The Double Eagle strip brought much attention to the young Kulpa, and he continued working as an independent editorial cartoonist and graphic artist. Several of his successful advertising campaigns earned awards.

In 1977 he was elected to the Loves Park city council. His love of comic superheroes prompted the young public servant to don red, white and blue leotards and cape and become Alder-Man, crusader for justice, much to the delight of the townspeople. He served in this position until 1984, when he then became County-Man, (in maroon and gold tights!) after an upset election to the Winnebago county board. The elected official continued to pen issue-oriented editorial cartoons in office, and many of his fellow politicians felt the sharp point of a stiff brush when they saw the morning paper.

Mr. Kulpa's first syndicated work appeared in 1983, when he produced the Star Trek and Bruce Lee newspaper comics for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

Mr. Kulpa met Star Trek creator and producer Gene Roddenberry when he served as Alderman and presented Mr. Roddenberry with one of his original Star Trek cartoons from the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

From 1982-88, Mr. Kulpa served as graphic arts manager for the renowned Testor Corporation, manufacturer of model kits, where he designed cartoon instruction sheets and collateral materials for their line of Weird-Ohs models.

The artist's work has appeared nationally and internationally, and several of his issue-oriented comic books have received national media attention in print and on television and radio.

He illustrated Tribune Media Services' nationally and internationally syndicated Ghost Story Club comic strip and the weekly cartoon panel Draw Play for the Chicago Bear Report newspaper.

In 1998, Mr. Kulpa illustrated the humor book, The Redneck Guide to Raisin' Children, written by Annie & Glen-Bob Smith (St. Martin's Press).

For over 10 years, he served as Art Director for the nationally distributed supermarket tabloid Weekly World News, and was lampooned as such in the Topps' comic book, Jurassic Park. In 2002, he was named the paper's editor.