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.
Category: Joltin’ Joe Sinnott
The late, great Marvel Comics Legend, Joe Sinnott
Comic Con Fun
Here’s a scene from last weekend’s comic book show in Albany. D.F. Rogers is with legendary artist extraordinaire Joe Sinnott, Joe’s son Mark, Mark’s wife Belinda, and their son Trevor. It’s a lot of fun being able to hang out with the Sinnotts. Dennis is showing a story to Joe that Joe drew 35 years ago, but had never before had a chance to see in print. Dennis, Mark and I got a laugh from realizing that we can recognize Joe’s work from as little as four small dabs of ink.
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D.F. Rogers, Con Man
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.
Joe Sinnott depicted first black President in 1964
Various news services, including NPR’s website last February, picked up the story that in 1964 there was a comic book that predicted/depicted the first black candidate for American President. In January, this video about the comic book series was posted on YouTube. (Turn down the sound if you don’t like “Switched-On Bach”!)
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The man who illustrated those comic books is Joe Sinnott. I took this picture of Joe with his son Mark in New York on Saturday. Dennis provided the comics.
Sinnott’s Brush Strokes With Greatness
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!
Bob Andelman, Mr. Media
Bob Andelman, aka Mr. Media, makes a comment on one of my posts about Monte Schulz, at this link. Andelman has posted an audio interview with David Michaelis, the author of the controversial book Schulz and Peanuts.
I’m going to do something I don’t normally do, and that’s hotlink to Mr. Andelman’s MP3 file. I think he should give streaming audio a try, and this is my way of nudging him in that direction. I would also suggest editing the properties of the MP3 files to include an artist and title, so the player could display something like “Mr. Media” and “David Michaelis Interview.” First, the David Michaelis interview…
[audio:http://www.andelman.com/mrmedia-pod/MM-DavidMichaelis101707.mp3]I recommend listening to what Michaelis has to say, but as I’ve said before, while reading the book I’ve come around to an understanding what Monte and his sisters Amy and Jill are getting at in their criticism of Michaelis’ analysis of Charles M. Schulz as a man and as a father.
I’m very pleased to see that Andelman has also posted an interview with none other than Joe Sinnott, who I saw in New York a week ago. Thanks very much for this, Bob!
[audio:http://www.andelman.com/mrmedia-pod/MM-JoeSinnott071007.mp3]