Baker, Kyle

Scénariste/Dessinateur

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 Doubleday expressed interest in his Cowboy Wally comic strips, which he expanded into a 128-page graphic novel published in 1988. Baker went on to draw The Shadow for DC Comics, and as well as Through the Looking Glass and Cyrano for Classics Illustrated. In 1990, Baker released two graphic novels, one an adaptation of the film Dick Tracy, the other an original story, Why I Hate Saturn. He next spent three years illustrating the weekly strip "Bad Publicity" for New York Magazine. in 1994, Baker directed an animated video featuring the hip hop singer KRS-ONE, called "Break The Chain".
Baker's other graphic novels 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 roles, 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.