or two from indy creator Alexa Kitchen. For the past four years, she has created strips in a variety of genres, from autobiography to fantasy to comedy, all with an exuberance and a creative drive that is rare to find. Despite having no formal training, her work has garnered much praise from industry cognoscenti familiar with her work. In that, she is not that different from other critically-acclaimed yet generally-unknown creators. What makes her unique?
Alexa Kitchen is all of eight years old.
The daughter of long-time comics creator and publisher Denis Kitchen, Alexa took to comics from an early age and has spent nearly half of her brief life creating her own stories, with an innate understanding of the medium’s mechanics that must be seen to be believed. At this year’s MOCCA Art Festival, the Kitchen clan was on hand to promote, among other products, Alexa’s new hardcover how-to book, Drawing Comics is Easy (Except When it’s Hard!). It was at MOCCA where father and daughter spoke about the youngster’s burgeoning career path.
“I think she was surrounded by [comics] and she just took to them,” said Denis in describing how it all started for Alexa. “She was like a sponge. We read everything I had in my library that was age-appropriate. From the earliest age, when she could hold a crayon, she was drawing representational images that at first, I just thought well, as a kid she likes to draw. But then she started telling stories with them, which was, I think, the unusual part – putting the words and pictures together at a very early age. I’m a publisher and an agent and I’ve been a professional artist myself, so it’s hard to separate that sometimes from being a parent, but we just knew there was something going on there. The last thing we wanted to do was to be stage parents, but Alexa’s genuinely enthused about it and every time I tell her she should be a ballerina, she says, ‘Dad, I wanna be a cartoonist!’ It’s her choice.”
“I just saw other comics and I just got inspired,” said Alexa herself. “I thought, I could do the same thing too!”
Alexa comes from a strong pedigree. Denis Kitchen is, of course, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of the late Kitchen Sink Press, which for thirty years was home for some of the medium’s greatest names, including Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, George Harriman, Harvey Kurtzman, Milton Caniff, and many more. He is also the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the non-profit organization that protects the First Amendment rights of creators, publishers, retailers and others involved with comics. In addition, he has been chairman of the Harvey Awards Committee and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and also runs a literary and an art agency. He continues to publish comics material under the imprint Denis Kitchen Publishing Co.
According to the bio at her website written by her mother Stacey Kitchen, after initially putting together words and pictures to make stories, in her fifth year Alexa attempted to grasp more complex concepts such as perspective, dimension, and facial expressions (albeit in a rudimentary fashion). She expanded her vocabulary to the point where she was able to create new words for her fantasy stories. Once friends and family also took notice, that’s when Stacey chose to set up the website to preserve Alexa’s work. Still, both mother and father remain level-headed throughout all the attention.
“Denis and I think she's pretty special, but only because she's ours (like all other parents),” says Stacey in Alexa’s bio. “Her ‘art’ is just her way of dealing with the reality of her life - just like other children. She draws what she sees and how she feels about it… Like most children, drawing is cathartic for her. She just happens to be especially good at it.”
Though she has many favorite comics, Alexa cited among her favorites strips like Calvin & Hobbes, Mutts, and Little Lulu, as well as longer-form comics like Bone. Denis emphasized Alexa’s regular-kid status in school, though she has taken part in a number of special school projects, from posters to stationery. Do her teachers encourage her to make comics? “Sometimes,” she said, “but they don’t always have a fondness [for] me drawing on my test papers!”
The elder Kitchen talked about Alexa’s published material, including the new book. “I think it was two years ago at MOCCA – we were planning to come down and I just thought it would be fun to put together some of her strips from when she was five and six. So I did some quick-print books called Alexa Kitchen: The Early Years Volumes 1 and 2, which I thought, the titles alone would be funny! But they were a best-of collection, spiral-bound, and we printed, I think, 75 of each. We brought them down and to our astonishment, we almost sold out that weekend… She got some nice write-ups after that. said she was the hit of the show and stuff like that. That was actually very encouraging. So last year we came back with a sketchbook, and this year I wanted to do something that was a ‘real’ book. So this time we have a genuine hardcover with color. We felt the time was right.”
Like many creators whose work improves over time, Alexa has difficulty looking back without wincing. “Alexa, you should realize, is a little bit embarrassed about that work she did at seven, because now she’s eight and she’s a lot better,” said Denis. “So I had to put a disclaimer on the indicia page in which she disavows her work! And I promised I would publish her good work that she’s doing now. So that was our deal.” To this, Alexa quickly added, “But by the time I’m nine, I’ll think it’s stupid anyway!”
Drawing Comics is Easy is on the verge of getting a wider exposure. “Initially it’s [distributed] through Diamond and the comic market,” said Denis, “but what I’m gonna do with the hardcover is show it to a lot of major publishers, and I’ve already met with a couple who’ve shown interest. I think what we’ll probably do is have the paperback rights go to a real publisher, because these days I’m really only a part-time publisher. Kitchen Sink Press is gone and this is a one-man operation. I know how to make books, but this is something that to go to the next step will require a real publisher.”
No matter where else she may go from here, Alexa has her mind set on what she wants to do with her life. “I think I’m just gonna stick with being a cartoonist. I don’t wanna be a ballerina; I don’t wanna be anything stupid like that. I just wanna be a cartoonist. It’s my natural talent.”
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
