Comic Books – Page 65 – Prattling before the Pratfall

Big Apple Con — Sinnott and Son and Steranko

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.

Dennis Rogers, Joe Sinnott, DOuG pRATt

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.

Joe Sinnott and Jim Steranko

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.

Big Apple Con — Groo-some Guys

It’s already been a few days since the Big Apple Con. Marvel Comics artist John Romita Sr. was feeling under the weather and couldn’t make it to the show, and that was disappointing. But I was pleased to finally meet Mark Evanier in person, who I have mentioned countless times, and whose biography of Jack Kirby, Kirby: King of Comics, will be released in February. Here I am sneaking up behind Mark, trying steal one of his lollipops. The orange gadget is Mark’s Blackberry. That thing was constantly getting a call or e-mail. Evanier is a multi-tasking machine!

Mark Evanier and DOuG pRATt

Mark collaborates with MAD Magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragonés on the long-running comic book Groo the Wanderer. Here’s Dennis hanging with Sergio.

Dennis Rogers with Sergio Aragonés

Sergio is a riot. “Shy and retiring” are words that do no apply. In fact, Aragonés seems to have no plans to retire at all! He was inking Groo pages while he talked, and it was a lot of fun watching him work. I’m very familiar with Sergio’s cartooning over the years and the art he’s doing now is stunning, especially when seeing his originals.

Sergio Aragonés Banner For Groo

The Mr. A Cookie

I’m back from NYC, and in an upcoming post I’ll have something VERY special to tell you about the trip, but first I want to show you a cookie I got in Penn Station at a wonderful bakery/eatery called Zaro’s.

Zaro's Black & White Cookie

I hope Steve Ditko knows about this, because it could be called the Mr. A cookie! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll have to watch the first two minutes of this part of the superb program In Search of Steve Ditko.

Dog Rat In New York

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.

Digi-Comp 1 — The First Home Computer

When I was a kid, it bothered me that most people were more interested in the ads in comic books than in the stories. Most of what was sold was junk, of course — the notorious X-Ray Specs for example — but once in a while a legitimately interesting product was offered. So, in acknowledgment of that, here’s an ad from a 1967 Marvel comic book. It’s the Digi-Comp 1!

If not exactly the first home computer, the Digi-Comp 1 was a working binary counting machine. Here’s a Digi-Comp 1 in action, counting from 0 to 7 in binary. It’s even done twice, in case you miss it the first time. 😉

Exciting, huh? But compared to the comic book ad the Digi-Comp 1 must have been a disappointment. First, there’s nothing electronic about it, and the atomic symbol would seem to imply it’s nuclear in some way. But at least the Digi-Comp 1 is described accurately as being a “mechanical analog of a binary computer.”

I hope the person who wrote the ad copy didn’t use a Digi-Comp 1 to figure out the price, because it’s listed first at $4.99, then in the coupon at $4.98. Oh well, they didn’t claim “down to the penny precision!”

The Digi-Comp 1 has, as you might expect, something of a cult following. Original units are often auctioned in eBay, and there is a replica of it available at Minds on Toys.

Joe Sinnott Interview — October 15, 1977

Joe Sinnott is one of the greatest comic book inkers of all time. Actually, he’s the greatest. No finer hand has ever held pen and brush. I’ve been a fan of Joe’s work for over 40 years. Thirty years ago, when Joe made an appearance at a Boston comic book convention, I called him “a God of the industry,” and he still is.

Being a radio announcer at the time, I had access to a good quality portable tape recorder, making it possible for me to record an impromptu interview with Joe and a group of enthusiastic fans, including my best buddy, Dennis F. Rogers. Out of half an hour of tape I’ve spliced together a couple of clips.

In this part of the discussion, Joe Sinnott comments on comic books. That’s me asking the first question, sounding overly hyperbolic and just plain hyper.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/OCT07/JoeSinnott.mp3]

And in this segment, Joe talks about being a lifelong fan of Bing Crosby, who had died the day before this recording was made! That’s Dennis asking Joe about his hobby.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/OCT07/SinnottOnCrosby.mp3]

In retrospect, Dennis and I have always kicked ourselves for not spending the entire time talking with Joe about Bing, because we were plenty interested in the subject, and it was what he wanted to talk about. In recognition of Joe Sinnott, Der Bingle fan, here is Bing from one of Joe’s favorite periods, the early 30’s, singing “Pennies From Heaven.”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/OCT07/PenniesFromHeaven.mp3]

Additional Note: This recording of “Pennies From Heaven” came from a 1973 German LP that I own. D.F. Rogers, an amateur but highly proficient musicologist, believes this performance is most likely the original version, recorded for the Decca label on August 17, 1936.