In 1971 cartoonist Jim Mitchell was an equity partner in Denis Kitchen's Krupp Comic Works, which included divisions for comic books (Kitchen Sink Enterprises), greeting cards, collectors buttons, a mail order business, a head shop, and an underground comics syndicate. That same year, Mitchell introduced Kitchen to Tyler Lantzy and Dan Molidor, who had collaborated on their own comic book, Dirt Ball Funnies, that they hoped Kitchen Sink would publish.

Lantzy and Kitchen hit it off right away and Kitchen not only agreed to publish Dirt Ball Funnies, he hired Lantzy as the business manager for Krupp Comic Works. It was an unpaid position at first, but Lantzy proved to be an efficient manager and quickly turned Krupp into a profitable and thriving venture. In fact, it soon became apparent to Kitchen that Lantzy would make a much better partner than Jim Mitchell, who didn't contribute nearly as much to the business operations. Mitchell and the other equity partner, Don Glassford, were eventually squeezed out of the company. Lantzy and Kitchen went on to run Krupp Comic Works together until 1975, when they had an amicable split and Lantzy moved to Colorado.

As for Dirt Ball Funnies, it sold out its 1st printing within a few months and had a 2nd printing of 10,000 copies. But to be honest, it really isn't a very good comic, though some of the humor is pretty decent, with entertaining titles like "Fighting Father Bob," "Ripple's Believe It or Cram It!" "Marijuana (The Killer Drug)," "Become A Brain Surgeon at Home," and "I Was A Doper."

The underground comix era had more than a few stories of people who produced their very own comic book and then never had anything to do with comics again in their lives. Dirt Ball Funnies might have been one of them if it hadn't been for Jim Mitchell introducing Lantzy to Kitchen. It cost him his partnership in the company, but it may have saved Kitchen Sink from sinking out of sight as well.



HISTORICAL FOOTNOTES:
There are two printings of this comic book, both with 50-cent cover prices and both printed by Krupp Comic Works (Kitchen Sink). The print edition for both versions is indicated on the inside front cover. It is currently unknown how many copies of the 1st printing were printed, but the 2nd printing was 10,000 copies, so I would speculate the quantity for 1st printing was 10,000 to 20,000 copies.