Do my cataract replacement lenses deceive me, or is that D.F. Rogers hanging out at the home of none other than Marvel Comics legend Joe Sinnott?
Dennis spent some time with Joe this past weekend, and of his brief stint at the drawing board he says,
“Joe let me airbrush some drawings. The only thing on the brush was air!”
Even I, who once could handle a #2 Kolinsky Sable dipped in Higgins Black Magic with some confidence, wouldn’t dare dab so much as a dot on a piece of paper that the great Joe Sinnott had touched. To do that would be a sin as well as a crime!
Here are a couple more snaps of Den with Joe. Maybe Dennis can add a comment to fill in some details about his visit. The thing about Dennis is, he is very knowledgeable on two of Joe’s favorite subjects: Baseball and Bing — Bing Crosby that is, not the Microsoft search engine. I’m not qualified to keep up my end of the conversation on either of these topics.
This picture of Joe and his son Mark (the tall guy), was taken last February in New York. Standing between Joe and Mark is Mike Uslan, one of the producers of the Batman movies, including The Dark Knight, and on the right is Chip Cronkite, the son of another legend, Walter Cronkite. I’ve featured Chip before, at this link.
What’s amazing is Joe’s skill hasn’t diminished even one tiny bit. I have an original page of art Joe did eighteen months ago, and holding it next to a comic book page he inked in 1973 the quality is every bit as great. I can think of no other artist for whom this is true.
Boy, Denro gets all the fun, doesn’t he, Dougie? 😉 Dennis, can you just imagine the horror if there HAD been ink in that brush, and you had accidentally slipped? As they say in the comic books: “AIEEEEEE!”
That Canadian guy should and probably will and should spend a small fortune matting and framing that masterpiece when he receives it, the lucky SOB!
The page that I am “inking” is a special request that Joe is doing for a Canadian fan. He requested a drawing of his Grandfather in his WW II Royal Canadian Air Force uniform with his favorite hero, Captain America. The airplane above their heads is a Lancaster bomber, the same type that the Grandfather flew in during the War. Joe worked from a photo of the Grandfather, sent in by the fan. Joe had to do some research on the Lancaster bomber. He mentioned that the challenge was getting Captain America’s shield into the picture. If you look closely, you’ll see that Cap is shaking the hand of the Airman with his right hand and has his left hand on the Airman’s shoulder. No hands left to hold the iconic shield! So, Joe decided to show the shield slung over Cap’s shoulder – problem solved! The picture isn’t quite finished yet – although the inking is complete. Joe will color it with his colored inks. He said that if you have a picture of the famous red, white and blue Captain America, you just have to have it in color!