José Málaga was born in Lima, Peru on September 21, 1961. At age 12, drawing became a revelation, and he was certain he wanted to turn his passion into a career. In 1977, his dreams came to fruition when he began working at Osito Monkey studios, run by the famous national cartoonist Juan Osorio Blanco, co-founder of Avanzada magazine. It is this magazine that published Málaga's drawings for the first time.

In the 1980s, José Málaga worked alongside Pablo Marco, with whom he directed several projects for Mexico and the U.S. At that time, he also entered the School of Fine Arts where he began his studies in painting and drawing. Disenchanted, he dropped out of school and found a job as a draftsman at Publicistas Asociados. In 1990, he decided to move to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Despite the Brazilian economic crisis and the difficulties the author faces, he managed to devote himself completely to comics. He published his drawings in numerous magazines, including Pau Brasil, Inter-Quadrinhos, Reanimator and Horror Show.

José Málaga is mainly known as the draftsman of several series published by Dynamite Entertainment such as Vampirella, Grimm, Army of Darkness, Warlords of Mars and The Twilight Zone. At Les Humanoïdes Associés, he drew the fourth volume of Mandalay with Gallur, as well as the second part of Seul Survivant (Sole Survivor), written by Christophe Martinolli and Thomas Martinetti.