Long Story Short ★ HILARY BARTA

Whether it's FILM or COMICS this artist is a scholar of the BLACK & WHITE ARTS

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Chicago native and blackline whisperer, HILARY BARTA has a long history of working on some amazing projects with many luminaries of the comics medium. If you’ve never heard of Plastic Man or What The--?! then it’s time to go a-hunting at your local comic shop for some of the funniest and wildest comic art you’ll see.

BTP: Having grown up as a big fan of comedy, from the early days of silent films to comedy albums, sketch comedy and comedic magazines, when I think of comedy in comic books, I think of you and Kyle Baker. Even your name, at least to me, has a certain comedic flair to it. Has comedy been a large part of your life? Where did it start for you?

BARTA: I think it was. I suppose I absorbed all of the humor in pop culture around in the 1960s. I was lucky to be exposed to silent comedians like Keaton and Chaplin when I was young. Through broadcast television I also found W.C. Fields and the great comedy teams, with the Marx Brothers at the top of the list. Local television was full of old tv shows and movies. In fact, growing up I probably watched more older shows than new ones. Though current shows like the Dick Van Dyke Show were also wonderful. And the old-timers that started back in vaudeville days were still active, and appeared on television variety shows. I also loved the newspaper strips, which in those days were far from their golden age but were still worth reading.

By the way, Kyle drew the one Splash Brannigan story I couldn’t, and he did a brilliant job.