Category: Cartooning

A guy named Joe

Mark Evanier has a post with this video interview with the great Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, the finest ink man there ever will be in comic books. Original art that has been graced by the Sinnott touch is a thing to behold.

Interview with comics legend Joe Sinnott, Part 1 from The Comic Archive on Vimeo.

Joe talks about the work his son Mark has done cataloging all of his published work. Denro has done a lot to find copies of all those comics, including Joe’s unsigned stories, for Joe and Mark.

Joe goes into some technical detail about his preferred tools of the trade, which is a treat for me, a wannabe cartoonist from long ago. Joe has praise for the former quality of Strathmore paper, which used to be made at a now-closed mill on the Westfield River, in Massachusetts. Knowing that comic books were drawn on Strathmore paper was one of the reasons why I decided to attend Westfield State College.

Here I am in Joe’s home studio, where he produced the finished art for some of the finest Marvel Comics ever done. I’m holding up two Alley Awards that Joe won for his work on the Fantastic Four.

They bopped, they dropped, they’re back

It’s been over 20 years since Bop ‘Til You Drop, the first and, until now, only collection of Arlo & Janis comic strips. Beaucoup Arlo & Janis is here, and it’s worth the wait!

Every phase of the comic strip’s development is represented in Beaucoup Arlo & Janis. If you feel, as I do, that Gene’s early romances are as essential to the strip as his parents’ relationship, you will be as pleased as I am with the book.

I got my copy on pre-order, and now that the book is out it can be ordered at this link. You’ll find almost 1000 daily comic strips on over 250 pages. They’re in black and white, and that’s how Jimmy can sell these hardcover books — printed in Canada, not China, by the way — for only twenty five bucks.

A great job, Jimmy! Your fans know how hard you worked to put this together and make it a reality, and we thank you.

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!