Dale Berry

Dale W. Berry, born on April 20, 1960, in Taft, California, is a multifaceted American creator whose career spans comic book artistry, authorship, and radio broadcasting. After graduating from Highland High School, he pursued higher education at Bakersfield College, where he studied scenic design and theater stagecraft, before obtaining a certificate in commercial art from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with specialized training in computer graphics, airbrush techniques, and design. During the 1980s, while residing in Bakersfield, Berry diversified his professional experience by serving as a fencing instructor at California State University, Bakersfield, and working as a stagehand and marketing coordinator at the historic Fox Theater, where he collaborated with legendary musical acts including Aerosmith, Kiss, and Ray Charles. His martial arts expertise would later prove invaluable to his creative work, allowing him to choreograph authentic fight sequences in his comics with remarkable historical precision. In 1989, Berry began his second career as a radio personality at KKBB, a Bakersfield station specializing in jazz and soul, where he spent five years before transitioning to rock radio at KRZR in the mid-1990s.

Berry launched his professional comics career in 1986 with the creation of Ninja Funnies, published by Eternity Comics, which achieved impressive sales exceeding 35,000 copies. He subsequently founded Myriad Publications and developed the critically acclaimed series Tales of the Moonlight Cutter, set in 12th-century China, featuring a hero who battles deadly spirits with an enchanted sword. Drawing inspiration from Chinese landscapes, Jademan Comics, manga, ukiyo-e, and masters like Neal Adams and Frank Frazetta, Berry meticulously researched historical accuracy in architecture, attire, and cultural practices, earning praise from Black Belt editor Edward Pollard for his authentic depiction of Taoist exorcism rituals. Each installment of the Moonlight Cutter series demands extensive labor, often requiring up to two years to complete due to Berry's commitment to visual and narrative excellence. Beyond his comic work, Berry co-authored The Be-Bop Barbarians: Comic Book Bohemians to a 1950s Jazz Beat with Gary Phillips in 2019, a graphic novel set in 1955 Harlem that explores the lives of African-American comic artists navigating bigotry and Cold War tensions, which received acclaim from critics including Martha Cornog of the Library Journal.