Hilary Barta aka Surly Hack is a cartoonist best known for humor and parody comics such as What The--?!, Plastic Man and Stupid, and as the co-creator of Splash Brannigan with Alan Moore at America's Best Comics.
 

His art and writing have also appeared in SpongeBob Comics, Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror,  Mars Attacks Garbage Pail Kids, Heavy Metal, Creepy, Fear Agent, A-1, and The Goon. Barta began his career as an inker on many comics for publishers including Image, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse.

In January 2021 Barta will reunite with creative partner Doug Rice and return to Marvel Comics with a story in the Alex Ross curated Marvel anthology.

Barta shares his creative process on his Patreon page. In detailed step-by-step posts, he shows how he moves from rough sketch to finished ink illustration.