H. M. Baker

Branislav Kerac, better known by his pen name H. M. Baker, is a Serbian comic book artist born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). He first adopted the pseudonym for a short Western story published in 1976. Baker is best recognized for his clean, polished linework, which often draws comparisons to the style of John Romita, Sr. His American comics career includes notable work for Dark Horse Comics, where he illustrated the supernatural series *Ghost* and the pirate adventure *The Black Pearl*. His credits span 13 issues between 1995 and 2012, with his most frequent contributions appearing in *The Black Pearl*, *Ghost*, and the *Ghost Omnibus* and *Ghost Special* collections. He also contributed to the miniseries *Dominion: Conflict 1*. Baker’s art is marked by a steady, narrative clarity that served these genre stories well. While he never achieved the widespread fame of some contemporaries, his work in the 1990s and 2000s remains appreciated by fans of Dark Horse’s supernatural and action-adventure titles. Details of his later life and major awards are not widely recorded, but his legacy endures among collectors of the period’s genre comics.