Denis Kitchen

Kitchen grew up in Wisconsin, attending William Horlick High School, Racine, where he cofounded and edited Klepto, an unofficial school paper, also contributing stories and illustrations to the paper. He continued this interest at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where in 1967 he cofounded and served as art director for the humor magazine Snide, also supplying cartoons. He also provided cartoons for the UWM Post.

Originally a member of the ROTC on campus, Kitchen left ROTC, a decision he later attributed to an allergy to the wool uniform pants ("...had the pants been made out of cotton, I might be a lieutenant colonel today," he later said). He took classes in journalism and started frequenting a local coffeehouse called the Avant Garde. He became opposed to the Vietnam War and joined the Socialist Labor Party of America.