In 1973, Marvel publisher Stan Lee became attracted to the energy and cutting-edge art styles of the underground comix movement. 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.. 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. Comix Book #1 was launched with a cover-date of Oct. 1974. In addition to comics, issues of Comix Book usually featured text pieces like Kitchen editorials, interviews, and a letters page. Unfortunately, Comix Book either failed to find its audience, was mishandled by baffled newsstand distributors, or both. Lee cancelled the book when issue #3 hit the newsstands. Kitchen, however, had assembled two additional issues. After a year of negotiations, he persuaded Marvel to let his own Kitchen Sink Press publish issues #4 and 5 in 1976. The Best of Comix Book: When Marvel Went Underground collection was published in December 2013 by the Kitchen Sink Books imprint of Dark Horse Comics. The collection contains an essay by James Vance and introductions by both Kitchen and Stan Lee. In his introduction, Stan Lee calls Comix Book "Totally original and totally unique... one of the most courageous things I've ever done."
