Mike Kaluta was a member of the esteemed The Studio, a quartet of up and coming comic book talents who at the time were eager to move beyond the limits of the comic book biz. To my mind, Mike Kaluta's work was perhaps the most elegant of the bunch. Barry Windsor-Smith was more baroque, Berni Wrightson was more lurid, and Jeff (Catherine) Jones was more mystical, but Kaluta brought a distinctive fairy tale quality to all his work, even that which dealt with the dark streets of the modern world. Such was the case in the early issues of The Shadow where Kaluta made his mark most memorably. Although his work on select issues of other Bronze Age DC books are notable.
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<<>> Will they be on your list though? They would both be on mine somewhere.
ReplyDeleteSome are, not all -- stay tuned.
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It didnt post your text. Here is what I was quoting: To my mind, Mike Kaluta's work was perhaps the most elegant of the bunch. Barry Windsor-Smith was more baroque, Berni Wrightson was more lurid,
ReplyDeleteThanks.
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For me the favorite Kaluta work came pretty early; it was Carson of Venus. I felt he captured the spirit of Burroughs' romances in a way that nobody since Roy Krenkel has done. Kaluta also had a great run of covers on Conan the King that I value.
ReplyDeleteGeez, this is a pretty eclectic list already and we've barely begun.
I imagine the early choices will be more surprising than the later ones. I suspect folks who have been hanging here long can likely guess the top five maybe. But there are few surprises, even for me when I started compiling the list.
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It never occurred to me until you mentioned these guys shared a studio together how their art styles have something similar to them, yet still distinct from each other.
ReplyDeleteThey were kindred spirits, still growing as artists at the time, but coming from distinctively different inspirations.
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