Rafael Kayanan turned sixty today. That takes me down memory lane. In 1990, I was helping my old bud, Jimmy, get his comics/gaming store, Wizard’s Asylum Comics—soon to be a small empire—off the ground. We were going through boxes of back issues when he asked me, “You like Michael Moorcock, right?” I answered in the affirmative. “Here’s a Moorcock comic”, he said. It was the second issue of First Comics’ Hawkmoon series from 1986. It featured art from Rafael Kayanan.

I won't say that I was blown away. I thought it was damn good art and definitely in my wheelhouse. I ended up tracking down the rest of the series and made a mental note to keep an eye out for this 'Kayanan' guy.

Fast forward to 1994. I was back in Kansas and focused on rock n' roll. Jimmy gave me a ring. I was having him deal me all of the limited number of comics I was still buying. He said, "Marvel's coming out with a Conan the Adventurer comic. Roy Thomas is writing it and Rafael Kayanan is doing the art." I said, "Definitely hold that series for me."

Ol' Rafe had come a ways since his Hawkmoon days. His style was now a smooth blend of Barry Windsor-Smith and Tim Conrad--two of his admitted influences. Unfortunately, the series didn't last long. Comics fans in the Nineties wanted their heroes 'grim and gritty--but only if they were superheroes in spandex.

Undeterred, Kayanan forged ahead. Not only did he keep producing great art, but he also branched out into film and television. Rafael began training in martial arts when he was a mere tweener. He eventually became a Master-level edged weapons expert and instructor in Sayoc Kali, a Filipino martial art--Rafael is Filipino-American. Over the past two decades, Kayanan has been a fight instructor to the likes of Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Trejo and Liam Neeson. In addition, he does storyboards for film and television. He walks the walk and draws the walk. so to speak. As he said in one interview:

“The thing is I would not be who I am without one art complementing the other. I use the lessons I learn from drawing and martial arts to develop the other skill.”

As I stated earlier, Mr. Kayanan’s mid-Nineties style reminded me of BWS and Tim Conrad. Here’s what he had to say of his artistic influences in 2007:

"I grew up with Filipino Komiks masters like [Alfredo] Alcala, [Francisco] Coching, and [Nestor] Redondo mixed in with [Jack] Kirby, Sy Barry's The Phantom, [Joe] Kubert's Tarzan, and Hal Foster's Prince Valiant. From there I discovered Barry Windsor-Smith, Starlin, [Neal] Adams, Wrightson, and Gulacy in the 70's.”

The best way to start is to study the best. It’s hard—for me—to argue with a list like that. Here are a few more from a 2014 interview:

“Roger Dean, [Lorenzo] Matotti, Tim Conrad, Chris Foss to [Frank] Frazetta.”

Interesting. Conrad and Frazetta seem obvious, but I can also see the Dean and Foss in his space opera/cyberpunk work. I remember from the Nineties when some wannabee ‘art critics’ tried to write Kayanan off as a ‘Barry Smith clone’. Rafael wasn’t such then and he sure as hell isn’t today. In many ways, his present style is as distinct from BWS as Barry’s early Marvel Comics work differed from the later Gorblimey Press creations. Kayanan is, and was, his own man.

Happy birthday, Rafael! Keep on doing you.

Feel free to check out the gallery of Mr. Kayanan’s art below. As is self-evident, the man can do everything from sword-and-sorcery to superheroes to space marines to cyberpunk.