I’m back home from my visit to Saugerties, and I sure hope I didn’t give Joe Sinnott my cold! Today I had the great pleasure and honor of spending time with Joe in his studio.
Here’s a rarity — Stan Lee original art! Stan sent this hand-made card to Joe for his birthday some years back.
My thanks to Mark Sinnott for the invitation to Joe’s open house at the Dutch Ale House, and thanks to Joe, Mark, and the Sinnott family for their hospitality this weekend.
What a great day (despite having a bad cold)! D.F. Rogers and I are in Saugerties, NY, hometown of Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, the greatest ink man the comic book business has ever had. Joe held court at an open house in his honor at the Dutch Ale House. I was Joe’s cab driver to the event, which was arranged by Joe’s son Mark, and what a great turnout! Every time the line in front of Joe started to thin out, another group came in and Joe was kept busy at his table, signing autographs and chatting with fans and pros alike, for nearly four hours.
Here is Joe with comic book artist Walt Simonson, and his wonderful wife Louise, a writer who is affectionately known in comics fandom as “Weezie.” On the right is Joe with his surviving siblings.
This was how the scene looked before it got really busy. On the right is Joe Staton, who recently took over as artist on Dick Tracy, and with him is inker Terry Austin, whose work is second only to that of Joe himself.
Mark Sinnott has announced that his dad, Marvel Comics legend Joe Sinnott, will have some of his fantastic art on display at the Dutch Ale House in Joe’s hometown of Saugerties, NY. The opening for the two-month showing will be next Sunday, February 20 at 3 pm, and I’m hoping to be there with D.F. Rogers, esq. Denro has done an incredible job of locating issues of comic books for Joe that he worked on decades ago, where Joe had only the story title on file because the publisher didn’t have a specific issue in mind for the assignment.
Mark is the world’s biggest Jethro Tull fan, and at this moment one of Ian Anderson’s flutes is in orbit on the International Space Station, with astronaut Catherine Coleman.
Lynn Johnston’s “modern classic” family comic strip, For Better Or For Worse (It’s not “For Better Or Worse”!), is in reprints, and the Boston Globe, which I still get as a newspaper, carries it. Since Lynn isn’t producing new daily strips, on her web site she writes comments about the old ones. Tuesday, she explained that she will soon be the age that Charles Schulz was when she met him. Lynn says that she’ll be speaking at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, and she mentions that she stays in touch with Jeannie Schulz. Jeannie can be heard in this recent audio interview. (And, no, I didn’t forget Monte Schulz’s birthday on February 1. I wished him well on Facebook.)
[audio:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Feb/Airtalk_CharlesSchulz.mp3|titles=KPCC: The Legacy of Charles Schulz]Last September, Lynn did a video podcast interview. You’ll find it here in six parts.
Denro points out this short but super-duper Superman cartoon by animator Robb Pratt. Can’t say I’m a blood relation, but I’m glad there’s somebody keeping the Pratt name in the business, since the death of Hawley Pratt.
Denro points out that comic book artist Joe Staton has illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem. I’ve read The Fountainhead, and every single page of Atlas Shrugged too (well, maybe I skipped a few in John Galt’s redundant 60-page diatribe), but I have never read Anthem. Amazon has it for only $8.44 — less than the Kindle version.
Joe’s a busy guy, because he’s taking over the art chores for the classic comic strip Dick Tracy, although I’m sure for Joe it won’t be a chore, but a labor of love. I’m loving the revamped look. Bring back the Moon Maid and the flying garbage cans!
