His influences include Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff, Al Capp, and Bud Fisher.

Through a meeting that Andriola arranged with editors at Quality Comics, Matera was promised a staff position starting after graduation.

Matera left to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, quitting after a year to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

Requesting combat service, Matera was sent to for additional training in Virginia and eventually shipped out on the USS Augusta, where he drew a portrait of the visiting President Harry Truman.

(1948-  ) from 1976 to 1978; drew the movie tie-in Indiana Jones (1981), and, assisted by Dick Kulpa, the martial-arts strip The Legend of Bruce Lee (1982), written by Sharman DiVono.

Matera additionally wrote the final year of Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, following writer John Saunders' death in November 2003.

[10] After marrying his wife Patricia, Matera moved with her to Delray Beach, Florida, where they lived in a two-story house nicknamed White Haven.