Category: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

The late, great Marvel Comics Legend, Joe Sinnott

Joltin’ Joe on the mend

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That’s Joe Sinnott, a Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame inductee, with Tommy John. Yes, Tommy John the former Major League pitcher, famous for a particular type of elbow surgery. On Thursday Joe had some orthopedic surgery himself, but it wasn’t on his elbow. He had a shoulder replacement done and, yes, it’s his pitching arm — I mean his drawing arm! So Joe needs a lot of “GET WELL SOON” wishes while he heals and goes through physical therapy. Joe’s not an online guy, and he can be reached at this address:

Joe Sinnott
PO Box 406
Saugerties, NY 12477

I have something very unique and special. It’s a Sinnott-Sinnott Mighty Marvel Team-Up. A tapestry made by Joe’s daughter-in-law, Belinda, based on a drawing by Joe.

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Belinda is a whiz at making hooked rugs, and she’s been at it for a long time. When I saw her work for the first time, my immediate, spontaneous reaction was, “do one with Lockjaw!” Lockjaw is one of my favorite Fantastic Four supporting characters, created by Jack Kirby. He’s a giant 4th dimensional bulldog that can transport himself, and others, through space. But you knew that. 😉

At first Belinda thought I was kidding, but I persisted and convinced her that I was serious about commissioning her to do a Lockjaw tapestry. Belinda is quite creative on her own, and she suggested that Lockjaw by himself may not be enough for visual interest, and she asked if I had another character in mind. Well, that was easy. Dragon Man, of course! And so, the team of Sinnott and Sinnott started working.

Here are Joe and Belinda with the completed preliminary drawing. That’s probably the last photo taken of Joe holding his right arm up so high, before his shoulder gave out for good.

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And here’s the finished masterpiece. Joe said, “Belinda put blood, sweat, and tears into this one, Doug!” And I don’t doubt it! Click to enlarge and see all of the detail and texture that Belinda put into this one-of-a-kind Marvel Masterwork.

Lock Jaw and Dragon Man. I love these guys!
Dragon Man and Lockjaw. I love these guys!

P.S. By the way, this was posted on the 7th anniversary of the blog.

Joe Sinnott, from Bing to Beatles

Joltin’ Joe Sinnott’s granddaughter Erin has been posting a very enjoyable weekly series of video Q&A’s with Joe on his Facebook page. Joe’s fans and friends know that he’s a big fan of Bing Crosby, and this week’s question comes from a fellow Der Bingle fan, who’s none other than my co-conspirator in fanboy endeavors, Dennis F. Rogers.

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Joe’s praise for Bing singing the plaintive Hang Me, Oh Hang Me makes it deserving of a listen, so here it is.

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I’m pleased no end that Joe Sinnott also has a connection to the Beatles, because when they came to America in 1964, Joe had the distinction of being picked to illustrate the authorized comic book of their story…

… and here’s Joe talking about drawing the Beatles. A couple of years later he would be in the thick of his legendary run with Jack Kirby on The Fantastic Four.

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He’s Mighty Sore!

At the request of Mark Sinnott, I scanned a picture of the original, unedited cover to Journey Into Mystery #83 that his dad, Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, inked over Jack Kirby’s pencil art, for the first appearance of The Mighty Thor. Hover over the color picture to see how the illustration looked on Joe’s drawing table. Click here to see the scan I’m sending to Mark.

A point of particular interest to Silver Age comic book fans is the fact that the figures of the alien stone men were removed (undoubtedly at Stan Lee’s direction) during post-production, after Joe had inked them and turned in the finished job. Later, another comic book inker, who I shall not name, took it upon himself to sometimes erase background figures from Jack Kirby’s penciled pages, rather than ink them.

Fans in the fold-in

There was a 2-day comic book con in Boston this weekend. Three stalwarts of MAD Magazine were there — Al Feldstein, Al Jaffee, and Paul Coker. After writing and/or drawing many memorable stories for Bill Gaines at EC, Feldstein was MAD’s editor for almost 30 years, throughout its heyday.

Jaffee is famous for his fabulous back cover fold-ins. Click here to see some interactive Jaffee fold-ins, presented by the NY Times. Jaffee is also known for his Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.

Prolific Paul Coker’s unmistakable drawings appeared in many pages of MAD, but he’s perhaps best known for designing the animated Frosty the Snowman cartoon.

I spent most of my time at the convention today sitting at Joltin’ Joe Sinnott’s table, helping with requests for autographs and sketches, while his son Mark made the rounds and Denro procured old comics, including one from 1951 that he found, with Joe’s second ever appearance in a Marvel (then Atlas) comic book. This scan is of Joe’s inking on Steranko’s famous centerfold splash page in Captain America #111 (March ’69).