Denis Kitchen - Orlando Caper Comic Strip - 1974

It is a pleasure to welcome this wonderful comic strip into my collection. Titled The Orlando Caper, this piece was drawn by Denis Kitchen in 1974, for the Orlando Con program. The daily strip stands on its own merits: Denis' wonderfully stylized ink work, combined with a mess 'o Zip-a-Tone. But the piece strikes more of a personal chord with me. Charlie Roberts, my buzzum buddy, and one of my best pals, commissioned Denis to do this strip back in '74. Chollie plays rather a key role in the action. Also mentioned is Jim "Lefty" Ivey, one of the first comic art dealers that I ever bought from. Jim used to offer up some terrific stuff through scrawled CBG ads and mailings. Lastly, soon after I moved to Wisconsin in the late 1980s, I began working for Denis, do paste-ups and layouts for his books, as well as retouching material. While I lived an hour away from his business in Princeton, WI, ironically, now that he's out of the state, I now live 10 minutes away. So the personal connections really add to this piece for me. Not to mention that I've been looking for a nice example of Denis' work for a long time.