Brian M. Kane has been reading and collecting comics for over 50 years. With the help of his friends and “tutors” Rick Magyar and Brian Murray, Kane began inking for Marvel Comics in 1994. His first assignment was three pages in New Warriors Annual #4. Other jobs followed before Brian Murray and Mike Baron recommended Kane as the inker for Nexus: Out of the Vortex from Dark Horse Comics. Although he inked two of the five issue series, only the first three pages ever saw print as a preview in the back of Vortex #12 due to the great comics implosion of the 1990s. Kane’s last major inking work was in 1995, on the Species 4-issue mini-series for Dark Horse Comics that was penciled by award-winning science fiction and fantasy artist Jon Foster.

Encouraged by illustration collector and historian, Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., Kane wrote and co-designed Hal Foster: Prince of Illustrators (Vanguard, 2001). At a time when there were fewer than 10 biographies about comics creators, Hal Foster resonated with readers. It was a New York Times Book Review “Spotlight Book,” a Book Lover’s Calendar “Select Book,” an Eisner Award Nominee, and a 2003 Independent Publishers’ IPPY Award Finalist in the category of Popular Culture. Kane was been a loyal advocate for Harold R. “Hal” Foster, and was instrumental in his inclusion in the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2006.

Kane’s second book that he wrote and designed,  James Bama: American Realist in 2006 (Flesk) was about the illustration career of the quintessential Doc Savage and Aurora Monster Model kit box cover artist. In 2009, Kane’s The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion was published by Fantagraphics, and he began helping Publisher Gary Groth and Editor Kim Thompson with their Prince Valiant reprint series. It was Kane who alerted Groth and Thompson to the existence of the nearly-complete set of original color engraver’s proof pages that are used in the reprint series; visually showcasing Foster’s masterpiece in a way that has not been seen since they first appeared in the Sunday comics. After Thompson’s untimely passing, Kane became co-editor of the series with Volume #7; working directly with Groth.

For the past 20 years Kane has also taught traditional and digital art, first at The Columbus College of Art & Design, then at The Ohio State University where he acquired a Master’s Degree in History of Art, and a Ph.D. in Arts Administration, Education & Policy. Recently, Kane was the lead writer on two chapters in the first History of Illustration textbook coming from Fairchild Books (a division of Bloomsbury Publishing) in 2017. Not so coincidentally, one of the two chapters is an overview of the history of Comic Strips, Comic Book, and Graphic Novels.