The Shadow

Michael Kaluta got his first influence from 1950s TV art instructor Jon Gnagy. Born in Guatemala, Kaluta studied Fine Arts and began illustration and comic book work against advice of his instructors. After publishing in fanzines like Spafon, he did his first comic book work for Charlton Comics in 1969, published in titles like Teen Confessions, Great Battles of History and Outlaws of the West. Kaluta created an impressive number of comic book covers for both Marvel and DC. Some of them include 'House of Mystery', 'Batman', 'Conan the King' and 'Vampirella'. In 1972, DC Comics revived 'The Shadow' and Kaluta got to re-create this character. He also illustrated stories with E.R. Burroughs' 'Carson of Venus' as back-ups in Korak, Son of Tarzan. Kaluta began drawing the 'Starstruck' comic series, written by Elaine Lee, in Heavy Metall in 1982. Most recently, he did a long run of cover designs for DC's 'The Books of Magic'. Kaluta is currently working in digital media, designing characters and environments for several video games.