BAKER, MATT 45
Baker has had successful runs on numerous comics, including Th e Shadow (1987),
Justice, Inc. (1989), and a highly successful run on a 2006 revitalization of Plastic Man ,
all from DC. Baker has done signifi cant work portraying the black community and expe-
rience. With writers Reginald Hudlin and Aaron McGruder, creator of Th e Boondocks ,
he created the graphic novel Birth of a Nation , a satiric vision of a black community
seceding following a stolen election. In July 2009, Baker was invited to participate in a
literary panel at the NAACP Centennial.
In 2004, Baker and his wife started their own publishing business, devoted to
Kyle’s work. Baker’s web site also features his animation and sales of limited editions
of his work. In 2006, the Bakers published Kyle’s comic book biography, Nat Turner.
Baker has storyboarded for Disney and Nickelodeon, and has a text on comic illustra-
tion, How to Draw Stupid , in print from Watson Guptill. He has worked as an illustrator
for numerous publications, including Th e New York Times , Vibe , and Esquire. Baker has
won eight Eisner Awards, fi ve Harvey Awards , and three Gylph Comics awards, given
for comics work by, for, or about black communities.
Selected Bibliography: Cunard, Edmund. “ Two Baker’s Dozens, Plus One.” Comic
World News. Available at, http://cwn.comicraft.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=inter
views&page=100.
Diana Green
BAKER, MATT (1921–59). Born in Forsythe County, North Carolina, and raised in
Homestead, Pennsylvania, an African American community on the outskirts of Pitts-
burgh, Matt Baker was one of the comic book industry’s fi rst major black cartoonists.
He began his career in comics at the Iger studio in Manhattan, where he started illus-
trating backgrounds. Before long, Baker worked as an illustrator on comics published
by Fiction House, Fox Comics, and Quality Comics. Baker is most highly regarded for
his work on Phantom Lady , a character known more for her revealing outfi ts than for
her adventurous exploits.
Phantom Lady was the ideal character for Baker to make his own. Stylistically, much
of Baker’s work is categorized as “Good Girl Art,” emphasizing attractive, curvy women
in skimpy or form-fi tting outfi ts. His work in the style is highly sought after by collec-
tors. Baker’s art, including the iconic cover of Phantom Lady #17, fi gured into Fredric
Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent as examples of the salacious images present in the
comic books of the day. On that cover, Phantom Lady is bound to a post in a Western
town, her bosom highlighted by the rope and by her decidedly low-cut top, the neckline
reaching nearly down to her belt. Baker also illustrated the daily Flamingo strip, syn-
dicated by Universal Phoenix Features Syndicate. Like Phantom Lady and Rulah, the
Jungle Goddess, Flamingo focused on an attractive, raven-haired heroine.
Baker was also the artist on what was arguably the fi rst graphic novel, It Rhymes
with Lust , published in 1950. Th e initial off ering of St. John Publications short-lived
Picture Novels line, It Rhymes with Lust contained elements of pulp noir novels and the
