Category: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

Last weekend, D.F. Rogers was at the NY Comic Con. The big surprise was seeing Gene Colan there. Last May and June, Gene was at death’s door, but Gene is still with his family who love him and his fans who admire him, and for that we are all grateful. Dennis sent some photos from the show, with captions.

Gene Colan checking out something I acquired at the convention — a page of original art from Captain America #117, penciled by Gene forty years ago. This is the issue that made me a Marvelite and True Believer!

Joe Sinnott holding the page from Captain America #117. Joe didn’t ink Gene Colan often enough, but this was one of their best (and earliest) collaborations. Joe said that he loved to ink Gene’s pencils because he could do a lot of brushwork on those patented Gene Colan shadows. Two of my all-time favorite artists — and people! I never fully realized until recently that they, along with the immortal Stan Lee, produced the issue that hooked me on Marvel Comics!

Gene Colan and D.F. Rogers at the 2009 New York Comic Con. It was a dream come true to see Gene back at the Convention after a one year absence due to health issues. He had a steady line of admirers who stopped by to say hello and get their art or comic books signed by Genial Gene.

Joe Staton and D.F. Rogers with two pages of art that I purchased from Joe. Archie published a four part “modernization” of Jughead last summer – with art by Joe Staton and Al Milgrom. This is the first page splash and the last page splash — fun stuff! It just came out a few weeks ago in a trade paperback and the art is reproduced much better there than in the original “digest” sized issues.

Thanks, Den! That reminds me. I have a couple of pictures of my own to show, from the NY convention back in November. Here I am holding the original Iron Man art to the cover of the Marvel Comic Tales of Suspense #93, drawn by Gene Colan. It could be mine — for only $42,000! I’d be tempted, but Eric starts college the fall of 2010.

I’ve always had a particular fondness for that comic book. Here’s a cropped, high-resolution panel scan from a page of the TOS #93 interior original art. Ya gotta click to enlarge it, y’know…

… and this is artist David Lloyd, who illustrated Alan Moore’s famous political thriller “V for Vendetta,” which was later made into what I think is pretty darn good movie.

Author Tim Lasiuta has posted a comment reminding me to mention his great book Brush Strokes With Greatness, The Life And Art of Joe Sinnott. Glad to do it, Tim! Love the book. I couldn’t find a good scan of the cover online, so I did one myself. Click to enlarge. I gave a copy to my best buddy Dennis Rogers for his birthday. Dennis rated special mention on the Joe Sinnott Web site, as seen at this link. Joe autographed my copy last month at The National in New York, aka: the Big Apple Con.

Anybody who has dipped a #2 sable brush into a bottle of india ink and tried with all their heart to draw a controlled and clean line with it, as I have, can really appreciate just how masterful Joe Sinnott is at his craft. What’s amazing is that at age 81 he’s a good as ever!

A big highlight at the Big Apple Con in New York last weekend was seeing legendary comic book artist Joe Sinnott, who is featured at this link. It’s been thirty years since Dennis and I first met Joe. Dennis saw him earlier this year, a few months after Joe lost his wife Betty, and shortly before Joe had a heart attack! So it was with great relief that we saw Joe looking hale and hearty, with the ol’ Sinnott gleam and glint in his eyes. Here’s Joe with Dennis and myself.

At a panel moderated by Mark Evanier (more about that later), Sinnott commented that he felt he’d reached his peak in 1962 and hadn’t diminished since then. Joe is a modest fellow, so that isn’t boasting, it’s just plain fact! At the convention Dennis bought an original Spider-Man strip from this past August that Joe had inked over Alex Saviuk’s pencils, and it looks as clean and slick and snappy as anything Joe has ever done. The man is amazing, especially considering that he’s retired!

Dennis spotted Joe talking with Steranko (with a name like Steranko, I wouldn’t bother with my first name either!) and snapped this great picture. That’s Joe’s son, Mark Sinnott, behind these two titans of comic book art.

One of the many memorable examples of Sinnott inking over Steranko’s pencil drawings can be found in Strange Tales #167, from almost exactly 40 years ago. The story was called “ARMAGEDDON!” In it is something that had never been seen before — an extravaganza of four full pages that formed a single picture. I’ve always wanted to see these pages put together, and thanks to my scanner I’ve finally done it!

Click to enlarge

I was 12 years old when I saw that. What a time it was to be a comics fan! These gifted gentlemen were paid so relatively poorly, for turning out page after page of stunning material like this! I’m so glad that I can tell them how much their talents are appreciated.

Did you see the Zaro’s black and white cookie I got at Penn Station? While Dennis was at the counter I saw Joe and Mark Sinnott outside of Zaro’s, deciding if they were going to eat there. Well, I wasted no time helping them decide! What a surprise Dennis had when he came back to the table! We sat and ate and chatted with Joe and Mark, and for me it was the highlight of the weekend — yes, even more special than meeting Stephen Colbert.

P.S. The man in the blue shirt behind Joe is Mike Burkey, otherwise known as Romitaman, the highly reputable dealer in original comic book art. Dennis and I will probably be doing some business with Mr. Burkey in the near future.

For the next couple of days D.F. Rogers and I will be at the Big Apple Con in — where else? — the Big Apple. I hope to finally meet Mark Evanier in person. Dennis and I also hope to talk to comic book artist Joe Sinnott, just like we did 30 years ago! I’m traveling light, and won’t be taking a laptop computer, so unless the hotel has more than just Wi-Fi hot-spots for Net/Web access, my next post will be sometime Sunday.