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'.