NEGATIVE BURN (1995) 1st KILROY pin-up by Craig Gilmore & Joe Pruett

Negative Burn was an anthology comic from Caliber Press that helped set the mold for Dark Horse Presents and the DC Vertigo line. Joe Pruett‘s Kilroy helped establish a house style in indie comics that was mirrored in the work of peers like Mike Mignola, Michael T Gilbert, and P. Craig Russell. Gilmore was not particularly prolific in his comic work, making this a rare published piece. He was perhaps best known in comics for his work on the relaunched Morbius The Living Vampire in 1995, but found great success as a motion picture illustrator and continuity director in the burgeoning Atlanta film industry. Caliber comics helped launch the careers of Vince Locke, Tim Vigil, James O’Barr, Guy Davis, and Mike Allred. Their longterm financial struggles in the 1990s also contributed to a general rarity of published pages entering the marketplace, making this a rare totem from the golden age of Indie Comics. Pruett, who was also the editor and publisher at Caliber, was nominated for five Harvey Awards and three Eisner Awards before finally winning in 2007 for editing The Art of Brian Bolland.