Kyle Baker
Kyle Baker (born 1965 in Queens, New York, New York) is a writer and illustrator of comic books as well as an animator. His graphic novels include The Cowboy Wally Show, Why I Hate Saturn, and I Die At Midnight. He has also illustrated the graphic novel Birth of a Nation, co-written by Reginald Hudlin and Aaron McGruder. In mainstream comics he has drawn Truth, a Captain America storyline with parallels to the infamous Tuskegee experiment. He is currently writing and drawing the comedic adventures of the DC superhero Plastic Man.
Baker's cartoons and caricatures have appeared in Details, Entertainment Weekly, ESPN, Esquire, Guitar World, MAD Magazine, National Lampoon, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin magazine, Us, Vibe and the The Village Voice.
As a high school intern at Marvel Comics, he came into contact with such artists as John Romita, Jr., Al Milgrom and Walter Simonson, eventually becoming a assistant inker, working on backgrounds. He got further inking work at Marvel while attending the School of Visual Arts in New York, though he eventually dropped out. The Doubleday publishers expressed interest in his Cowboy Wally comic strips, which he expanded into a graphic novel, published in 1987.
He is known for the sense of whimsy and wit in his writing and cartooning styles, often veering into caricature. Some of the motifs to which he often returns include satires of African American culture, the dating game, gender roles, and hipster culture. His characters often throw each other into high relief, with thoughtful cynics playing off guileless straight men.
Works
Bibliography
- The Shadow, inker.
- The Cowboy Wally Show, creator.
- Why I Hate Saturn, creator.
- You Are Here, creator.
- Bad Publicity strip, New York magazine, illustrator.
- King David.
- Birth of a Nation, illustrator.
- Escapist, illustrator.
- I Die at Midnight.
- Undercover Genie.
- Truth, co-creator.
- Plastic Man on the Lam, writer, illustrator
- Biography of Nat Turner.