Category: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

The late, great Marvel Comics Legend, Joe Sinnott

Pennsylvania SICK-5000

When I was in New York this week, I stayed at the same place as the last time I was in the city — The Hotel Pennsylvania, across from Penn Station. My last visit literally left a bad taste in my mouth, because I became deathly ill with food poisoning, undoubtedly from a turkey club sandwich I’d had for dinner at Lindy’s, a restaurant in the Hotel Penn building that had been a favorite of Milton Berle, who I would have avoided had I ever seen him. I never cared for Uncle Milty.

My night in the Hotel Pennsylvania wasn’t cheap, but it’s less expensive than most of the midtown hotels. That’s because it’s pretty much a rundown dump, except for the lobby. Besides the relatively low cost, I have an attachment to the place, because it was where I stayed the very first time I visited New York, when I was sixteen years old. The occasion was the 1972 Comicart Convention, back when the hotel was called the Statler-Hilton.

My friend Morris drove us there with his (now ex-) wife and their infant daughter. They’re listed in the program book as “Human,” which is a typo, because Morris’ name is Hyman. If you enlarge the scan you’ll see my name and that of comic book art legend Joe Sinnott, his late wife Betty, and their son Mark. As I mentioned a while ago, Dennis and I were going to meet Joe and Mark in Boston next month, but Joe had hip replacement surgery on Friday. I sure do hope it went well.

The Hotel Pennsylvania is most likely not going to be standing for much longer, and having stayed there just a few days ago, I’m sorry to say that I think it’s time for it to go. The New York City Council has approved a plan to replace it with an office tower. With so much attention being given nationally to the proposed Islamic cultural center, this bit of real estate news has stayed mostly local to the Big Apple. But beware, New York, because the developer of the proposed Penn Plaza project, Vornado Realty Trust, is the same outfit that has left a huge hole in the center of Boston for years.

Bad break for Joe Sinnott

Heard some bad news on my birthday. Yesterday, Mark Sinnott posted a message on the site he runs for his dad, the legendary Marvel Comics artist Joe Sinnott:

On Thursday, Sept. 9th, my dad received some bad news from his doctor that he has a broken hip and would need hip replacement surgery, Friday Sept. 17th. For the past 6 weeks, Joe has had severe pain in his left leg. 2 x-rays taken a week apart revealed a “slight” crack in the bone. For the past week Joe has been using a walker to get around. An MRI taken on Wednesday confirmed the broken hip. They say that it appears to be from degenerative bone, as he never fell. After surgery, Joe will have a 4 day stay in the hospital, followed by 1-2 weeks in a rehab center and 2-3 weeks supervised (not left alone). That’s if all goes according to schedule. It could be longer. Joe will still need a walker or cane to get around after all is said and done. If anyone would like to send Joe a get well wish after his surgery, please send them to the address below.

Thank you,
Mark Sinnott, Sept.10,2010
send cards to:
Joe Sinnott
PO Box 406
Saugerties, NY 12477

Here’s an example of Joe’s work, scanned from the original art. In the hands of a master like Joe Sinnott, india ink on paper is a beautiful thing. As you can see, Joe never takes shortcuts, and even when he was busy working full-time to support his family, he never rushed through a job to get it done, just so he could get to the next assignment.

Some years ago, Joe broke the shoulder of his drawing arm while visiting his old pal, writer Mickey Spillane, creator of “Mike Hammer” (Spillane died in 2006), but he came back from that injury to do work that’s as great as ever. Joe was scheduled to be in Boston for a comic book show in October. Dennis and I were really looking forward to seeing Joe and Mark, and now it’s very doubtful we’ll get to do that. But that doesn’t matter, because what we want is for Joe to get through the surgery and get well. You’re the greatest, Joe!

Joe Sinnott and Mickey Spillane

Pretty faces for Marvel Comics

I missed the Valentine’s Day deadline for this post, but here it is anyway.

I became a comic book fan when Batman appeared on TV in January, ’66. After reading only DC titles for a few months, I started reading Marvel Comics. My first two favorite Marvel artists were John Romita Sr. and Gene Colan. Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko’s drawings were, well, scary, when I was ten. It was Joe Sinnott’s clean and friendly style of inking that made Kirby approachable for me.

As Kirby progressed creatively and artistically, paradoxically he seemed to lose his ability to draw attractive people. Women in particular. Were they noble? Yes. But pretty? Not so much. Ditko’s characters looked so outright strange that he almost seemed to be conveying an innate misanthropy.

I don’t know if Stan Lee was inspired by Roy Lichtenstein’s swiping of romance comic book panels, but he brought in Romita and Colan, who had been drawing love comics for DC. I think Romita and Colan deserve a lot of credit for the way they broadened the appeal of Marvel Comics, starting in the mid-60’s. They learned how to draw the dynamic action scenes that Stan wanted, while making it possible for him to better develop the soap opera elements of the stories. Never underestimate the power of a pretty face! Later, when John Buscema came back on board, I think the writing was on the wall for Kirby. After Stan assigned Buscema to illustrate the premiere issue of ‘The Silver Surfer’ in 1968, Jack’s departure from Marvel was inevitable.

Courtesy of D.F. Rogers, here is an excellent example of John Romita’s work at DC. It’s from ‘Young Romance’ No. 134, Feb-March, 1965. Go to the Gallery and read, “A Ticket to ROMANCE!” And be sure to read the love letters page.

Denro’s promise to Sin Not!

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?

Joe Sinnott and Dennis Rogers

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.

Joe Sinnott and Dennis Rogers

Joe Sinnott and Dennis Rogers

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.

Joe Sinnott, Mike Uslan, Mark Sinnott, Chip Cronkite

Denro comes through for Joltin’ Joe

Joe Sinnott is the best ink man the comic book business has ever had. Most of Joe’s work, even the earliest of it, is instantly recognizable to fans, but there are exceptions, including hundreds of pages of Archie comics that Joe inked anonymously in the 70’s. Good, ol’ Denro has been painstakingly finding these issues and forwarding them to Joe’s son Mark.

http://www.joesinnott.com/home/othercomics.html