If you haven't read a comic book lately, the next time you're in 7-Eleven take a peek - and be impressed. Gone are the tidy, boxy panels, gone the acidic paper that turns yellow at your touch, and gone are the goofy plots of the pulp era.

Today's comic books are not just written, they're "composed" - each page a painting with perspective and point of view not far from Picasso.In short, they're moving from entertainment toward art.

And one of the young artists who's pushing comic books in that direction is Salt Lake City's Sal Velluto.

Velluto not only works for the two biggies (Marvel and D.C.), but the Italian illustrator is also selling well in Europe.

There is one problem, however.

"People in Italy say when I draw Italians they now look more like Americans," the artist says.

Today Velluto lives on a quiet street in a quiet part of Midvale. His small, white home is both his castle and studio, his work area a state-of-the-art place with a fax machine for sending out drawings, striking posters on the walls and a couple of mirrors where Velluto can pull the faces he likes to mimic in his work. For Velluto, his studio is a dream world come true.

"Comic books have always been a passion with me," he says. "When I was 10 I created little comic books for my friends and traded them for doughnuts. I even tried to sell them by subscription. When I turned 12, the Batman comic book in Italy published one of my little drawings. That's when I thought, `Hey, maybe I really can do this.' "

"Actually, I don't think my history is much different from other comic book illustrators. I was an impatient kid who liked to draw, and people let me draw because it kept me quiet."If Velluto's professional history parallels other illustrators, however, his personal history is all his own.

A convert to the LDS Church in Italy, Velluto came to Utah eight years ago as a tourist. He was not only smitten by the natural wonders of the state, he was smitten by a young woman named Sharron.

"She could speak Italian and she could really cook," says Velluto. "I wasn't about to let her get away." He married her and stayed.

For several years Velluto sent out "trial balloons" to comic companies - drawings and ideas he thought they should pursue.

"They'd send them back to me," he says, "but always with little personal notes and hints."

A break came when Velluto landed a job with Xan!, a Salt Lake pool of illustrators. The company worked on animated cartoons for Sunday mornings. Artists from that little studio are now well-placed in the industry, some landing jobs with Disney and Don Bluth, others going to work for national magazines.

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Velluto himself used his work at Xan! to land a job with Marvel Comics. The company was looking for a superhero as an answer to Batman, and Velluto's Moon Knight was born. He did the first 24 issues. And had a ball. At one point he put Marvel boss Stan Lee into an issue as a swashbuckling crime fighter. Velluto also put himself, his car - even LDS missionaries - into his artwork.

At one point he drew a picture of his own house and blew the thing to smithereens. ("Luckily we were buying and not renting," he says.)

A man with a bright and colorful past, Velluto's future looks just as rosy. Rival company D.C. Comics has hired Velluto to illustrate issues of "The Justice League Task Force" - a fresh series of comics that will feature all of the great D.C. superheroes.

"I'm excited," says Velluto. "This is a chance for me to draw the characters I've loved since I was a boy. Sometimes my wife will hear these wild noises coming from my studio and come down to see if I'm all right, but it's just me acting out some of the action scenes I'm drawing. I'm a fortunate man. I love my work."

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