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Information About

Kyle Baker





BACKGROUND

As a High School Intern at Marvel Comics , Baker came into contact with such artists as John Romita, Jr. , Al Milgrom and Walter Simonson . He eventually became an assistant Inker , working on backgrounds. He got further inking work at Marvel while attending the School Of Visual Arts , from which he eventually dropped out. His inking style was very loose, and even at this early stage his art stood out from the standard Marvel fare.

The Dolphin imprint of the publishing house . in 1994, Baker directed an animated video featuring the Hip Hop singer KRS-ONE , called "Break The Chain".

Baker's other Graphic Novel s as writer-artist include ''You Are Here'', ''King David'', and ''I Die At Midnight''. He has also illustrated a graphic novel written by Aaron McGruder and Reginald Hudlin titled ''Birth of a Nation'', no relation to the famous, slightly differently-named D.W. Griffith movie, '' The Birth Of A Nation ''.

For mainstream comics in the 2000s , he drew the miniseries ''Truth,'' a Captain America storyline with parallels to the infamous Tuskegee Experiment , later collected as a Trade Paperback . He also wrote and drew the comedic adventures of the DC Comics Superhero Plastic Man , and was one of contributors to the Dark Horse Comics series '' Michael Chabon Presents...The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist,'' a spin-off of Chabon's Pulitzer Prize -winning novel, '' The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay ''.

His work is known for its sense of whimsy and wit, often veering into Caricature . Some of the Motifs to which he often returns include satires of the dating game, Gender Role s, and Hipster culture. His characters often throw each other into high relief, with thoughtful Cynics playing off guileless Straight Men .

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 Village Voice ''. His animation has appeared on BET, MTV, and in Looney Tunes.

As of 2005 , his company, Kyle Baker Publishing, released a four-part comic book series about Nat Turner , as well the series ''The Bakers'', based on his family life.


AWARDS

Baker in 2000 won two Eisner Award s for the controversial story " Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter ". He won a Harvey Award and two Eisners in 2005.


QUOTES

''Publishers Weekly'' on ''Birth of a Nation'' "''The Boondocks'' creator [Aaron McGruder, filmmaker [Reginald] Hudlin and ''Why I Hate Saturn'' cartoonist Baker are a kind of dream team, and this work (drawn in Baker's animation-storyboard style) has a fairly hilarious premise. When the virtually all-black population of East St. Louis, Ill., is disenfranchised en masse in electoral shenanigans that result in a George W. Bush–like Texan governor being elected president, the impoverished city decides to secede from the U.S. Renaming itself "Blackland," the city becomes a wildly rich money-laundering capital."


BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (Classics International Entertainment; year n.a.; reprinted Berkley Publishing, 1990; illustrator)) ISBN 1572090022 (orig.); ISBN 0425120228 (rep.)

  • ''Why I Hate Saturn'' (Piranha Press, 1990; reprinted Vertigo, Dec. 1998; writer, illustrator) ISBN 0930289722

  • ''The Residents: Freak Show'' (Dark Horse Comics, collected 1992; illustrator) ISBN 1569710015

  • ''The Cowboy Wally Show'' (Marlowe & Company, 1996; writer, illustrator) ISBN 1569248346

  • ''You Are Here'' (DC Comics, Nov. 1998; writer, illustrator) ISBN 1563894424

  • ''I Die at Midnight'' (Vertigo, 2000; writer, illustrator) ISBNB0006RONA0

  • ''King David'' (DC Comics, 2002; writer, illustrator) ISBN 1563898667

  • ''Undercover Genie: The Irreverent Conjurings of an Illustrative Aladdin'' (DC Comics, collected ephemera 2003; writer, illustrator) ISBN 1401201040

  • ''Truth: Red, White and Black'' (Marvel Comics, collected Feb. 2004; co-creator with Robert Morales, illustrator) ISBN 0785110720

  • ''Cartoonist'' (Kyle Baker Publishing, May 2004; writer, illustrator, publisher) ISBN 0974721409

  • ''Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel'' (Crown; July 2004; illustrator) ISBN 1400048591

  • ''Plastic Man: On the Lam'' (DC Comics, collected 2005; writer, illustrator) ISBN 1401203434

  • ''Plastic Man: Rubber Bandits'' (DC Comics, collected 2006; writer, illustrator) ISBN 1401207294

  • ''Cartoonist, Volume 2: Now With More Bakers'' (Kyle Baker Publishing; writer, illustrator, publisher)

  • ''The Bakers: Do These Toys Belong Somewhere?'' (Kyle Baker Publishing, collected 2006; writer, illustrator, publisher) ISBN 0974721433



OTHER WORKS

  • ''Bad Publicity'' (1990s comic strip, ''New York'' magazine, illustrator)



REFERENCES



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