RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Michael Kaluta interview, discussing early work

http://www.glimmergraphicsprints.com/MWKHorizons1.html


Interesting to see guys we think of as comic book gods, and to see for all their talent, they struggled initially to get in the door and find work.
And how they slowly worked their way in. Even Al Williamson in 1970-1971 was not the big deal he is now, and had only been
working professionally for less than 20 years.

For Wrightson and Kaluta to have not only admired the E.C. work of artists like Krenkel, Williamson, Wood, and Orlando, but to have actually
hung out with them and learned from them directly in New York City, is amazing to think about. What a way to break in!

A sampling of Kaluta's early greatness.
From KORAK issue 50, Jan-Feb 1973.

Kaluta's work discussed on "Carson of Venus" was in KORAK issues 46-56, and TARZAN 230.
Among the best of the Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations.

But alas, not concluded.

A favorite Kaluta painting of mine, "Old Glory", from Kaluta's "The Studio" period (1974-1979).
Where Kaluta drew the patriotic scene from raising the flag at Iwo Jima, and replaced one
of the soldiers with a robot.

Also used as the cover for Marvel's UNKNOWN WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION magazine, issue 2, in 1975.
An interior story based on the cover was illustrated by George Perez.

For your reading pleasure, the complete Kaluta run of "Carson of Venus" backups in KORAK 46-56:


"Carson of Venus" chapters 1 and 2, by Wein/Kaluta, from KORAK 46 and 47, May and July 1972

"Carson of Venus" chapters 3 and 4, from KORAK 48 and 49, Sept and Nov 1972.

"Carson of Venus" chapters 5 and 6, from KORAK 50 and 51, Nov 1972 and Jan 1973.


"Carson of Venus" chapters 7 and 8, from KORAK 52 and 53, June and August 1973.

"Carson of Venus" chapter 9, from KORAK 54, Oct 1973.

"Carson of Venus" chapter 10, from KORAK 55, Dec 1973.

"Carson of Venus" chapters 11 and 12, from KORAK 56, Dec 1973, and TARZAN 230, Feb 1974.


Regrettably, that's where Kaluta's run ended, unconcluded.

I'd love to see a collected edition with a new conclusion by Kaluta. Kaluta has said he's a huge follower of Edgar Rige Burroughs,
so was very enthusiastic about doing the series in the first place. He might welcome the opportunity to work on it again.

I'd forgotten, the first chapter adapting Burroughs' "Pellucidar" was also in KORAK 46, by Wein/Weiss.
The series continued a few months later in WEIRD WORLDS 1-7.

WEIRD WORLDS 1-3 issues continue with the by Wein/Wiess creative team.
In WEIRD WORLDS 4, "Pellucidar" is by O'Neil/Kaluta !
In WEIRD WORLDS 5-7, "Pellucidar" is by O'Neil/Green.


WEIRD WORLDS 4, Kaluta/Orlando cover.

Also in 1-7 is "John Carter of Mars", issues 1-3 by Wolfman and Murphy Anderson, issues 4-7 by Wolfman/Amendola.
Starting in 1976, Wolfman did another JOHN CARTER series in his own book for Marvel. Initially with Gil Kane, then
later with Phillipine artists, and a very new-to the field Frank Miller for one very nice issue.


I doubt anyone didn't love the TARZAN adaptations by Joe Kubert.

I also loved the Frank Thorne run on KORAK.
Kaluta was in good company with the talent involved in all these adaptations.

Another lesser-known Kaluta work is his brief "Spawn of Frankenstein" series that ran as a backup series
in PHANTOM STRANGER 23-25, November 1972-March 1973, and the cover only for issue 26 (shown here below). You can read all 3 backup stories at the above link.

Spawn of Frankenstein in issue 26 ceases to be a backup series, and has his final chapter as part of the Phantom Stranger story, drawn by Jim Aparo.




Like Wrightson's IDW series FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE ALIVE in recent years, "Spawn of Frankenstein" picks up with the Frankenstein monster thawing out
from Polar ice where he was at the end of the novel, and continuing the character from Mary Shelley's novel in modern times.
It makes me think, in combination with his lifelong association with Wrightson, that he would be the perfect artist to do the
concluding fourth issue of the unfinished Wrightson series.

A few years ago, Spawn of Frankenstein had an appearance in Giffen's new O.M.A.C. series. To my knowledge, the first time
the character has seen daylight since 1973.

Another of my favorites, Kaluta's intro page from HOUSE OF MYSTERY 202, May 1972.

One of a dozen or so intro pages Kaluta did for DC's mystery titles.

From DETECTIVE 431, Jan 1973.
Kaluta did a number of exceptional covers for DETECTIVE, BATMAN and other titles.

Looking at his work, I think the number of covers he did far exceeds the number of interior pages he's done.
At precisely the time Neal Adams stopped doing covers, Kaluta and Wrightson filled the artistic void quite nicely.

Another of my favorites, from DETECTIVE 427, just a few months after I began reading comics.

This cover was also re-worked as a promotional poster for the EERIE ART CENTER EXHIBITION that I saw in my area in 1982.
The best exhibit of comic art I've ever seen in a museum.

Pages by:

* Steranko (the title double-page splash from "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill"),
* Wrightson (the 7 huge original pages of "The Muck Monster"),
* Kirby/Sinnott (the huge double-page spread from FANTASTIC FOUR 62, of the FF standing
in front of a giant TV screen, watching Reed Richards fall through the Negative Zone, with
photo-collage added for effect on the Negative Zone side of the screen),
* EC comics pages by Wood, Kurtzman, Williamson and Frazetta.

It was a fantastic show. What could be better to top it off than a Kaluta exhibit poster?

The old ladies who worked at the museum rolled their eyes at the notion that this could be considered "art".
That actually made me appreciate it even more.

Another of my favorites. From an announced 1980 graphic novel titled DRAGON SHADOWS, that was
to be written by Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Kaluta.
Alas, while Kaluta was eager to do the project and quickly sent out this cover that was used
in advance promotion, Ellison delayed and delayed his writing on the project, and it was never
produced. So all we have of it is this beautiful page.

At some point it was also released as a limited edition print.

From 1972, a set of FORBIDDEN TALES OF DARK MANSION intro splash pages, issues 7-12.
Plus 3 covers, on 7, 8 and 13.



Aside from the above KORAK back-up series, much of Kaluta's early DC work was for
HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, and other DC anthology titles.

Speaking of Kaluta, Batman and the Shadow:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_253

Yeah, that Batman/The Shadow team-up story in BATMAN 253 was a good one. Enhanced by it having a nice cover
by Kaluta, and a story by Dennis O'Neil, the creative team on THE SHADOW series.
And seeing the regular BATMAN creative team of O'Neil, Novick/Giordano do the Shadow was interesting contrast to
the O'Neil/Kaluta team in THE SHADOW regular series.

I also liked in the story how Batman was inspired to become a crimefighter by The Shadow preceding him.
An acknowledgement that Walter Gibson's THE SHADOW magazine was the inspiration for Bob Kane creating BATMAN.

The follow-up story in BATMAN 259 was enjoyable too.

"Solo" (1977), from Kaluta's period in The Studio.
One of my favorite Kaluta poster/prints, that I've had matted and on the wall for over 20 years.

Along with half a dozen others.

Another early Kaluta story for your reading pleasure, from SUPERMAN 240, May 1971.
A "World of Krypton" story, titled "The Man Who Cheated Time", an early 7-page Kaluta offering.



Hidden behind a Neal Adams cover.



Kaluta's only other offering in SUPERMAN was in issue 400, "The Last Son Of Krypton", one of
several visions of Superman in the future, by Steranko, Williamson, Rogers, Miller, and this
6-page offering by Kaluta (only this first page posted online: )

A tribute by Kaluta to "HOUSE OF MYSTERY, R.I.P. 1951-1983", where Kaluta did about 2 years of his earliest work at DC (1970-1972)
on splash pages, anthology stories, and covers. And actually, Kaluta likely did more covers for HOUSE OF MYSTERY than any other
magazine! Right on up to HOUSE OF MYSTERY'S cancellation in 1983.

Kaluta's art spanned from HOUSE OF MYSTERY issues 185-321.

One of the first Kaluta covers, from HOUSE OF MYSTERY 200 :



Kaluta also did a beautiful intro splash page, and a 7-page story based on the cover.
You can view the cover, splash, and first two story pages at the linked cover image above.

You can see the same images with the complete story HERE.

Kaluta's cover for HOUSE OF MYSTERY 202, May 1972. I find demon babies particularly creepy.

I posted the splash page from the same issue a few posts above. Shepherd Cain, with his evil-looking flock of sheep.

And a month later, the Kaluta cover for BATMAN 242.



These, along with Kaluta's covers for DETECTIVE COMICS on issues
423 (May 1972), 424 (June 1972), 426 (Aug 1972), 427 (Sept 1972), 428 (Oct 1972),
431 (Jan 1973, which I showed in a post above), 434 (Apr 1973), 438 (Jan 1974),. were my introduction to Kaluta's work.

Very distantly after, Kaluta also did the cover for issue 572 (March 1987), a special 50th anniversary issue of when
DETECTIVE 1 was published in 1937.

A single cover Kaluta did for ADVENTURE COMICS 425, the issue where the book took on an anthology format.



The interior stories by Alex Toth, Dan Green (among his first), Gil Kane, and
a favorite of mine "Captain Fear", a 6-part pirate story by Alex Nino.

I love the 1930's/1940's pulp flavor brought on by DC bringing back many of
their cover Golden Age logos in the early 1970's, on titles like ACTION COMICS,
DETECTIVE COMICS, and ADVENTURE COMICS, along with the Edgar Rice Burroughs
material in TARZAN, KORAK, and WEIRD WORLDS, which THE SHADOW by
Kaluta added to in 1973.
All reviving a pulp era from 30 years prior.

This post about Kaluta gives an overview of the early years of Kaluta's career, and a number of the covers
I haven't shown yet. Along with brief mention of his "Carson of Venus" and "Spawn of Frankenstein",
and THE SHADOW series, as well as mention of his fanzine work, and his work in "The Studio" period,
with Jeff Jones, Barry Windsor-Smith and Berni Wrightson.

I'd forgotten that an issue of GREEN LANTERN 84, July 1971 (story by Dennis O'Neil, pencils by Neal Adams,
inked by Berni Wrightson) had a story about a city of factory workers who accept pollution, loss
of personal safety and chemical brainwashing of their company, in exchange for good-paying corporate
jobs. The machine that causes the pollution makes a sound, KA-LOO-TTA, that at a time when the artist
wasn't well known, was an early introduction for readers to the correct pronunciation of his name!


It also mentions, as I cited before, that Kaluta was the visual photo-reference for the villain
character in Wrightson's "Swamp Thing" story in HOUSE OF SECRETS 92.

The STARSTRUCK series, despite being among the nicest comics art by Kaluta, has a story that barely
makes sense to me. But it's parody, so that's mostly the point. And Kaluta did designs for a
stage play version of the series. I have the HEAVY METAL issues the was first serialized in, before being
collected in Jan 1985 as a Marvel Graphic Novel.
I didn't know till now Kaluta collaborated on a music video with Allan Parsons Project!

Like Wrightson, Kaluta has done a huge range of work, both inside and outside of comics.

Aside from many pin-ups in fanzines, Kaluta's first professional comics work was a 4-page backup in
FLASH GORDON 18, October 1969.

I have FLASH GORDON 13-17 with art by Pat Boyette on the Flash Gordon stories. Which, on their own,
I find enjoyable. Unfortunately, I've never managed to track down a copy of 18 to get this Kaluta story.
But fortunately, our groovy friend was gracious enough to post this historic first Kaluta story online.



FLASH GORDON is an unusual series, in that it was discontinued and recontinued after some time gaps by multiple publishers.
1-11 published by King Features (Sept 1966-Dec 1967)
12-18 by Charleton (Feb 1969-Jan 1970)
19-27 by Gold Key (Sept 1978-Jan 1980)
and
28-37 by Whitman/Gold Key (April 1980-April 1982)

Issues 31-33 have a great 3-part movie adaptation by Bruce Jones and Al Williamson. Also available in an 8" X 11" offset-printed
trade paperback and hardcover editions. Williamson also did great movie adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back(1980),
Bladerunner(1982), and Return of the Jedi(1983), all in MARVEL COMICS SUPER SPECIAL,
and all very much worth having.

Another of Kaluta's pulp-ish looking covers, from DETECTIVE 438.
I think the circular composition particularly adds to the Golden Age/pulp visual sense.

These two obscure covers of FROM BEYOND THE UNKNOWN 18 and 19.
Again manifesting a 1940's brand of science-fiction pulp style.

That is one of the first comic books I remember buying on my own with my own money.
Thanks for posting.

One I love too.

Those 100-page issues were some of the best collections of both new and reprint material. A great selection of Golden Age
and Silver Age material, If the great Goodwin Batman stories, and the award-winning Goodwin/Simonson "Manhunter" stories weren't enough!

I especially like 439 that has "Night of the Stalker", another award-winning classic.

Another Kaluta poster from his The Studio period.
Titled "The Sacrifice" (1976).
And another I've had framed on the wall for over 20 years. Kaluta did several Conan posters,
and a number of CONAN and SAVAGE SWORD and KING CONAN covers.

It always surprised me he didn't do any Conan stories. He clearly has an affection for the character.

And pardon my maleness, but that's a dynamite ass on that barbarian slave girl!

More Kaluta covers in the S-F/pulp style, from the series TIME WARP in 1979-1980, that ran 5 issues (a later thinner 32-page version
replaced it a few months later in the revived MYSTERY IN SPACE 111-117, since apparently the dollar-book format wasn't selling. )

But in TIME WARP's brief run, it presented some of the nicest covers in comics history, all by Kaluta








Here's another link showing a few STRANGE ADVENTURES covers Kaluta did.
In addition to the FROM BEYOND THE UNKNOWN covers I posted earlier.

Slight digression here but I've always wanted to see someone redraw that cover from MiS #111 and replace the kid and toy soldier with Calvin and Hobbes

A comics artist once told me the pros often throw stuff like that into backgrounds, because it adds another layer of enjoyment to readers,
who can go back and look at the art later and enjoy details like that on re-reading, even after they've already read the story.

I don't think Calvin and Hobbs existed in 1980 when that cover was done, but the kid with his doll is reminiscent of the character, and it would
be a nice tribute cover to see!

I never found a copy of this poster, but it's one of Kaluta's posters I always wanted to have,
titled "The Fate of Dollies Lost In Dreams."





Likely inspired by Winsor McCay's Little Nemo In Slumberland

A rare war series cover by Kaluta from Feb 1973, about 6 months before his run on THE SHADOW began.

Kaluta only did the cover, but this issue also has 2 pretty cool backup stories, one an early Howard Chaykin story "To Stand, To Die"
with 2 brothers fighting on different fronts in the Revolutionary War.
And a second DD 479 series Pacific War story by Sam Glanzman "The Islands were Meant for Love", set during the Battle of Okinawa, and
shore leave for the crew after in the Phillipines.
I always thought Glanzman would have been an interesting fill-in artist for an issue of THE SHADOW, having a compatible style to that
of Kaluta.
In addition to the DD 479 series of backups Glanzman did for a decade or so across DC's war titles, he also drew the Haunted Tank for a
long run in G.I. COMBAT across the late 1970's and early 1980's, and two Marvel Graphic novels on the Pacific War.

And speaking of THE SHADOW...




I'm glad that even after Kaluta stopped doing interior stories, he kept doing beautiful covers, and kept a hand in the series.
The entire 12-issue series, with covers, is long overdue for a collected hardcover.

Another war series cover by Kaluta, WEIRD WAR TALES 12, March 1973.

I always enjoyed the blending of the supernatural mixed with the horrors of war in WEIRD WAR TALES. Kaluta demonstrates his skill
at doing horror material here.
Despite his talent for it, he did very little in the way of stories, but a lot of covers. I'm grateful for the work Kaluta gave us in that vein,
across DC's mystery titles, and atmospheric BATMAN and DETECTIVE covers along similar lines.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY 210, Jan 1973 cover.

I'm hard pressed to say whether I like best Kaluta's horror/mystery work, his war covers, his historic/gothic work,
his 1930's work on stuff like the Shadow, or his retro-1930's S-F pulp futuristic stuff. Regardless, there's
decorative sophisticated linework that really holds the eye.

This is actually a new cover, part of a series of covers in a playful "what if", as if they were made for a 1973 comics series from DC that
never happened, a The Shadow/Batman team-up book called THE SHADOW AND THE KNIGHT, formatted to look like covers
from the 1972-1973 era.
Others in the series by Chaykin, Brunner, Gulacy, Simonson, Tuska and others, 16 covers in all.


The full set here.

I love Kaluta's lavishly detailed cityscapes, often crammed into small panels of a larger page.
Even Kaluta's futuristic cities have a retro-1930's feel to them. You could look at his images for hours, savoring all the detail there to explore.

The Kaluta priunt "The Stealer of Souls", used here as the cover for THE MICHAEL Wm. KALUTA TREASURY (1988), mostly a sketchbook,
with some text about the drawings included, and an extensive checklist of Kaluta's work up to that point, not only in comics,
but also posters, prints, illustrated books, fanzines, and museum art exhibits.