While still in the final year of earning his fine arts degree, Kyle Hotz was already working full time as a comic book illustrator on the genre-stretching horror anthology ‘Slash’ and the vampire title ‘Cold Blooded’. Immediately after finishing school Kyle was asked to work on the character Nightman for Malibu comics, which was later purchased by Marvel comics group. Though Nightman was a costumed hero comic, Kyle’s quirky style, with deep shadows and exaggerated anatomies, helped it to stand out from the usual men in tights books. Soon Kyle was asked to draw Dr. Strange for Marvel Comics and then to helm the futuristic Ghost Rider 2099 which highlighted Kyle’s love for bizarre costumes and settings. As his reputation as a horror artist grew, Kyle illustrated various titles for most of the major comic publishers, including Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image and a host of independent press. Some of the characters Kyle has had a chance to put his stamp on include The Hulk, Venom, Spiderman, Green Goblin, and Captain America. Monster Matinee, a collection of Kyle’s illustrations paying homage to classic monster movies of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s brought Kyle to the attention of the producers of Madison Scare Garden, a Halloween themed event held in the New York arena. Kyle provided key art and character designs for Madison Scare for many years which led to similar opportunities designing creatures, environments and all manner of weirdness for theme parks at various venues the world over. In 2009 Kyle created a multitude of key characters for a proposed installation at Tivoli Gardens in Denmark and an ‘Aliens versus Predator’ installation in Australia. Somewhere along the line, Kyle was noticed by tattoo distribution giant, Tattoo Johnny and asked to create original tattoo flash art, some of which has remained top sellers to this day.
In 2000, Kyle co-created the character ‘The Hood’, for Marvel comics and illustrated the character’s first mini-series. The Hood was a sleeper hit and finally broke out in 2009, when the Hood became one of Marvel’s most popular villains and Kyle was asked to return to the character for a 5 issue story arc. Kyle has also co-created and illustrated the graphic novel ‘Epilogue’ with author Steve Niles (30 days of Night) , and co-created and illustrated ‘The Agency’ with Paul Jenkins (creator of the origin of Wolverine). Along the way Kyle wrote and illustrated the creator owned graphic novel ‘Mosaic’ and wrote and illustrated ‘The Zombie’ for Marvel. Perhaps the purest example of the art of Kyle Hotz is the series he co-created and draws with Eric Powell, ‘Billy the Kid’s Old Timey Oddities’. This oddball, pseudo-historical storyline has been a critical success (Entertainment Weekly gave it an ‘A’) and fan favorite and Kyle is currently at work on the third installment of the series. It’s in this series of books that best showcases Kyle’s love for, not only the bizarre, but the endearing and cartoony aspects of his craft. Kyle lives and works in Ohio with his family and three pug dogs.
