Nicola Cuti

Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 - February 21, 2020) was an American artist and comic book writer and editor, and a science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of E-Man (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, and Starflake the Cosmic Sprite. He also worked as an animation background designer, magazine illustrator and screenwriter.

He was born on October 29, 1944 in New York, the first of two male children of Alphonso Gitano Cuti, a darkroom technician, and Laura Antoinette Sica, a housewife. His grandparents had emigrated from Italy in the 1930s to make a home in America. His brother, Emil, was a medical technician and later sold medical supplies to hospitals. He served in the United States Air Force as an Air Policeman from 1966 to 1972, stationed at Toul Rossieres Air Base, France; Cigli, Turkey; and Bangor, Maine. His first published work, a comic strip, was published in a French magazine, Singular-Plural, and his first published story,Grub was published in Creepy Magazine while he was on active status in Bangor, Maine. After leaving the service, his first employment was at Krantz Animation Studio in New York City, which was under the direction of the legendary filmmaker, Ralph Bakshi.

For Disney, he worked as a key layout designer in Gargoyles