Category: Comic Books

Home, Cold Home

There’s still no electricity at home. The utility company says it should be back on by Wednesday night, but if it isn’t we’ll be looking for a hotel room. I’ve got the fireplace going in the evening, and I can run space heaters off the portable generator. I have a 5-gallon gas container, but I wish the generator’s tank were bigger. We have oil lamps, and they work great. I can see why sperm whales were hunted to near extinction before petroleum took over. My GE Superadio III, 17 years old, has been our primary source of entertainment.

Compliments of great guy Mark Sinnott, here’s a follow-up pic from the Albany Comic Con, with me on the right, with Denro and Joe Sinnott. Men with caps! As always, I make a point of not looking directly into a camera flash, which is painful for somebody who has lattice degeneration.

Albany Comic Con

After a harrowing drive in a freak snow storm last night, especially nerve-wracking when going through the Berkshires, Denro and I are in Albany for a comic book convention. These one-day shows are nice because they’re small and manageable. Joltin’ Joe Sinnott is here, and this is a picture of Denro with Joe.

Dennis is holding the original art to page #19 of Fantastic Four #46, the third issue of many that Joe inked over Jack Kirby’s pencil art. Technically, it’s the fourth issue of FF Joe handled because he had inked ish #5, before leaving Marvel for a while when he was under contract with Treasure Chest comics.

The power is out at my house and at Dennis’ too. I’m told there is a large tree down that’s blocking my street. It’s a dead end, so I’ll be returning to a dark, cold house in a neighborhood I can’t leave!

Happy Birthday, Joe Sinnott!

Marvel Comics art legend Joltin’ Joe Sinnott is 85 today. Hover over the picture to see Joe “back in the day,” as he likes to say. The thing about Joe is, looking at the artwork he does now, there’s no “back in the day” about it, because it’s as perfect as ever.

I didn’t start collecting comic books until early 1966, after the Batman TV show premiered, so I’d missed a lot of great Sixties issues and I really appreciated comics with reprints (although later I was dismayed to learn the artists and writers received no reprint royalties). Marvel Tales #10, September ’67, reprinted the Thor story from Journey into Mystery #92, May ’63. That was the first time I saw art that Joe had both penciled and inked. From that I was able to get a better appreciation for what Joe did to give Jack Kirby’s forceful Fantastic Four art such an attractive and clean appearance.

For much better printing quality than this scan from Marvel Tales #10, I recommended The Mighty Thor Omnibus, Vol. 1, which I was happy to get for my birthday. I don’t know how much of the book was taken from original art, but this particular story sure appears as though it was.

Joe will be appearing at the Albany Comic Con in two weeks, Sunday, October 30, and you can be sure Denro and I will be there!

Irony as far as the eye can see?

David Barsalou, creator of the groundbreaking and exhaustive Deconstructing Lichtenstein project, wrote to point out another art swipe by Roy Lichtenstein that’s up for auction. I can see the whole room … and there’s nobody in it! is expected to fetch upwards of $45 million!

A gallery owner is quoted in the Bloomberg article at the link above, saying, “It epitomizes Roy’s use of irony, which is the most important theme throughout his work.” Irony, she says? It’s only ironic that the painting is worth so much money, because it’s a direct swipe from a Steve Roper comic strip panel drawn by William Overgard. Heck, it’s only 4×4 feet, and you’d think spending that much money would rate a wall-sized canvas.

Barsalou has some instructive links about the piece here and here. As you can see, the swipe was spotted by William Overgard, who wrote to Time magazine and asked, with some irony, “Very flattering…I think?” Not really. Notice how Lichtenstein changed the hand? Overgard’s original looks correct — you can tell it’s a thumb — but Roy got it wrong, so it looks like an index finger in the wrong place. Intentional artistic license? Nah, he couldn’t draw.