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.
Here’s me last Sunday at the Albany Comic Con, with Denro and the Sinnott boys — Joe, his son Mark, and grandson Trevor. It was great seeing Joe getting around with no trouble at all, since his hip replacement surgery. I treated everybody to dinner and we all had a great time!
Joe is a lifelong fan of the Giants baseball team, going back to their years in New York, so he was very happy with their win against the Phillies last Saturday night. Joe’s mother’s uncle was John McGraw, which explains his continued loyalty to the Giants after they moved to San Francisco in 1957. Tonight they play the Texas Rangers in game 1 of the World Series. Friends who know Dennis as a loyal Boston Red Sox fanatic, and not a comic book fan, will be shocked to see that he donned a Giants cap! This proves that Dennis is second to none in his admiration and appreciation of Mighty Joe Sinnott. Considering how much I admire the man, that’s saying something!
Denro and I are in Albany at a one-day comic book show. Marvel Comics legend Joe Sinnott is here, for his first appearance since having hip replacement surgery. Joe’s looking great and getting around all right.
Denro, who should be on his way back from a comic book convention in New York, sent me a promo for a new Broadway musical that has both of us asking, “what is this?” Just when you would be expecting to see Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, or Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, we get Spider-Man??
With a score by Bono, and direction by Julie Taymor, the production certainly has credentials, but the fanboy in me can’t help but wonder if they drew some inspiration from Spider-Man’s 1972 Rockomic…!
Heard some bad news on my birthday. Yesterday, Mark Sinnott posted a message on the site he runs for his dad, the legendary Marvel Comics artist Joe Sinnott:
On Thursday, Sept. 9th, my dad received some bad news from his doctor that he has a broken hip and would need hip replacement surgery, Friday Sept. 17th. For the past 6 weeks, Joe has had severe pain in his left leg. 2 x-rays taken a week apart revealed a “slight” crack in the bone. For the past week Joe has been using a walker to get around. An MRI taken on Wednesday confirmed the broken hip. They say that it appears to be from degenerative bone, as he never fell. After surgery, Joe will have a 4 day stay in the hospital, followed by 1-2 weeks in a rehab center and 2-3 weeks supervised (not left alone). That’s if all goes according to schedule. It could be longer. Joe will still need a walker or cane to get around after all is said and done. If anyone would like to send Joe a get well wish after his surgery, please send them to the address below.
Thank you,
Mark Sinnott, Sept.10,2010
send cards to:
Joe Sinnott
PO Box 406
Saugerties, NY 12477
Here’s an example of Joe’s work, scanned from the original art. In the hands of a master like Joe Sinnott, india ink on paper is a beautiful thing. As you can see, Joe never takes shortcuts, and even when he was busy working full-time to support his family, he never rushed through a job to get it done, just so he could get to the next assignment.
Some years ago, Joe broke the shoulder of his drawing arm while visiting his old pal, writer Mickey Spillane, creator of “Mike Hammer” (Spillane died in 2006), but he came back from that injury to do work that’s as great as ever. Joe was scheduled to be in Boston for a comic book show in October. Dennis and I were really looking forward to seeing Joe and Mark, and now it’s very doubtful we’ll get to do that. But that doesn’t matter, because what we want is for Joe to get through the surgery and get well. You’re the greatest, Joe!
