I took a break from blogging on October 15. The next day would have been Joe Sinnott’s 95th birthday. Having let the occasion get past me, I’ll make up for it now.
This photo was inscribed by Joe to Stan Lee in 2012. Stan kept it in his office until he passed away, three years ago yesterday. Joe first worked for Stan in 1951.
Joltin’ Joe Sinnott’s granddaughter Erin has been posting a very enjoyable weekly series of video Q&A’s with Joe on his Facebook page. Joe’s fans and friends know that he’s a big fan of Bing Crosby, and this week’s question comes from a fellow Der Bingle fan, who’s none other than my co-conspirator in fanboy endeavors, Dennis F. Rogers.
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Joe’s praise for Bing singing the plaintive Hang Me, Oh Hang Me makes it deserving of a listen, so here it is.
[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2012/12/BingCrosby.mp3|titles=Bing Crosby – Hang Me Oh Hang Me]I’m pleased no end that Joe Sinnott also has a connection to the Beatles, because when they came to America in 1964, Joe had the distinction of being picked to illustrate the authorized comic book of their story…
… and here’s Joe talking about drawing the Beatles. A couple of years later he would be in the thick of his legendary run with Jack Kirby on The Fantastic Four.
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At the request of Mark Sinnott, I scanned a picture of the original, unedited cover to Journey Into Mystery #83 that his dad, Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, inked over Jack Kirby’s pencil art, for the first appearance of The Mighty Thor. Hover over the color picture to see how the illustration looked on Joe’s drawing table. Click here to see the scan I’m sending to Mark.
A point of particular interest to Silver Age comic book fans is the fact that the figures of the alien stone men were removed (undoubtedly at Stan Lee’s direction) during post-production, after Joe had inked them and turned in the finished job. Later, another comic book inker, who I shall not name, took it upon himself to sometimes erase background figures from Jack Kirby’s penciled pages, rather than ink them.
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.
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!
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!
