Matt Horak, Brent Schoonover & Sal Velluto named as artists for Defenders of the Earth issue 6

As mentioned on our #304 podcast episode and in this interview with writer Dan DiDio, issue six of the Mad Cave Studios Defenders of the Earth series has a new fill in artist(s) to help Mad Cave Studios stay on their publishing schedule. Thanks to the team at Mad Cave Studios we have learnt that Matt Horak, Brent Schoonover and Sal Velluto are the fill in artists and we have included a sneak peak of their art before the comic hits the shelf in the last week of April 2025.

[Editors note: this article and the preview images do not include spoilers for the story]

It is fair to say that the art in the comic is a different style to Jim Calafiore but I feel it is not too much of a jump and the three fill-in artists art style work together well. The comic is split into two stories and the artist teams work on their own side which helps make the transition smoother.

Most fans will know of Sal Velluto who has worked for all the major USA publishers including various Phantom publishers in Fantomen (18x stories & 50+ covers), Frew (product art and covers) and Hermes (6x stories & covers). You can listen to an interview podcast with Sal here. You can follow him on Instagram.

Some fans may know of Brent Schoonover who worked on The Phantom for Dynamite Entertainment. Brent was very candid in his interview with us and we are sure you will feel his passion and love for the character as you read the interview. You can follow him on Instagram.

Matt Horak is however a new name for Phantom fans. He has worked on several Marvel titles includes Black Panther, Spider-Man and Deadpool. You can follow him on Instagram.

Our thanks to Frank from Mad Cave Studios for this news and we hope you will enjoy this comic and the ongoing series. Please follow our social platforms for our reviews of this and other Phantom comics, products and related news.