Category: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

The late, great Marvel Comics Legend, Joe Sinnott

Words of Discouragement

The first time I met Joe Sinnott was at the 1972 New York Comic Art Convention that I attended with, and thanks to, mih.

That was the first time Joe met Jack Kirby, as well as my only time meeting Kirby. It was made extra memorable when, with me an earnest 16-year-old fanboy, Kirby actually pushed me out of his way to speak with someone! Joe never pushed me out of his way, but I used to push him around when he found a wheelchair useful. 🙂

Another interesting New York ’72 encounter was with the comic book professional named Kane who wasn’t Bob. When I mentioned my hope of drawing comic books, he replied, “Kid, we don’t need the competition.”

Using a thinly disguised name, this is another less than flattering memory of the pro in question, from the highly respected comic book writer/editor, Archie Goodwin. Keep in mind that Goodwin had previously written numerous projects for him to illustrate.

Dead Heads

These talking heads are all deceased now, but fortunately they were interviewed before it was too late for them to share their EC memories.

Wait, don’t go away yet! What about the other comic book companies that were publishing horror comics along with EC? This video features my dearly departed pal Joe Sinnott.

The earliest known surviving original art that Joe drew for Stan Lee is from a horror story. It’s page 1 of “The Terrible Trunk”, published in the Atlas pre-code comic book Adventures Into Weird Worlds #5, April 1952.

https://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2007/12/number-233-terrible-trunk-from-atlas.html

Thanks to comic art dealer Mike “Romitaman” Burkey, the page now belongs to Joe’s son Mark.

All in Color for 12¢ – Part 2

There is a dark side, literally, to digital comic book coloring. Having more colors to work with meant more finely shaded tones. But what looks great on a computer screen can appear muddy on the printed page. This video is about the opposite problem, with colors being too bright.

Chris at Comic Tropes apologizes to José Villarrubia for not crediting him as the source for some of the images he used. Here are a couple of Jim Steranko examples that José posted on Facebook.

For this one I’m adding a Heritage Auctions image of the original art. Looking at it full size, you can see that most of the white lettering is a negative image made on a stat camera and pasted onto the art. In a past life I was proficient at stat camera and paste-up work. Never had a chance to try preparing color separations.

I’m not a fan of glossy paper for comic books. The Marvel Omnibus volumes are guilty of both overly bright colors and glossy paper, along with some poor restoration of linework.

Comic book letterer Todd Klein has this view on the subject of coloring. Todd mentions his use of #3 Winsor-Newton Series 7 brushes, which was also Joe Sinnott’s favorite brush.

https://kleinletters.com/Blog/coloring-comics-old-school/

Winsor-Newton Series 7 #3 brush and Hunt 102 pen nib, from the Joe Sinnott estate.