'Klaus' #3.
Dan Mora is a Costa Rican comic book artist, who has worked exclusively for the US publisher Boom! Studios on sci-fi/fantasy series like 'Hexed' (2014-2015), 'Klaus' (2015-2016), 'Saban's Go Go Power Rangers' (2017-2018) and 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (2019).
Early life and painting career
Daniel Mora Chaves was born in 1986 in San José as a direct heir of the famous Costa Rican-born Mexican painter and sculptor Francisco Zúñiga (1912-1998). He got his artistic education at the University of Costa Rica, where he initially studied architecture, but quickly shifted to Plastic Arts. He graduated in painting, and spent the first years of his professional life teaching painting classes. It wasn't easy to get his oil and acrylic paintings into the art galleries, so instead he turned to drawing fantasy and science fiction. He ranks comic artists like Bruce Timm, Mike Mignola, Paul Pope and Frank Frazetta, but also Pablo Picasso, among his major inspirations. Together with some friends from the university, he created the comic magazine El Zarpe in 2008. It lasted nine editions. In the following years, he had two comic strips published in the magazine SoHo (2013) and in the first issue of the literary magazine Buensalvaje (2014), while working as an illustrator for hire through Grupo Nación.
'Hexed' #4.
Boom! Studios
It was obvious that the local Costa Rican comic book industry could offer Mora him a living, but luckily his work was noticed by the US publisher Boom! Studios, who hired him to work exclusively for them. His first job was pencilling and inking the second series of the fantasy-horror title 'Hexed' (2014-2015), starring Michael Alan Nelson's interpretation of a female Lucifer, previously drawn by Emma Ríos. The series was critically praised and hailed as "the new Buffy". Mora's next project for Boom!, 'Klaus' (2015-2016), was made in cooperation with the Scottish writer Grant Morrison, for which the artist did not only pencils and inking duties, but also the coloring. The seven-issue limited series is set in a dark fantastic past and tells the origin story of Santa Claus, tracing it back to Viking mythology and Siberian shamanism. Mora and Morrison have resumed working on the character with the seasonal graphic novels 'Klaus and the Witch of Winter', 'Klaus and the Crisis in Xmasville' (2017) and 'Klaus and the Crying Snowman' (2018).
'Saban's Go Go Power Rangers' #8.
Power Rangers & Buffy
Since 2017, Mora has been a regular cover illustrator for Boom!'s comic books and graphic novels based on the stars from the 'WWE' wrestling shows, which are generally written by Dennis Hopeless and drawn by Serg Acuña or Kendall Goode. He has also drawn covers for the company's 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' (2017) books, licensed from Saban Brands, and did the interior art on the prequel series 'Saban's Go Go Power Rangers' (2017) by writer Ryan Parrott. In 2019, Dan Mora became the artist for the new 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' comic book series written by Jordie Bellaire in cooperation with series creator Joss Whedon. In addition to his regular work for Boom! Studios, Dan Mora has provided cover illustrations to several comic book series by Marvel ('Daredevil', 'Spirits of Vengeance', etc.) and DC Comics ('Batgirl', 'The Flash', 'Adventures of the Super Sons').
Recognition
Together with John Timms and Franco Céspedes, Daniel Mora is one of the few Costa Rican artists who managed to get assignments from major US publishing houses. His work on 'Hexed' and 'Klaus' was duly noticed, as the artist was awarded the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award during the San Diego Comic-Con in 2016.
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' #1 (2019).