Brush Strokes With Greatness: The Life & Art of Joe Sinnott

Brush Strokes

With With

Greatness

THE LIFE & ART OF

by Tim Lasiuta

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Acknowledgements Brush Strokes With Greatness: The Life and Art of Joe Sinnott

by Tim Lasiuta Book Design & Production by Jon B. Cooke Proofreading by Christopher Irving Published by TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com • twomorrow@aol.com First Printing • April 2007 • Printed in Canada Softcover ISBN: 978-1-893905-72-6 Trademarks & Copyrights Arrowhead, Annihilus, The Avengers, Captain America, Contest of Champions, Crystal, Devil-Dog Dugan, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Falcon, Fantastic Four, Galactus, Gorgon, The Hulk, Human Torch, The Inhumans, Invisible Girl, Kent Blake, Kid Colt Outlaw, Kid From Texas, Loki, Matt Slade, Mephisto, Mr. Fantastic, Ms. Marvel, Namorita, Nick Fury, Outlaw Kid, Rawhide Kid, Ringmaster, Sif, Silver Surfer, SpiderMan, Spider-Woman, Sub-Mariner, Super Pro, The Thing, Thor, Titano, Two-Gun Kid, Warriors Three, The Watcher, Wundar ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Clark Kent, The Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League of America, Lois Lane, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Wonder Woman ©2007 DC Comics Conan ©2007 Conan Properties, Inc. John Carter of Mars © ERB, Inc. The Shadow ©2007 Condé Nast. Terry and the Pirates ©2007 Tribune Syndicate.

The Phantom ©2007 King Features.

Gawain, Mopsy, Trudi ©2007 the respective copyright holders.

Table of Contents DEDICATION In Memory of Betty Sinnott by Mark Sinnott ..................................................................6 INTRODUCTION Stan the Man & Jovial Joe by Stan Lee ........................................................................7 WORD FROM THE WATCHER In the Beginning ..................................................................................8 CHAPTER ONE Out of School and Into Print........................................................................................9 CHAPTER TWO Enter Stan Lee ..........................................................................................................21 Found Treasure The Treasure Chest Comics Years ........................................................................33 Junior Effort Working for Classics Illustrated ..............................................................................41 COLOR GALLERY ................................................................................................................................49 CHAPTER THREE The Fantastic Four and Beyond ..............................................................................57 The Lost Superman/Spider-Man Pages by Terry Austin ..........................................................76 CHAPTER FOUR With One Single Panel ............................................................................................78 Sinnott Strips ..............................................................................................................................82 CHAPTER FIVE Penciler Up! ..............................................................................................................86 CHAPTER SIX A Thing for Bing..........................................................................................................88 CHAPTER SEVEN Appreciations: Speaking of Joe… ..........................................................................92 CHAPTER EIGHT Pin-Up, Anyone? ..................................................................................................111 CHAPTER NINE While Bing Gently Sings ........................................................................................116 SINNOTT GALLERY ..........................................................................................................................121 CHECKLIST Joe Sinnott Comicography............................................................................................124 AFTERWORD Just A Guy Named Joe by Mark Evanier ....................................................................128 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................130 SPECIAL THANKS ............................................................................................................................131 A MESSAGE FROM THE ARTIST From Joe, With Love ..................................................................132

Dedication by Mark Sinnott

In Memory of Betty Sinnott his book is dedicated in memory of my mother Elizabeth (Betty) Sinnott (March 7, 1932 - November 1, 2006). She was truly a great woman that stood in the shadows behind her family giving strength to it, but never asking for much in return. My mother was always at my father’s side, not only at home, but at comic conventions and events. She could be found engaging in pleasant conversation with the many fans and artists as well. If you ever had the pleasure to meet Betty, you would know what a truly special person she was.

As I was always referred to as my dad’s librarian, mom was his secretary, waitress, and delivery person. If you needed to get in touch with Joe, you had to go through Betty first. She was the one that always answered the phone and went into the post office to send off my father’s artwork (while he sat in the car listening to Bing Crosby). While my father toiled on page after page of comics, my mom would spend countless hours shooting baskets in the backyard with me. If it was not for her I wouldn’t have been as good a basketball player as I became. Mom had a great outside shot!

My mother always stressed the importance of family, spending countless hours with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren whom she lovingly adored. As do all that knew her, I miss her tremendously and love her immensely.

T

PREVIOUS PAGE: Doctor Doom pin-up by Joe Sinnott. Doctor Doom ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

INSET RIGHT: Betty Sinnott in 1962.

BELOW LEFT: Joe and Betty Sinnott at their wedding, 1950.

BELOW MIDDLE: Joe and Betty Sinnott at a comic book convention in the 1990s.

BELOW RIGHT: Joe and Betty Sinnott at a 1970s comic con (All photos courtesy of the Sinnott Family.)

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Mark Sinnott January 2007

Introduction by Stan Lee

Stan theMan and Jovial Joe et’s get one thing straight right off the bat. If Joe had done this book without allowing me to write a brief intro for him, I’d never talk to him again!

To say that it was a pleasure working with Joltin’ Joe for more years than I can count would be a monumental masterpiece of understatement. The guy is so competent, so talented that it’s almost scary. If he has any weaknesses as an artist, I’ve never discovered them. His penciling is superb and, as an inker, he’s truly in a class by himself.

As a matter of fact, he used to cause me a ton of trouble when I was editing at the ol’ Marvel Bullpen. Other pencilers used to hurl all sorts of dire threats at me if I didn’t make certain that Joe, and only Joe, inked their pages. I knew I couldn’t satisfy everyone and I had to save the very most important strips for the master’s ink-soaked brush. To most pencilers, having Joe Sinnott ink their artwork was tantamount to grabbing the brass ring.

I suppose one reason Joe was such a great inker is the fact that he was also such a terrific artist. He seemed to sense exactly what the penciler had in mind when drawing a panel and he embellished it in such a way as to actually enhance the original penciling and exceed the penciler’s expectation.

As if that isn’t enough, Joe is also just about the pleasantest, most cooperative guy you’ll ever meet or ever be lucky enough to work with. I don’t remember him ever missing a deadline or complaining because an assignment was too difficult—and believe me, I gave him plenty of difficult ones because I knew he could handle them better than anyone else.

Well, that’s about it. I don’t want to sound as though I’m trying to convince you that the guy is flawless. But, y’know something? If he’s got any flaws, as an artist or a human being, he’s managed to keep them hidden from me.

L

PREVIOUS PAGE: Joe Sinnott (left) and Stan Lee, 1995. Stan’s inscription reads: “Joe—You’re a really great penciler—a really great inker—but best of all—a really great guy!

Excelsior! Your pal, Stan.”

Photo courtesy of the Sinnott family.

So here’s to Joe Sinnott, one of the truly greats of comicdom. And may you enjoy beholding the magic of Joe’s artwork in this book as much as I’m certain he enjoyed crafting it.

Excelsior!

Stan Lee

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A Word from the Watcher

In the Beginning...

“I am the Watcher, guardian of a thousand worlds and countless sentient life forms. Universes have passed away before my eyes, and galaxies born while I observe, and learn. Many are the chroniclers of my observations, and many are the visualizers. Of these, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott have pleased me with their tellings of our encounters...

“Of Sinnott, I could tell you much. Born in the Catskill Mountains, Saugerties, New York, on your planet in the United States, October 16th, 1926, to Catherine and Edward Sinnott. He was, as you Earthlings say, a precocious child. Athletic, artistic, and hard working, he was destined for greatness...

“I leave you now to explore Brushstrokes With Greatness: The Life and Art of Joe Sinnott.”

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LEFT: Panel detail from Fantastic Four #113, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Joe Sinnott.

The Watcher ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Chapter One

Out of School and Into Print oe Sinnott got his early professional art education at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in the late 1940s. But his interest in art had started years before that.

“My mom had run a boarding house in Saugerties, where many local teachers would stay. At the tender age of three, in 1929, one of the teachers gave me a box of crayons with a decorated top, and after that, I drew all the time. Whatever I could find, I’d draw on [it].

“One of our boarders, a German cook named Bill Theison, used to draw on his clothes at night. When he finished, his pants looked like an artist’s sketch pad filled with cowboys, Indians, and soldiers of various types. He inspired me to draw whatever I could, as often as I could. And, like many of the kids at the time, I loved the comic strips in the local papers. As a young man, I copied as many of them as I could.

Terry and the Pirates, Smilin’ Jack, Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon were my favorites at the time, and I learned so much from them about art, or at least I thought I did.”

J

“A GREAT TIME TO BE A KID!” The late 1930s was a time of cultural explosion.

Big Little Books, with content culled directly from the comic strips, were everywhere! Comic books first appeared in 1934 and, when Action Comics #1 rocked the world in 1938, the invasion had started. Movie serials from Republic Studios brought heroes to life on the big screen. The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Dick Tracy entertained children in theatres week after week. Joe Sinnott was no exception.

“Believe it or not, Superman was not my favorite character as a child. I leaned more towards Congo Bill (from Action Comics #1) because he was similar to Jungle Jim by Alex Raymond. As kids, my friends and I ate up the serials. Our dimes sure went a long way! A main feature, and a movie serial chapter… If we were lucky, a

cartoon, too. Of course, radio drama at the time was no slouch either. [It was] the Golden Age of Radio, the Golden Age of Hollywood (and movie serials), and the Golden Age of Comic Books, even though we didn’t know it. It was a great time to be a kid!”

High school was no different for Joe. “I was still drawing in high school. So much so, that I was the art director for our class yearbook.

In our school there were only two art classes, Representation and Design, so I had to learn anatomy from the comic strips.

That’s where [Flash Gordon artist] Alex Raymond and [Wash Tubbs artist] Roy Crane were so instrumental. I loved their work then, and still do.”

PLAYING BALL “I had come out of the Navy in 1946 after serving with the Fighting Seabees over on Okinawa during the war.

And when I came out, I knew I wanted to go to art school, but I was piddling around. You know, I loved playing ball. I was playing baseball and working up in a limestone quarry. The winter of ’48 was one of the worst in New York

ABOVE: Joe Sinnott, 1932.

LEFT INSET: Is it Jungle Jim or Congo Bill? Joe Sinnott drawing from 1941.

BELOW: The Sinnott Family in 1931. Art & photos courtesy of the Sinnott family.

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“Gridiron” Joe Sinnott in 1946.

Joe Sinnott, 1947 M&F All-Stars Baseball, Saugerties, NY.

Joe Sinnott, U.S. Navy Seabee, 1945.

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Joe Sinnott, high school senior portrait, 1944.

State history. It got to be 30 below zero for weeks on end, so I finally decided it was time to pack up and go to an art school with a nice warm classroom and draw pictures. And, of course, the G.I. Bill was very, very beneficial. I couldn’t have done it, as most veterans couldn’t have, without the G.I. Bill,” Joe said.

INTO THE BIG CITY “So, in March of 1949, I went down to the Cartoonists and Illustrators School to see if I could make it. Living in upstate New York, I was around 100 miles north, [and] I traveled down with my little samples. (By ‘samples’ I mean copied strips of Flash Gordon and Terry and the Pirates.

There were other pieces, too, but those were the most commercial.) Naturally, I was a little apprehensive. I didn’t think they were good enough for them to accept me into the school. When I showed them to [CIS head] Silas

Rhodes, he said, ‘I’ve got to show these to [CIS head instructor Burne] Hogarth.’

And so he went in and I didn’t see Hogarth that day, but he came back and he said Hogarth thinks these things are terrific for a guy that supposedly never had any training. I thought they were pulling my leg. I thought they had trouble getting students and they wanted to make sure I went to the school, so they were buttering me up. Well, anyway, Hogarth thought they were great and, of course, looking back on them now, they were pretty pitiful.

But, it was enough for me to get into the school.”

LEFT INSET: Sketch of the Hollywood actor John Wayne drawn by Joe Sinnott while in high school (1942).

CARTOONISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS SCHOOL When the Cartoonists and Illustrators School was new, it catered primarily to veterans interested in pursuing cartooning and illustration. Today, the school — now

BELOW: 1944 high school yearbook art by Joe Sinnott.

Art & photos courtesy of the Sinnott family.

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ABOVE: Joe Sinnott and Burne Hogarth, 1974.

INSET RIGHT: Caricature of the legendary Burne Hogarth

by Joe Sinnott, 1949. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

INSET BELOW: 1944 drawing by Joe. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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called the School of Visual Arts — has expanded into an internationally successful multi-media, multi-disciplinary facility with an excellent reputation. When Joe entered the halls as an enthusiastic student...

“There was Silas Rhodes, Burne Hogarth, and, of course, Tom Gill was one of the original instructors, too. I remember the first day of school, when Burne Hogarth came around to talk to all the new students and he said, ‘Now I don’t want you to think that cartooning is an easy job. It’s one of the hardest jobs in the world, and you’re going to have to really produce and be dedicated and conscientious.’ And it was that way. You just don’t succeed unless you work hard. You have to keep at it and at it and keep drawing, which is what I did.

When I came home from school at night, I would sit there ’til I was just about ready to drop and just draw all the time. You had to.

But that’s what Tom instilled in me, I think, and he set a good example by the prodigious work that he did put out—and he worked weekends.

“Of course, I always believed that you have to stop and smell the roses, too. But when you’re young, you burn the candle at both ends, and you’re enthused about what you’re doing, and you don’t want to leave the drawing board, you know? You’re having too much fun, and I was!”

“I lived at 75th Street and Broadway at the time; I had a little apartment and I would do the work there.

[Broadway star] Fanny Brice owned the building, and she was good to me. I could use the kitchen, and the laundry. I could get a coffee and a donut for breakfast real cheap, and the big city newspapers, The Daily News and The JournalAmerican, cost two cents a copy and came out at night! It was sure a different time, but no more difficult than now. I worked hard, and over the years it sure paid off.

“The faculty of the school was very good at bringing in professional artists for us to learn from. In my first year, they brought in Milton Caniff, who, at the time was probably my all-time hero. He came in and did sketches for us on an easel. That was incredible. Today, comic fans can go to conventions and meet their favorite artist, but back then, this was an amazing honor for all of us. I think I learned a lot from that day, and whenever a fan comes up to me, I remember that this is an important meeting that he will remember for many, many years.”

WORKING WITH GILL Tom Gill was one of the original instructors at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School.

Prior to his joining the faculty, he had worked on the New York Tribune, moving his way up from copy boy in the

1930s to the art correction department, and finally achieving acclaim with “the map that went around the world.”

Tom was alone in the production room when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and his map appeared in thousands of newspapers. His newspaper strip, Flower Potts, ran two years and propelled him into a professional freelance career. Joining the school in 1948, Tom taught Continuity Art and continued his association with SVA until his death in 2005, in addition to producing The Lone Ranger and other titles for Dell Comics.

“Tom Gill [also] gave me my start. He liked my work when I was a student and he asked me if I would like to be one his assistants. He lived out at Rockville Center, Long Island, and he was a prodigious worker. He’d teach all day

at school, five days a week, and then he’d work at night and weekends. He had many accounts: Timely (which eventually became Marvel), at Fawcett, and at Dell, and he had other accounts. He even had a comic strip in the newspapers. So he was a hard worker and he couldn’t have been more generous to the people that worked for him.”

A TIMELY MOVE “I worked about nine months with Tom, and I always felt a little bad that I left Tom. I was still in school, and it got to the point where I was doing most of Tom’s work. We were working on a story for a book for Marvel — well, I should say Timely — called ‘Kent Blake, Detective’ and I was doing the whole thing: the penciling, the inking. And so it got to a point where—I had been married at that time, in August of 1950, and I said to Betty, ‘You know, I’m doing all of Tom’s work.’ I said, ‘Gee, Stan can’t turn me down because he’s accepting all the work we bring in.’ So I

INSET LEFT AND ABOVE: Joe Sinnott ghosts for Tom Gill on these Kent Blake of the Secret Service splash pages for Atlas Comics, early 1950s. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

LEFT: Joe Sinnott at art school with classmates Frank Murphy and John Bulthuis, 1949.

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SPREAD: Various Sinnott sketches from the 1940s. All art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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ABOVE: Cartoon by Joe Sinnott, 1943. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

BELOW AND INSET RIGHT: Mopsy #12 cover and splash page of Joe Sinnott’s first published comic book art, “Trudi, The Heavy Weight,” from the same issue. ©1950 St. John Publishing.

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went over to see Stan and he gave me a script right away (‘The Man Who Wouldn’t Die’), and Tom and I remained friends through our whole careers. Of course, Tom just died recently— there wasn’t a nicer person on earth than Tom Gill.”

CASUALTY OF WAR “I was not the only assistant Tom had either; he had another student that was working, a fellow named Norman Steinberg, who drew very good horses. He was an Army veteran from the Battle of the Bulge, and he had some problems. Today they would call it Post-traumatic [Stress] Syndrome. He hung himself, and Tom took it pretty hard. He had a heart of gold. I learned more working with Tom than I really did in

school because I was applying myself to actual comics from the scripts that were written by Stan’s writers.”

IN GOOD COMPANY “My early education at the school was a wonderful time. There were a lot of veterans thanks to the G.I. Bill, and a lot of them were there—not to say they were goofing off, but it was an enjoyable school, believe me. What’s more fun than drawing pictures? I did go to school with many students who finally made it into comic books too, as I later found out. Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, Steve Ditko, and John Verpoorten also attended the Cartoonists School after I did. Many of the guys were very serious and they did manage to break into comics at that time. There were so many companies around, and fresh out of school, it was easier. I think even Al Williamson was a fellow student for a while, too, and we all know the quality of work he managed to produce over the years! So I was in good company all the way around.

“With Tom, we were working on stories for Dell and Timely in many different genres. Westerns, romances, and even adventure strips came our way. Red Warrior and Kent Blake are two that I remember well. Tom would do all of the heads, and we would do everything else. One of my classmates in school was Samm Schwartz, and he

mentioned that [St. John’s Publishing was] looking for artists who could do a little strip work, so I headed down there and they gave me a script. ‘Trudi’ was about a department store clerk in the vein of Millie the Model, and the five- or six-pager saw print in Mopsy #12. As a student in art school, being published while still in school was an amazing encouragement.”

ABOVE: Unfinished sample comic book page by Joe Sinnott, early 1950s.

INSET LEFT: 1943 sketch.

BELOW: Sample comic strip by young Joe Sinnott. All art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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THIS PAGE: Sample comic book page drawn (and hand-colored) by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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THIS PAGE: Studies by Joe Sinnott, early 1950s. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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THIS PAGE: Head shots by Joe Sinnott, 1949. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Chapter Two

Enter Stan Lee he comic racks and newsstands of the early 1950s were a wonderful place to linger.

Colorful images of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Lone Ranger, The Two-Gun Kid, Kent Blake, screaming horrific covers from EC, tantalizing images of The Ghost Rider and Gene Autry, alongside romance comics, drew young eyes back and forth. Pulp novels, lurid paperback covers, Amazing and Astounding, and celebrity tell-all magazines pulled readers of all ages and demographics into a world of fantasy and make-believe.

But comic books were the king, and a young Stan Lee, working for his uncle Martin Goodman at Atlas Comics was at the top of his game. Writing piles of stories for artists like Jack Keller, John Severin, Al Williamson, and Paul Reinman, another freelancer was always welcome.

Enter Joe Sinnott. By 1950, Joe was working with Tom Gill producing filler stories for Stan and Atlas Comics. And with Red Warrior and Kent Blake under his belt, Joe was ready to join the ‘big boys’ at Atlas.

T

guys are doing great work on those fillers for me.”

Joe just smiles. “I’d like to go freelance, on my own and work for Atlas/Timely, if you’ll have me. After all, I have done most of the Red Warrior book we just handed in. And Kent Blake is one of my jobs, too.”

Stan nods. “Well, in that case, I’ll give you a script…

Here, a short western called ‘The Man Who Wouldn’t Die’ [published in Apache Kid #8].

Bring it in when you’re done.”

And that was it. “I’ve known Stan for 56 years now, and still work with him on the Spider-Man Sunday strips, inking Alex Saviuk. I worked very hard to impress Stan on my first story for him.

Looking back on it now, I know I put a lot of time and

ABOVE: Splash page of first Sinnott-published Atlas work, Apache Kid #8. ©’07 Marvel Characters, Inc.

FOLLOWING BETTY’S ADVICE Imagine this scene if you will: Stan at his desk. Piles of legal pads to his left. Cup of coffee steaming at one edge near a half-eaten sandwich, telephone at the other edge. Behind him, on a table, stacks of artwork ready to be proofed and lettered. A knock comes at the door.

“Come in,” Stan says.

A tall, well-dressed artist enters. He offers his hand. “Mr. Lee, my name is Joe Sinnott. I have been working with Tom Gill as his assistant over the last few months.”

Stan looks up and smiles.

“Pleased to meet you, Joe. So, you are the guy who helps Tom! You

Professional comic book artist Joe Sinnott in his studio, circa 1950s.

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ABOVE: Atlas horror art

by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

effort into it, but now I think, ‘That’s a little stiff here and there. I should have done this, should have done that.’ But that’s the benefit of experience. For that time, I did my best and Stan took it and after I handed that job in, he gave the first of many more scripts,” Joe said.

Atlas/Timely comics were full of “filler” stories. The title characters had the main story, and the rest of the books were the short four-, five- or six-page tales Stan and his staff would punch out.

STAN LEE, SUPER-SCRIBE

INSET RIGHT: Ink study drawn by Joe Sinnott in the 1950s. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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“Stan is really an amazing writer. You should have seen him behind his desk. He’d take out yellow legal paper and he’d block it off, four or five or six panels, and he’d letter into the panels the balloon and the dialogue, and captions that he wanted. And, of course, then they typed it up into a script form. He did full scripts

for every story he wrote during the 1950s until the Comics Code Authority pushed the comic book industry into near bankruptcy and oblivion. He really is a prodigious, tireless worker,” Joe said.

The story of comic books is really the story of cultural change. Super-heroes ruled the comic racks as long as the reading public looked beyond themselves for inspiration during the war. When the soldiers came back from service, the allure of super-heroes faded, and Western comics surged as entertainers like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, and The Lone Ranger pushed the industry forward. Stan Lee, sensing the shift in popular trends, joined in with Western heroes with Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt, then later, with romance comics and the horror genre fueled by EC and Bill Gaines.

“Stan used to knock them out unbelievably—the Westerns, war stories, science-fiction and romance, just anything you could think of, trying to hit upon a trend that would sell. And, of course, we did have trends in the early ’50s, the Korean War being one. We drew an awful lot of war stories and of course, then the horror trend came on and EC really was responsible for the success of the horror books, and so Marvel tried to emulate them.

Horror was a lot of fun, actually. It really was. I loved doing cemetery scenes at night and you could really do a lot of blacks and it was just a fun thing. But then, some of the smaller companies went a little bit too far. They got too graphic, too gruesome, and they instituted the Comics Code.

“Looking back, stories like ‘Drink Deep Vampire’, ‘The Last of Mr. Mordeaux,’ ‘Cry Werewolf,’ and

Ink studies by Joe Sinnott, circa 1950s. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Joe Sinnott cover art, Battle #62 [1959]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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‘Only 12 Of Us May Live!’ stand out as really exceptional to me. Of course, there is always something that really sticks with you. It might be a hand [‘The Clutching Hand,’ Journey Into Mystery #78], or a story like ‘Only 12 Of Us May Live!’ or a great splash. The great thing about horror comics was that it allowed us to let loose as artists.”

ATLAS ARTIST With steady assignments from Atlas/Timely Comics, Joe effectively ended his schooling at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, and hung out his shingle as a freelance artist.

For the next few years, Joe worked exclusively for Atlas.

“I worked into a routine: Go into town, get an assignment, go home, finish the assignment, go back into town, get

another assignment. When I look back on that time, I am amazed at how much work I did for Stan. My son, Mark, has compiled a full listing of all the work I did, and I think the total was something like 1,300 pages just for Atlas!”

Joe’s stories made it into titles such as Adventures Into Terror, The Arizona Kid, Arrowhead, Astonishing Tales, Battle Front, Bible Tales For Young Folk, Gunsmoke Western, Journey Into Mystery, Men’s Adventures, Marvel Tales, Navy Action, Quick Trigger

ABOVE: Ink study by Joe Sinnott, circa 1950s. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

BELOW: Splash pages of science-fiction comic book stories drawn by Joe Sinnott for Atlas Comics in the 1950s. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Western, Red Warrior, Spellbound, Spy Thrillers, Tales of Suspense, Two-Gun Kid, and World of Adventure. Within the vast output of his early career, several characters stand out as ‘regular’ assignments.

Devil Dog Dugan, Arrowhead, Our Fighting Fleet, and Iron Mike McGraw saw action from Joe’s brushes.

and taught evenings five days a week. The lucky artists latched onto ‘respectable’ jobs in advertising, design, and well-paying freelance art.

Joe was one of those. Living up in Saugerties, his ability to pound the pavement looking for art jobs was limited. “I remember going up to DC Comics and talking with some editor who was not very nice. ‘You Marvel guys come over here and expect us to give you work, but when things are going good you act like we don’t exist!’ he told me. As I

THE WRATH OF WERTHAM

Atlas war comics drawn

by Joe Sinnott in the 1950s. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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The arrival of Frederic Wertham’s damning report on comic books and their influence on teenage rebellion reached its zenith with the Comics Code Authority. Publishers disappeared overnight, leaving artists scrambling for work. The comic racks were as deserted as a ghost town. Meanwhile, back at Atlas, Stan followed suit. He cut rates, then he stopped buying stories—and bankruptcy was not out of the question.

1957-58 was a bad time for Atlas Comics, but, out of the ashes....

Joe Sinnott emerged, more professional, more talented, and more determined to earn a living at his craft. Right after Atlas stopped buying stories, the artists and writers flocked to the remaining companies like National Periodical Publications (DC Comics), Dell, Treasure Chest, Archie, and Charlton Comics.

Many talented individuals like Johnny Craig left the business altogether.

Jerry Robinson, one of Bob Kane’s assistants, turned to the Cartoonists School

was leaving, someone else grabbed me and took a proper look at my work. He said it was pretty nice and told me to ignore the other editor.”

IN WITH VIN “Classics Illustrated (Gilbertson) gave me work also, and Vince Colletta called me up and we started doing romance stories for Charlton Comics.

“By the time the ink was dry in 1963, Vinnie and I had done over 600 romance stories for Charlton. It’s hard to believe that, really. Mark counted one day and he came up with over 2,700 pages of kissin’ and cuddlin’. It really was a tough art form, but having said that, the variety was good and I emerged a better artist from that time.”

Pages from an Atlas war comics drawn by Joe Sinnott in 1955, and laudatory telegram regarding same from editor/writer Stan Lee. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Splash pages from Atlas Western title Arrowhead drawn by Joe Sinnott in the 1950s, including unfinished page above. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Examples of Joe Sinnott’s Western comics work for Atlas in the 1950s. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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ABOVE: Two splash pages penciled by Joe Sinnott and inked by Vince Colletta published by Charlton Comics in the late 1950s/early ’60s. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

INSET RIGHT: Cover detail of Tales To Astonish #10 (July 1960), which contained “"I Was Trapped

By Titano, The Monster That Time Forgot," the first story penciled by Jack Kirby that was inked by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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“Vinnie Colletta was certainly one-of-a-kind. If you needed a story done, you could count on him to meet the deadline. I penciled over 2,500 pages of romance stories and Gorgo comics that Vince inked during the comic book lull in the late ’50s. Even though he worked for Marvel and DC throughout his career, he wasn’t the favorite inker of many pencilers because he often didn’t ink the story the way that the penciler had intended. Like Kirby, I worked with him for many years without actually meeting him in person. At the same 1975 Marvel convention where I met Jack for the second time, I met Vince for the first.

He was like a caricature! In a crowded ballroom, I picked him out of the crowd. He wore a white suit with a black shirt unbuttoned to the navel.

To top it off, he wore this huge gold medallion!”

THE DAWN OF MARVEL Timely/Atlas Comics was reborn as Marvel Comics in 1959. Joe Sinnott, by this time, was working with Vince Colletta at Charlton Comics full-time but, “Stan called up

and said he was back in business. I told him I’d come back. But now, comics had changed. The Comics Code had told us we couldn’t do certain things. We could not show ‘horror’ like we used to. One of my stories, ‘Sarah,’ was even used by Wertham as an example of why those books had to be banned! Westerns could no longer show direct violence like a soldier and Indian/ outlaw shooting at each other. One panel was the shot (without the target) and the second was now the dying. Speed lines could no longer imply force. Somehow we managed to keep going. We had to be more creative than the censors.”

MONSTERS ON THE PROWL Monster books were now the rage. The industry had gone through the super-hero, Western, romance and horror movements; now monsters were the main product at Marvel. Throughout the late 1950s, Atlas/Timely had disappeared, but titles edited by Stan Lee still appeared on the newsstands. Tales to Astonish, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, Journey Into Mystery, Worlds of Fantasy, Battle and Strange Worlds (with no publisher logo) featured work by veterans Jack Keller, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and Joe Sinnott. Reprints from the earlier Atlas titles, as well as some new stories, kept the company afloat.

The team of Kirby/Sinnott had not yet gelled, and actually, Joe had been doing most of his own penciling and inking for Stan. That was about to change.

Found Treasure

“One of my best accounts (other than Marvel of course) was with Treasure Chest. Their real name was Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, and my kids brought a copy home one day from school. I liked what I saw, and I was looking for work, so I shot off an art sample and they responded back very quickly.”

Treasure Chest Of Fun and Fact was published from 1946 to 1972 by publisher George A. Pflaum and later TS Dennison. Distributed in Catholic schools across North America, they contained inspirational stories of all types, from Saints, sports stars, and Catholic living to science and even modern history. Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, James Christiansen, Joe Orlando, Murphy Anderson, Bernard Baily, Jim Mooney, Bob Powell, and Joe Sinnott contributed art to a veritable ‘Treasure Chest’ of lost classics.

Joe’s first assignment was the story of Catholic poet Joyce Kilmer. He quickly followed it up with a variety of biographical books. “I drew Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, the

Popes, Eisenhower, Kennedy, MacArthur, and over 100 stories in total from 1961 to 1970.”

Not only did Joe illustrate biographies of historical figures, but he also drew stories like “Pettigrew For President” (Volume 19), “Archaeology, the Greatest Detective Story” (Volume 21), “Glen Canyon Dam” (Volume 22, #13), “Birth of the Telephone” (Volume 22, #10), the story of kites, fish, birds and animal tales, and even Houdini.

“The work was satisfying, and having to draw such a variety of books helped me develop as an artist and storyteller. One week I’d be doing a Fantastic Four, and the next, an astronaut for TC! Those were good days; my Marvel work may have made newsstands around the country, but my Treasure Chest art was in classrooms from Alaska to Mexico.”

ABOVE: Cover for Treasure Chest Vol. 18, #11 (Jan. 31, 1963) featuring contributors to the Catholic bi-weekly comic book. TC regular Joe Sinnott is the fellow under trombone attack. ©2007 the respective copyright holders.

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Examples of Joe Sinnott’s work for Treasure Chest in the 1960s. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

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Joe Sinnott’ penciled and inked this cover for Journey Into Mystery #50 [Nov. 1957]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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LET THE INKING COMMENCE “Stan called me up and this was, I think, ’61, and we were doing monster books in that period. Here again, we were looking for a trend, something that would sell, and Jack was great at doing the monster books. Jack always had to have an inker, and so Stan called me up. I had never inked anyone else at the time and he said, ‘Joe, I have a story that Jack penciled, but I can’t get anybody to ink it. Could you ink it for me?’ So I said, ‘Sure, Stan. Send it up.’ It was called ‘I Was Trapped By Titano, The Monster That Time Forgot’ [Tales To Astonish #10]. Later on, we did a story with a character called Pildorr. The stranger the name, the better the monster, I guess!

“Later, Stan asked me if I would ink a couple of Westerns for Jack Keller, which I did, too. We did ‘The Man From Fargo’ and ‘Beware the Gun Wizard’ in Kid Colt #90 together. He was such a terrific artist to work with. He had done Westerns for Stan from the early ’50s, too, on his flagship titles, and was so prolific.”

ENTER THE FF The introduction of the Fantastic Four in 1961 changed comic books forever. Prior to their appearance in November 1961, team books had been limited primarily to DC Comics. Challengers of the Unknown, the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics, and Justice League of America featured teams, but not like this one. The Justice League had debuted one year earlier in November 1960, and was changing the way fans looked at comics, but they were still the same super-heroes. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created a team with a monster, invisible woman, flaming boy, and stretchy scientist, who all struggled with rejection, prejudice and personal issues.

A few months later, SpiderMan appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15, and opened the floodgate of Marvel-created heroes. Then the mighty hammer Mjolnir jolted the heavens with Thor appearing in Journey Into Mystery #83. The Marvel revolution was coming.

FANTASTIC #5 “Before Stan called me to ink Jack on Fantastic Four #5, I never knew The Fantastic Four existed. I lived up here in New York, in the Catskill Mountains, and I never went down to the city at that time. I used to go down in the Fifties, but with more assignments, my time became very valuable. Every Friday, I’d bring my five- or six-page story down, because I penciled and inked everything in those days, and Stan would give me a new

ABOVE: Fantastic Four #1 [Nov. 1961] cover recreation

by Joe Sinnott, based on art

by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Sol Brodsky (inks). ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

INSET LEFT: Cover detail of Journey Into Mystery #83 [Aug. 1962], featuring the debut of The Mighty Thor. Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Joe Sinnott’ pencils and inks grace this Battle story about Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who had just taken power in January, 1959. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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A rare instance of Joe Sinnott both penciling and inking a Marvel super-hero tale: Journey Into Mystery #92 [May 1963]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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INSET RIGHT: Fantastic Four #5 [July 1962] cover (pencils by Jack Kirby, inks

by Joe Sinnott). This issue features the first teaming of Kirby and Sinnott on their most fondly-recalled collaboration, the FF. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

BELOW: Panel detail from Fantastic Four #5. Pencils

by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

script. I’d go home and start it on Monday and I’d finish it on Thursday and I’d bring it in Friday, and they’d repeat the cycle. So then it got to the point where I stopped going down to the city. Everything was done by mail and I didn’t know what books were coming out, even. I didn’t know who or what the characters were when Stan called me up one day and said, ‘Joe, I’ve got a book here by Jack Kirby.

I’d like you to ink it, if you could. I can’t find anybody to ink it.’ So I said, ‘Send it up.’

I didn’t even ask him what it was, so when it came in the mail, it was The Fantastic Four #5 and I was dumbfounded by the great art and the characters. The Thing, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Johnny were great.

“The issue [contains] Doctor Doom’s first appearance, and the Fantastic Four and Doom go back in history to become pirates. As a young Terry and the Pirates fan, Stan’s story was right up my alley. So I had a ball inking it.

I remember when I mailed it back, Stan called me. He said, ‘Joe, we liked it so much, I’m going to send you #6.’

“So he sent me #6, but I had committed myself — at that time, I had picked up another account at Treasure Chest magazine and this was a 65-page [serialized] story I was going to have to do on one of the Popes [“The Story of Pope XXIII”].

I had committed myself to it, so when I had started #6, I think I just did a panel or two. I had to send it back to Stan. I said, ‘Stan, I committed myself for this big story, and I have to do it.’ So that’s the reason I got off of The Fantastic Four right away.”

LO, THERE SHALL BE A RE-TEAMING Joe picked up where he left off in Fantastic Four #44 (November 1965), with “The Gentleman’s Name is Gorgon,” and it was the first of 48 consecutive issues inking Jack Kirby on the title. “I stayed on it right up to #92 (November 1969) and then I was really burned-out, and I called Stan. I said, ‘Stan, I’ve got to take a vacation.’ So I did, and Frank Giacoia did the next couple of issues. I came back with #95 and stayed until #102, which was Jack’s last issue for quite some time.”

The Fantastic Four run from #44 to #92 is one of the most fondly-remembered in comic book history, encompassing the introduction of some of Jack and Stan’s greatest creations. The Silver Surfer, Galactus, Gorgon, Black Bolt,

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Crystal, Karnak, Triton, and the Black Panther all arrived in a nineissue span (#44-52) and set the tone for the Lee/Kirby/Sinnott run.

MARVELING AT KIRBY

Junior Effort

“I remember getting Kirby pages in the mail during that time and marveling at them—not for too long, of course, because I did have to get to work and ink them. But, as nice as they were to look at, some pages would take more time. Jack did excellent work, all the time. Near the end of his life, when I got something of his to ink, it slipped a little, but I always managed to tweak it so no one saw the difference.

“Comic fans always remember Jack for his amazing machines, and larger-than-life panels and splash pages, and surprisingly, that made his art easier and faster to ink. As great as Galactus was, the sheer amount of detail Jack put into his armor made those stories more work, but definitely satisfying. Judging from the stories that have used Galactus since then, fans and writers must have liked what we did back then! Of course, that’s not the only highlight of that run either. The Silver Surfer went on to his own series, and the Inhumans have made their own mark on Marvel history.”

Joe Sinnott penciled and inked one story for Gilberton: Classics Illustrated Junior #554, “The Enchanted Deer” [Sept. 1958]. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

ABOVE: Splash panel from Fantastic Four #44. Pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Classics Illustrated is probably the least understood and most underestimated comic book series in the history of illustrated storytelling. The Gilberton Company produced original adaptations of classic novels and plays from 1941-62. A secondary Gilbertson line, Classics Illustrated Junior, adapted fairy tales and children’s stories.

Teachers scorned them, students loved them, but love them or not, they sold up to four million copies a month around the world!

Artists contributing to the series included Alex Blum, Jack Kirby, George Evans, L.B. Cole, Norman Nodel, Dik Browne, Rudy Palais, Pete Costanza, Kurt Schaffenberger, Sal Trapani, Joe Orlando, Graham Ingels, Al Williamson, Angelo Torres, Roy Krenkel, John Severin, Reed Crandall, Norman Saunders, Don Perlin, and Joe Sinnott.

“I only had time to do one Classics Illustrated. ‘The Enchanted Deer’ appeared in issue #554 (Sept. 1958). Based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, it was a delightful story similar to Hansel and Gretel.

I even did most of the fillers for that issue, too,” Joe recalled.

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ABOVE/INSET BELOW: Though they collaborated for years prior, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott didn’t meet in person until 1972! The photographs of the pair on this page are from 1975.

INSET RIGHT: Cover detail from Fantastic Four #50 [May 1966], with pencils by Jack Kirby and inks by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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“Believe it or not, even though Jack and I had worked together for quite some time (I mean, I had inked his work and mailed it back to Marvel), we had never met until 1972 at a convention in New York, and then again later in ’75. By the way, that convention re-united me with Stan, whom I hadn’t seen for almost 17 years, too! But, you know, I probably had worked with Jack for at least ten years, on and off, on different things before I met him. And I never talked to him, not once, on the phone, even though we did so many Fantastic Four issues as a team. He never called to say, ‘Joe, I’d like you to do this with this character or this panel,’ or, ‘Don’t do this,’ or, ‘I like what you’re doing.’ I never talked to him on the phone, never ever, all the time that we worked together all those years, and he never put a note on the borders for me — nothing.

I don’t think there could have been anybody that was more of a prodigious worker than Jack. I’m sure he worked seven days a week and he probably burned the midnight oil, too.”

The legacy of Jack Kirby is incredible. Not only are there 50 issues of The Jack Kirby Collector magazine, but almost every artist who touches the Fantastic Four or Captain America is influenced by his work. “Not only was he fast, but he was also versatile. He did westerns, romances, science fiction, war, newspaper comic strips, and even worked as an animator during the 1930s, too,” Joe commented.

“Even at DC Comics, he stood out as one of their most creative artists.”

THE MISSING FANTASTIC FOUR PAGES The departure of Jack Kirby from Marvel Comics in 1970 shocked comic fans. How could Jack leave Marvel? And then go over to DC Comics—the ‘enemy’? Whatever caused the rift between Stan and Jack sent waves through Marveldom.

Fantastic Four #102 marked the end of the Kirby era on the FF. Waiting in the wings were talented men like John

Examples of the Jack Kirby/Joe Sinnott art team on the Fantastic Four. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Joe Sinnott inks over Ron Frenz pencils on this Kirbyesque pin-up depicting The Fantastic Four. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Buscema, Rich Buckler, Keith Pollard, John Byrne, and later, Ron Frenz.

“One day this year (2006), I received a package from Marvel that included the equivalent of ten Jack Kirby Fantastic Four pencil pages in the mail. Some of the pages don’t have any panels on them, so I asked Marvel what they intended to do with the blank panels, and they said that they were going to have Ron Frenz fill them in, to complete the story. It was really a mixed bag of artwork, and they are calling it ‘the Lost Fantastic Four pages.’ It should see print in 2007 sometime if all goes well. I got them on Blue Line paper and, of course, it was supposed to have been around Fantastic Four #102 that Kirby had penciled it. Actually, I had inked quite a few of the panels back in those days, but I think that was the time when Kirby and Stan had a disagreement and Jack left Marvel to go to DC, and the pages went unfinished. Over the next few issues, they borrowed panels from #102 that Jack and I had done and put them in different books; when I say different books, they had one or two people working on them like John Buscema and people like that. Now, they want them finished the way it was intended.

“But it’s fairly interesting, the story that I’m working on. I’m certainly enjoying it because Jack penciled it in May of 1970. Can you imagine? Thirty-six years ago. And here I am, doing Fantastic Four again on unpublished art. I am rediscovering idiosyncrasies, like him not putting two eyes on the same plane, so I have to correct things like that

again. It really is fun. Inking Kirby really was a joy. His work was always so imaginative, and my job as an inker was to bring the best out. With Jack, that wasn’t too difficult.”

ABOVE: Doctor Doom pinup by Joe Sinnott.

BELOW: Marvel super-hero licensing art by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Captain America #110 [Feb. 1969] spread penciled by Jim Steranko and inked by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Pin-ups by Joe Sinnott. Thing, Nick Fury ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Journey Into Mystery #101 [Feb. 1964] splash page recreation. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Doctor Doom triumphs over Galactus(!) in this Joe Sinnott pin-up.©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Color Gallery

Pin-up art penciled, inked and colored by Joe Sinnott. Gawain ©2007 King Features.

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Kent Blake of the Secret Service is remembered — and penciled, inked and colored — by Joe Sinnott in this 2004 pin-up. Kent Blake ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

Over an extended period, Joe Sinnott produced imaginative covers for crossword puzzle magazines. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

Pin-up art penciled, inked and colored by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

Another Joe Sinnott crossword puzzle mag cover. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

As you will find out in the chapter “A Thing for Bing,” artist Joe Sinnott is wild about legendary crooner (and noted actor) Bing Crosby. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

Pin-up art. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

Yet another Joe Sinnott crossword puzzle mag cover. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

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Pin-up art penciled, inked and colored by Joe Sinnott.

All characters ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Pin-up art penciled, inked and colored by Joe Sinnott. All characters ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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In lieu of payment for an inking job, Joe Sinnott asked Jack Kirby to draw a pin-up for son Mark Sinnott. Thing ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Kirby & Sinnott.

Chapter Three

TheFantastic Four and Beyond ith the departure of Jack Kirby from Marvel Comics, The Fantastic Four fell into good hands.

“I continued to ink The Fantastic Four until the early #300s on a more casual basis. Having worked on it so long, I think I added a sense of continuity to the title that helped make it a fan favorite. Big John Buscema penciled The Fantastic Four for around 30 issues, and he was an amazing draftsmen to work with. He could draw anything. I had inked him on The Silver Surfer and The Mighty Thor before this, so I appreciated his talents already. His greatest comic book achievement was Conan, of course, with Roy Thomas for more than 20 years.

“Then along came Richard Buckler Sr. for a couple dozen issues. Rich’s art always reminded of a cross between Kirby and Buscema, and it worked very well with my inking once I got used to his pages. George Pérez, Keith Pollard, John Byrne, and Ron Frenz also worked on the title, too, over the next few years, each adding their own unique touch.”

W

BYRNE LONG NECKS “I remember when I first started working with John Byrne. He was very young at the time and he was still living in Canada and he did a Fantastic Four. They asked if I would ink a Fantastic Four that he did so when I got it — and, of course, John and I have become very good friends since then. John drew very long necks and I didn’t know whether to lower the heads or to erase the body. So, I had to erase the heads and lower them. I called up John and I said, ‘John, I’d like to offer just a little opinion. You’re making your necks too long…’ You see, John didn’t know he was making his necks long, and you could hear a pin drop. Then I told him, ‘You’re parting Johnny’s hair on the wrong side of his head.’ I tell you, you could hear a pin drop again. So it’s strange.

“When you work on The Fantastic Four for all those issues that I did, you draw Johnny’s hair parted on the left; then all of a sudden, when you get where it’s parted on the right, it throws you all off. I mean it’s amazing. But

John was one of the cleanest pencilers that I ever worked with. His pencils were immaculate.”

PÉREZ, MAN OF DETAIL

ABOVE: John Byrne (pencils)/Joe Sinnott (inks) Fantastic Four #209 [Aug. 1979]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

“George Pérez and I worked on a few issues of the Fantastic Four and other titles over the years. Even as a young artist, he was a great storyteller and his pencils showed just how much work he put into them. His panels were always so busy with detail, cross-hatching, checker-

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MAKING HIS MARK AT MARVEL

ABOVE: George Pérez pencils and Joe Sinnott inks this 1978 SpiderWoman pin-up. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

INSET RIGHT: John Carter, Warrior of Mars, is depicted in this FOOM pin-up by penciler George Pérez and inker Joe Sinnott.

Characters ©2007 ERB, Inc.

INSET FAR RIGHT: Incredible Hulk #284 [June 1983] cover art penciled by Al Milgrom and inked by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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boards, or something that made them a little more difficult to work on. I remember one time there was a sequence in the park: Sue was talking to Alicia or somebody, and he had a downshot on the scene, and you see all these pigeons, which they’re feeding.

The next panel, instead of having maybe a three-quarter shot of them, from the waist-up, which is regular storytelling practice, he had a whole other downshot, one that’s almost, but not quite, the same identical shot. I could have taken a stamp pad and made a copy of it; he’d drawn both in the same fine detail!”

By the early 1970s, Joe Sinnott’s mark was all over Marvel Comics. Other than his inking on The Fantastic Four, his touch could be found on almost every title. “I’d start working on The Defenders, get into a groove on the work, then be asked to ink someone else,” Joe remembered. Other professionals and fans noted that the “Marvel look” was due in large part to Joe’s inking and the remarkable consistency he provided, no matter who or how good the penciler was. “I always had a tough time saying no to Stan when it came to assignments.”

As Ron Frenz and Tom Defalco put it, “Back in ‘the day,’ you weren’t a Marvel guy until you were lucky to ‘pitch one’ to Mr. Joe Sinnott!” It must have been true because Marvel readers were treated to Sinnott finishes on some of the most successful Marvel series until his “retirement” in 1992.

A partial listing of titles Joe either did covers or interior art for reads like the Marvel Comics Hall of Fame, and the corresponding list of artists whose pencils he inked reads like a Who’s Who in the comic book world.

In no particular order, Joe embellished Nova, Ms. Marvel, Marvel Two-InOne, The Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, Daredevil, Conan, The Dazzler, Defenders, Devil Dinosaur, Ghost Rider, Incredible Hulk, The Invaders, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Marvel Treasury Edition, Rom, Amazing Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, The Thing, Thor, West Coast Avengers, and even The XMen! And you can’t forget the reprints of his earlier inks either! He ‘put to bed’ the roughs of Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, John Romita, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Al Milgrom, Ron Frenz, Ron Wilson, Rick Hoberg, Rich Howell, Jim

Mooney, José Delbo, Ross Andru, Howard Chaykin, Marie Severin, John Byrne, Dave Cockrum, George Pérez, Allan Kupperberg, Jim Starlin, Keith Pollard, Paul Ryan, Alex Saviuk, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, George Tuska, Dick Giordano… To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Is this a great artist before me… or what?”

A LASTING LEGACY Like a beautiful tapestry that hangs on the wall, the 1970s and 1980s represent the culmination of a satisfying career.

Imagine if you will, the tapestry that is Joe Sinnott’s comic book work from 1970-1992.

Chronologically arranged, the panels flow up, down, left and right, seamlessly joining in a lovingly hand crafted, cleanly delineated fabric with images of grandeur, grace, and gravitydefying beings. That is the legacy of Joe Sinnott.

Working out of his Saugerties studio, Joe rarely went into Marvel Comics’ offices in the city. He received scripts (when he penciled), and pencils and layouts for the work

ABOVE: Mighty Thor panel by the art team of Neal Adams (pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inker).

INSET LEFT: Thor #180 [Sept. 1970] splash page by the same collaborators. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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INSET RIGHT: Joe Sinnott shows off his inking work on a “Nick Fury” spread penciled by Jim Steranko from Strange Tales in the 1960s. Nick Fury ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

BELOW: Captain America #111 [Mar. 1969] spread by the spectacular art team of Jim Steranko (pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks). ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

he inked. Then off in the mail they would go when he completed the assignment. To use a baseball analogy, he was both the lead batter and the pinch hitter. “I was in the same situation as John Buscema. We both had lots of experience in the field, and when Marvel wanted a great team to kick-start a book, they used us. We did Nova and Ms. Marvel that way. Using the same logic, Jack and I continued to do covers for many Marvel books, to keep sales up for continuing series.”

THE “OLD-TIMER” AT MARVEL Of course, with his 20-plus years of experience at this point as penciler and inker, he was valuable to the art staff

as a resource and teacher to the up-and-coming artists who found themselves at Marvel Comics. “I was the old-timer at Marvel.

When guys like Jim Steranko, Barry WindsorSmith and Neal Adams handed their work in, I would tweak it just a little and point them in the right direction. Over time, the rookies have become legitimate professionals, each teaching a new generation in their turn.

“The Avengers was one book I loved doing. Not only did they include Captain America, The Scarlet Witch, Goliath, Hawkeye (one of my favorites), and The Vision, but the artists whose work I inked were outstanding in their own right.”

ARTISTS ASSEMBLE! Sinnott inked Barry Windsor-Smith in the classic Avengers #100 that featured anyone who ever was a member of the super-hero team. “As a young artist, Barry had a great reputation for doing stylistic work. He had been working on Conan and had begun to establish himself. Today, his dual career as a fine artist and comic book professional is a testament to his artistic growth. As much as it was a great opportunity for me, it was for him, too.

The book included so many different characters.”

Other artists graced by the Sinnott brush on The Avengers included Rich Buckler Sr., Don Heck, John Buscema, Allen Milgrom (19 issues), and Bob Hall. Joe worked with Al Milgrom for a memorable 23-issue run on The West Coast Avengers, as well.

“Al was a pleasant artist to work with. His pencils were very straightforward and easy to follow. As much as I enjoyed doing The Avengers, I enjoyed the West Coast Avengers even more. The covers he and I drew for the title were lots of fun for us, and many other comics featured our work.

“As soon as Jim Steranko joined Marvel, I started getting his jobs to ink.

His style was so unique and his early grasp of storytelling so exciting, it was both a joy and job to ink his pencils. But, wow, I remember working on Nick Fury and Captain America with Jim.” [Strange Tales #166-168, Nick Fury #1, Captain America #110, 111] THE GOOD CAPTAIN Captain America was Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s greatest creation. When Captain America burst onto the comic book scene in 1941, superheroes were everywhere.

Superman, Batman, The Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Captain Midnight, The Human Torch, and even Captain Marvel leapt off newsstands in glorious color.

“As a young boy at the age of 12 or 13, I remember reading Captain America and the whole concept of him. His costume was so… colorful and it represented just who he was.

During his early adventures, he fought the Nazis wherever they were, and later on, the Communists during the short-lived revival in the ’50s. Today, he is still very

ABOVE: Joe Sinnott inks Barry Windsor-Smith’s pencils on this page from The Avengers #100 [June 1972]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

INSET LEFT: Captain America and The Falcon pin-up by Joe Sinnott.

Characters ©2007 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Captain America #124 [Apr. 1970] splash page. Pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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popular with fans and still fights with passion. Another reason I liked Cap as a kid was Bucky. He was the sidekick everyone wanted. It’s real funny too, that just like Superman, Batman, Zorro, and almost every dual identity hero, he retreated to a less than super alter ego when he was not the hero. He was a goldbricker, and as a soldier, I could relate.”

SIMON & KIRBY, KIRBY & SINNOTT “Back then, artists weren’t identified in the comics,” Joe recalled. “But there were some artists whom I later learned the identity of, like Syd Shores, George Tuska, and John Romita who drew exceptional Captain Americas. I always like Syd Shore’s foreshortening and George Tuska’s work on Cap, too. Of course, Simon and Kirby were no slouches either, but Kirby and that Sinnott guy weren’t too bad, I hear. John Romita and Gene Colan did amazing work on the title in their runs, too. Gene and I did a few issues of Captain America (#116-124), a couple of which I consider to be my best work ever. The introduction of The Falcon is one of my favorite stories. Gene once told me that as much as he loved doing Captain America, he hated drawing the shield, and I can relate to that. It is tough to draw a perfectly round shield. In the 1940s, he had a more traditional shield, almost V shaped that was easier to draw I’m sure. But, hey, now his shield is round, so we drew it round.”

Working on Captain America in that time was challenging. “I did a few issues with Jack under Tales of Suspense, and went right from there to the regular book. As comic book history records, Jim Steranko drew issues #110 and #111, which I inked. I remember getting the work in the mail, and it was beautiful. The detail Jim put into his backgrounds was impressive. Of course, he was still trying to impress Marvel, and boy did he!

He certainly loved bricks, each and every one of them. But, as a professional, as much time as the detail cost me, I did my best to faithfully ink them. One part of me said, ‘This is beautiful,’

while the other side said, ‘This will take so long to do and I could be inking two pages a day, not one!’ That applied particularly to the double-page spreads, which he used so much.

Artistically, they are wonderful. The panoramic vision and emotional/physical impact of Cap and Bucky bursting onto the burial of Nick Fury is amazing. I must say, there are a couple of types of objects I don’t like inking, stagecoaches and motorcycles. Jim liked motorcycles… it was so clear he loved what he was doing, and he was putting his best possible work into

ABOVE: Silver Surfer pinup with pencils by Jack Kirby and inks by Joe Sinnott, late 1970s. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

INSET LEFT: Captain America pin-up.

Jack Kirby pencils and Joe Sinnott inks. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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‘enormous’. I was fortunate enough to have worked with him as much as I did, considering his remarkable short stint in comics.”

SURFER’S UP!

ABOVE: Beautiful Kirby & Sinnott splash page from Fantastic Four #72 [Mar. 1968]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

INSET RIGHT: John Buscema (pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks) cover art for Silver Surfer #1 [Aug. 1968]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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the pages, too. Fans could see it, and in pencil form, it was almost breathtaking. His work on Nick Fury was just as charged. The cover of Fury #1, with Nick walking on the precipice against a blue sky, is a modern example unlike any other of true artistic talent. I have always appreciated his crediting me for improving his work and considering my contribution as

Out of the pages of The Fantastic Four #48, the Silver Surfer soared into his own title. Once a mighty servant of planet-eater Galactus, the Surfer broke free of his bonds and sacrificed himself for the planet Earth and its people.

“When Stan and Jack first created the Silver Surfer back in the mid-’60s, Jack and I were just beginning our long run on The Fantastic Four. Mail poured in from comic readers that showed they loved the character. He was noble. He was ‘cold.’ He was powerful. And he had a philosophic edge to him during a time when it was acceptable to question what was going on.

“When Marvel gave him his own title in 1968, Stan wrote powerful stories (#1-3) that John Buscema and I did the art for. Where Jack’s Surfer was a godlike figure bursting with power, John’s was a more elegant, graceful image. I remember John’s pencils on that book: They were so detailed, so precise, almost like they were a printed page already. And that made the book easier for me to render.

Later on, in the ’70s, when John and I worked on titles like Nova and Ms. Marvel, his work became more loose. So much so, that he would receive layout credit, but I would get ‘finished art’ credit instead of just inker. Not that his pencils were bad; rather, the significant details were there. The anatomy was his, but the ‘look’ of the book was my work. But, I had worked with him for a decade by that time and knew what he wanted.

He and I did a book called ‘Warriors

Three’ [Marvel Spotlight #30] and the splash for the story (“Night on the Town”) was fairly loosely penciled. For some artists, that could be difficult, but the story featured such interesting characters I was able to make it one of the best inking jobs I have ever done. It was not just a matter of content, but also good equipment. I had a good brush and that made all the difference.

From a technical viewpoint, the better the equipment, the better the results.

Okay, a little bit of talent helps too.”

ABOVE: Fellow Marvel Bullpen artists (from left) John Buscema, Don Heck and Joe Sinnott mug for the camera in this 1970s comic convention pic.

BULLPEN STALWART “Working at Marvel, I never asked Stan for a certain book.

Given my ‘stature’ in the bullpen, I’m sure he would have done his best to accommodate me.

However, being the veteran inker I was at the time, pencilers and writers asked for me.

A good example of that was the only time I worked with

INSET LEFT: Splash page for the John Buscemapenciled and Joe Sinnottinked epic, “Warriors Three,” which appeared in Marvel Spotlight #30 [Oct. 1976]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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INSET RIGHT: Joe Sinnott pin-up of the god of thunder.

Thor ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

BELOW: Joe Sinnott channels his old collaborator in this Jack Kirby-inspired pin-up of the Mighty Thor. Thor ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

Neal Adams. We did Thor #180-181 together. “When Gods Go Mad” and “One God Must Fall” were incredible penciling jobs. He used imaginative layouts, compelling splash pages, and his technical grasp even then was amazing.

Neal certainly was one of the stars of his generation, and right from his first work at Marvel [The X-Men #56] and his later work on Batman, you knew you were in for something special. Those two issues were no exception.”

THOR THE MIGHTY “Speaking of Thor, my connection with him goes way back to his introduction in Journey Into Mystery #83. Stan and Jack had come up with another character, which really wasn’t that uncommon for them. They would invent all types of heroes and try to ride the wave of the newest trend.

That first story, ‘The Stone Men From Saturn,’ was one of Larry Lieber’s early stories,” Joe said.

“Stan and I worked together on so many books in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

Even though he was the editor of Marvel at the time, he would give me a rough plot to work with and I would go home and produce a full script,” Larry Lieber recounted. “Journey Into Mystery #83 was like that. Stan created this character, and this time he called him Thor, and it was my job to complete the story. My main input on Thor was naming the alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake. Stan always liked my names for the man behind the costume, and I liked doing them. As for Thor, Joe’s inks were so elegant on the book that it helped Jack’s cartoony style. And of course, Thor is still with us today.”

‘BIG’ CHARACTER BOOKS “As an artist, I really liked working on the ‘big’ character books, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, The Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and titles like that. As a character, I liked The Thing. He was the most unique character that Stan and Jack ever created. I mean, think about it: An astronaut, bombarded by comics rays, who turns into a monster! In a way, The Thing represents the worst of mankind, with the best intentions. He had so many human frailties, he could be funny, but more often he was angry and frustrated at the world. Even when he was ‘cured’ and just plain Ben Grimm, he chose to be the Thing once more when someone needed him. Once a hero, always a hero. Not only was he fun to draw, but you could do so much with him—just take a look at how many pin-ups of him I’ve done. He’s been Santa Claus, the Cisco Thing (with Jack), a fisherman, a gangster, and so many other characters.”

The Thing, in addition to his central role in the Fantastic Four, graduated to his own comic book in the

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Full-page pin-up from The Thing #1 [July 1983] with pencils and inks by (who else?) Joe Sinnott! ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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reminded me of some of the great cartoonists I admired throughout my career. Together, we did some great covers, and some of the interior work wasn’t too shabby, either.”

“THE CISCO THING” “After Jack left Marvel, every now and then I would get a call asking me to ink some of his commission art for him. One time, he called me up and asked me to ink a Fighting American piece for him. So I did it. Then he asked me how much I wanted for doing it… I said ‘nothing’, just do a drawing of the Thing for my son Mark. So he did... and the Thing became the Cisco Thing! I inked it up and colored it, and it is one of Mark’s favorites!”

The Incredible Hulk is a story of perseverance. “Stan and Jack were on a roll at this point. They had Thor, the Fantastic Four, and by this time, Spider-Man had been in development for some time. Actually, Jack had come up with a treatment for Spidey that Stan didn’t like and rejected. Of course, the comic industry changed when Amazing Fantasy #15 hit newsstands with

ABOVE: Fantastic Four #79 [Oct. 1968] cover art by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks). ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

ABOVE: Fantastic Four #88 [July 1969] panel detail sporting Jack Kirby pencils and Joe Sinnott inks. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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summer of 1983. John Byrne contributed scripting while Joe inked Ron Wilson’s pencils.

Over the next 27 issues, Joe would either ink the story and/or cover of 17 books. “Ron’s pencils were very easy to work with. His simple style was very deceptive, and

Steve Ditko interpreting him just a little different.”

The Incredible Hulk appeared in May of 1962 and lasted only six issues, despite even the best efforts of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The comic world wasn’t ready for The Hulk yet, but he remained popular in his own back-up stories in Tales To Astonish, and later his own series, which still runs today. “I remember when the Hulk first came out,” Joe said. “Stan and Jack had another hit, eventually. I worked on The Incredible Hulk during Sal Buscema’s penciling tenure (almost 20 issues), and one thing I remember about his work is that his pencils were very even and easy to ink. They were elegant in a very straightforward way. Together, we worked on The Fantastic Four, a couple of Ms. Marvels, the Spider-Man comic strip, and Rom for 13 issues. That was probably our best collaboration together. Sal is a great artist and he was a pleasure to work with.”

Team books like The Avengers and Fantastic Four were a natural for Joe. When Don Perlin gave up penciling Captain America to John Byrne, Marvel offered him The Defenders… and Joe Sinnott.

“Of all the team books I did, The Defenders was probably my least favorite,” Joe said, “and it was probably due to some of the characters, not the art. Don Perlin is a real professional and his penciling shows that.”

THE MARK OF KANE Over two decades, Joe worked with many of the Golden and Silver Age comic book legends.

“Gil Kane and I did Tales of Suspense (Captain America), Ghost Rider, The Invaders and Marvel Two-In-One. His art was easy to work with, but I never cared for his distinctive style. We did do some great Marvel TwoIn-Ones (Man-Thing, Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Ghost Rider, Thor, Golem, Son of Satan), and I really liked the cover to Ghost Rider #1. That one really stands out for me, but there were many others.

“Another old-timer I worked with was Jim Mooney.

We worked on Ms. Marvel together for a few issues. She

was a good character and his art was simple and straight to the point. He reminded me of Sal Buscema, and they were both good draftsmen. He and I both worked at Marvel at the same time during the ’70s but unlike me, who stayed at Marvel, he worked at DC for a long time on Supergirl and The Legion of Super Heroes.”

FRIEND FRENZ “Two of my favorite people to work with are Ron Frenz and Terry Austin. Ron and I worked on The Fantastic Four and Thor during my last years at Marvel.

ABOVE: Gil Kane penciled, and Joe Sinnott inked, this page from Marvel Two-In-One #2 [Mar. 1974]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

INSET LEFT: Cover detail with pencils

by Sal Buscema and inks by (you guessed it!) Joe Sinnott.

Tomb of Darkness #16 [Sept. 1975]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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It’s Silver Surfer versus Annihilus in this pin-up penciled by Ron Frenz and inked by Joe Sinnott. Characters ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Frenz & Sinnott.

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We drew almost two dozen issues of the regular title, and the ‘new’ Fantastic Four, as well as 30-plus issues of Thor. When I started inking the Spider-Man comic strip, Ron was drawing the Sundays. He is one outstanding draftsman! Today, he’s still at Marvel, working with two of my good friends, Sal Buscema and Tom DeFalco, and they make a great team.”

TERRY AUSTIN, ARTIST “Looking back over my career, it is difficult to remember exact details of all my collaborations. I’ve worked with guys like Bill Sienkiewicz who were always experimenting, while artists like Keith Pollard gave me breakdowns to finish up.

Whatever he gave me, it always turned out nice; it was my job so I did it. Working with Terry Austin has been a pleasure, and there isn’t an artist out there that wouldn’t be honored to have Terry ink their pencils.

Over time, memories of the actual work has been replaced by genuine friendships.

Guys like Terry Austin have remained friends over the years, and still come to visit. Barry Windsor-Smith is as compassionate as he is talented. Stan and I communicate on the page borders of SpiderMan, while Jim Amash and others keep in touch on a frequent basis, especially during baseball season.”

BETTY In celebration of Joe’s 80th birthday, son Mark gathered an outstanding collection of tributes, cards, and well-wishes from all over the industry. That celebration was marred by the death of his wife, Betty.

“We were married 56 years, and everywhere I look in our apartment, I see her. When she was in the hospital, my friends would drop by. Barry Windsor-Smith, Terry Austin and Joe Staton would pop in with flowers, talk for a while, then leave. Stan even called a few times to see how I was doing. Jim Amash has been a good friend for many years and during this time his calls meant a lot to me too.

“After her passing, the cards, letters, and phone calls I received helped me cope with the big hole in my life,”

Joe said. “This last couple of years has been very satisfying for me. Mark has worked very hard on my website, he has published The Joe Sinnott Sketchbook Volume I and II, and the Joe Sinnott Comic Book Index: 1950-2005. I’ve even been interviewed on the radio twice, once being a ‘live’ birthday party with Jim Mooney, Stan Lee and Jim Amash!”

LIFE OF A FREELANCER

ABOVE : Page from Marvel Treasury Edition #28 [July 1981] featuring John Buscema pencils, and inks by Terry Austin and Joe Sinnott (among others, possibly). The story was an epic reteaming of SpiderMan and Superman.

Clark Kent and Lois Lane ©2007 DC Comics.

“Working as I have as a freelancer during my early career, and then as a staffer at Marvel, I was able to structure my working day so I didn’t burn the candle at both ends. I’d start at 7:45 A.M., work until 4:30 P.M., with a

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ABOVE: The family of Joe and Betty Sinnott, 1968.

INSET RIGHT: Son Mark and father Joe Sinnott work the boards in the early ’70s.

half-hour break for lunch, and if my work demanded some more time, I’d work after supper. With so many accounts and titles, I found out very quickly that if you didn’t have discipline, you did not get work on a steady basis, and you always felt rushed.

“I think I learned the discipline from Tom Gill, who set such a good example, and because of that, I was fortunate enough never to miss a deadline. I always tell young artists who ask me for advice, buy the best equipment you can afford, love what you do, and stick to your work. Both will serve you well.”

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES “As a young man, I realized early that I had to stop and smell the roses every now and then. I worked hard, but I was always active in sports around the area as a player and coach. Living in Saugerties my whole life, my family

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has remained close.

Mark lives in my old house, my daughter Kathy just across the street, and my other son, Joe Jr., is close as well. I remember when Mark got married. He was only 20, and when he left home, I lost my librarian, but my food bill halved!

He was such an amazing resource for me. Even today, I have to ask him what work I did, and things like that. He was always interested in comics, and I remember many times he would say things like, ‘Dad, Thor doesn’t have that belt buckle anymore,’ and I’d ask for a picture of The Watcher and he would come back with a picture for me from my files. When I need someone to go with to comic conventions, he is my right-hand man.

“It’s amazing whom we have met throughout the years. Our photo albums are a great source of memories. Other than comic book professionals, we even met Norman Rockwell once.”

LOOKING BACK “Looking back on comic books with the benefit of 50-plus years of experience, readers, as much as they enjoy well-written stories, want pictures.

Obviously, since I was a young artist, art styles have changed. Today’s artists are not necessarily more talented, but the tools they have are so much more advanced. If we look at the art of Al Williamson, Alex Raymond, Burne Hogarth, and Roy Crane, then imagine what they could have done with computers… the results would be incredible.

But, having said that, many modern artists, without

Joe and Mark Sinnott meet the master illustrator, Norman Rockwell, in 1969.

Joe Sinnott with mustache, circa the swinging ’60s.

Joe and Mark Sinnott pose with one-time comics scribe and world-renowned crime novelist Mickey Spillane in 1985.

Joe gives an art lesson to kindergartners in 1985.

Father Joe and son Mark attend a comics convention in the mid-1970s.

The great Joe Sinnott.

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BEST OF THE BEST How do you choose your favorite work from five decades of excellence? “It’s tough, but over the years, I’ve done many pieces that I like. But nothing stands out so much for me as Fantastic Four #5. I have been associated with the ‘team’ for almost 40 years now, and even with the over 200 issues I inked and/or did covers for, #5 is still my favorite. It was my first work on the title, and the first appearance of my favorite villain, Doctor Doom. Stan’s characters were so amazing, so vivid, and they changed the way comic book teams were perceived. Of course, Jack’s pencils on the book made me go wow, too. ‘The Thing Enslaved’ [FF #91], and ‘This Man, This Monster’ [#51] rank a close second and third. In terms of cover art, I have always leaned towards Fantastic Four #57. Once again, Doctor Doom is very much part of the cover. And ‘Enter Doctor Doom’ is one heck of a story, too.”

A SUPERLATIVE LIFE “When I retired in ‘92, I took over inking the Sunday Spider-Man strip. I was burnt out and needed to rest. I didn’t need the money and a weekly strip was just about right. But every now and then someone would ask me to do a book, or a cover, and if I liked it, I would. I still get lots of mail from fans, and Mark helps me out when he can. He keeps my website going, and is my right hand.

Steranko on Sinnott ABOVE: One of Joe’s favorite inking jobs: the cover of Fantastic Four #57 [Dec. 1966]. Jack Kirby pencils. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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computers, would have a difficult time, EXACTLY HOW FAR DID ARTISTS GO TO GET just as we did back then too. As I have JOE SINNOTT ON THEIR BOOKS? said before, most of my early work According to Jim Steranko: “I’d have monthly fights with [Marvel] producwas done in five- or six-page tion chief Sol Brodsky for Joe’s inking rights, threatening, bribing, coercing, segments for the various books and using every dirty trick I could think of to get my books on Joe’s schedule. from Atlas, Charlton, ACG, or even I’d look at Sol’s list of upcoming assignments, forcefully suggesting who might Treasure Chest to some extent. be switched because Joe’s line-up was packed with the top-selling books. I’d “Today’s comic books are written promise getting my next book in ahead of time or helping ink some late for a different audience, and somejob or draw a cover to lure Solly into scheduling Joe on my pencils. times they miss the point. That’s why I Believe me, it was worth every head-butting moment. It’s always appreciate guys like Roy Thomas and satisfying to work with the best — and Joe filled that capacity Stan Lee, who have written excellent stories like a true champion. I still wonder if he had any over the years. They may not have produced idea about the conflict Solly and I had War and Peace, but Tolstoy could not have written behind the scenes.”

‘This Man, This Monster’ either!” Joe pointed out.

I may have officially retired, but comics are in my blood.”

Considering the comic book career of Joe Sinnott, his legacy can be considered in many ways. First, the sheer volume of his published artwork is stunning. There is no official count, but when he was at his peak, he was doing as many as two or three books a month, not including covers with Kirby, Pérez, Byrne or Kane. Would 100 pages a month for a decade be accurate? The total number of pages would probably be in the 30,000-plus mark.

Second, the diverse themes in comics he has illustrated include war, horror, romance, science-fiction, biography, sports, Westerns, super-heroes, and even teen books. Joe is no one-genre artist! Thirdly, his stature in the industry as the premiere Marvel Comics inker of all time has been attested to by his many co-workers and associates. As many have said, Joe defined the Marvel look during the 1960s and ’70s!

Last, his co-artists, writers, letterers, editors, and colorists have included some of the best in the business.

His influence on his associates and comics in general can never be underestimated.

And we thank you, Joe. HOW DOES HE DO IT? The quality of Joe Sinnott’s work is no accident.

Learning the value of discipline and steady work from Tom Gill, Stan Lee, and his teachers at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, Joe’s working style comes straight from his dedication to, and love of his craft.

“When I get a page of work ready to either ink or pencil, I’d take a look at the script and start to visualize what it would look like. Of course, every page has a central panel, and one that you emphasize the most, and I would decide what that would be. When I penciled, I would just start at the top after I set up the borders and such. When it came to having a set formula, I didn’t. I just did what came natural to me. Other guys had to struggle with composition, but I was able to layout what worked quite easily. Of course, there’s always one job that is better than the others, but I found it quite easy to do what was expected of me.

“When it came to inking, like penciling, I did what came natural to me. It wasn’t always easy, and sometimes, it was a lot of work. Some guys really like detailed backgrounds, and that took time. But, I always tried to balance the blacks with the rest of the panels. Too much black, and the page is off; too little, and it’s awkward. Comics are

such a visual medium, and the better a job I did, the easier the story was to follow.

“I’ve said it before: The better the equipment you have, the better the results. And over the years I’ve used a variety of brushes, inks and tools. What I found worked best for me as brush was the Winsor-Newton Series #7 and the #3 Red Sable brush. Penwise, the Hunt #102 nibs, and a speedball pen were my choice. Using the right inks to do the job is very important, and over time I used a wide variety of India inks like Pelican, Higgins, and Black Magic. Sometimes, I even mixed them for different results. Of course, when it comes to ‘curves,’ nothing can beat the French curve and standard compass. But no matter what equipment you use, your natural talent and attention to detail will make the ultimate difference. Babe Ruth could hit home runs with more than one bat, and I put out lots of good work with a variety of tools,” Joe said.

ABOVE: Joe Sinnott in his home studio, 1970.

BELOW: Joe has often moonlighted producing great illustrations depicting American sports heroes.

Here’s his version of the Bambino, Babe Ruth. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Sinnott Spotlight by Terry Austin

The Lost SupermanSpiderManPages kay, we all know that my friend, “Gentleman” Joe Sinnott, is a penciler without peer, an inker of legend, and one of the nicest guys currently residing in the Milky Way Galaxy, but did you know that good ol’ Joe is also a magician? No foolin’! I didn’t either, until a recent lunch we shared, when Joe made an unpublished page from one of the greatest comic book sagas ever produced appear before my very eyes!

The story begins a full 30 years before that noontime repast (no wonder I was so hungry!) when, for three years,

O

BELOW : Splash page from Marvel Treasury Edition #28 [July 1981] featuring John Buscema pencils and inks by Joe Sinnott (as well as a zillion others; take a look at the credits!). SpiderMan ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Superman ©2007 DC Comics.

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I served as assistant and background inker for another terrific inker and all-around nice guy, Dick Giordano.

During that period, as part of my duties, I was pleased and extremely proud to ink the backgrounds on the historic first-time-ever crossover project between DC and Marvel Comics, rightly billed as “The Battle of the Century,” Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man. Produced by DC Comics, the story was skillfully written

by Gerry Conway and excitingly penciled by Ross Andru, and was one of the most talked about comic books of 1976, being well received by fans and pros alike.

Flash forward five years to 1981, when it was decided that the time had come for Marvel Comics to have their turn at producing the second Superman and Spider-Man epic. Marvel head honcho Jim Shooter selected their premier penciler and inker for the task of bringing his script to life: John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. A collective cheer was heard throughout the land, and the work was begun in earnest.

One day in Marvel’s bullpen area, Jim approached me with an idea. Knowing that I had inked the backgrounds on the first Superman/Spider-Man book (even though my name didn’t appear in the credits, it was the most widely known “secret” in the industry at the time), Jim decided that he would outdo DC and have the backgrounds on Marvel’s production inked by a whole squad of “superstar inkers” (his words, not mine). I had been an inker in my own right for a few years by this time and Jim felt that if I acquiesced, he would then be able to talk other well-respected inkers into signing on. Little did he suspect that most of us would have done so, and even gone without pay if necessary, for the opportunity to work with one of our idols, Joltin’ Joe Sinnott!

Now, flash forward to 2006, to that miraculous day that I met up with Joe, his wife Betty and son Mark, for one of our periodic lunches. I had decided to take advantage of the situation to ask Joe to autograph the small stack of original comic art pages that I own from jobs that he had inked, including our one “collaboration” referenced

above. Unbeknownst to me, Mark had decided to bring along a pile of comics for me and/or Joe to sign, including Marvel’s Superman and Spider-Man. After Joe had kindly signed my pages, deftly keeping them out of the ketchup while doing so, and we had all gazed in astonishment at the evidence of Joe’s deft brush work from years past, that’s when the magic happened!

Mark decided to look up the Buscema/Sinnott/ Austin pages for comparison sake, since he coincidentally had the published book right there. “I can’t find this one,” he announced, holding aloft a page where SpiderMan uses his well-nigh indestructible webbing to confine Wonder Woman, who astonishingly breaks free and then hurls an impossibly large machine at poor Spidey. “Give it to me; I’ll find it,” Betty confidently proclaimed. Soon admitting defeat as well, she passed the book and art over to Joe, who calmly turned the page over to reveal a scribbled pencil notation from some twenty-five years earlier: “THIS PAGE NOT USED.”

Now, I had always wondered why that page lacked the pasted on word balloons of the other two that I had received, but never did I suspect that it was because it had never been printed! Quickly looking through Mark’s book, I discovered that there were two pages of advertisements in the back, one for DC and one for Marvel. “Holy cow, they must have knocked two pages out of the story to make room for these house ads,” I reasoned aloud, “and that means that there’s another unpublished page out there somewhere!”

Needless to say, Joe, old pal, the next time we meet for lunch, I’ll be expecting you to gesture mystically and conjure up that page from the cream pitcher or some such. Or, failing that, feel free to saw our lovely waitress in half... hopefully before the check arrives!

THIS PAGE: A visit to the Sinnott personal art archives uncovers an amazing find: hitherto unknown (and unused) pages intended for the Spider-Man and Superman team-up in Marvel Treasury Edition #28 [July 1981]. John Buscema provides pencils, with inks by Joe Sinnott (and maybe others) for this encounter between an arachnid and an Amazon.

Spider-Man ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Wonder Woman ©2007 DC Comics.

Terry Austin 77

Chapter Four

With One Single Panel... he comic pages of the major newspapers were packed with fantasy during the 1930s and ’40s. Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Prince Valiant, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, Mandrake the Magician, and other adventure strips inspired youths all over the nation. Outstanding draftsmen like Raymond, Hogarth, Flanders, McManus, Caniff, Crane, Andriola, Gould, Foster, and Sickles served up creative masterpieces daily to hungry comic strip fans.

Joe Sinnott was no different than any of a hundred comic book professionals. “I used to copy, when I was a kid, Flash Gordon and Terry and the Pirates, but I think I was more influenced by Milton Caniff, Terry and the Pirates, than I was by Raymond, although I loved Raymond’s Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim, of course,” Joe said.

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“DOLPH FINLAY” THIS SPREAD: Joe Sinnott produced a sample Terry and the Pirates strip, as well as these character studies, in the late 1950s.

Terry and the Pirates ©2007 Tribune Syndicate.

Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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“I had been a successful comic book artist for over a decade already. And given my early inspiration from the newspaper strips, I wanted to try my hand at a daily strip.

That chance didn’t come until the late ’50s. After Marvel Comics went belly-up [in 1957], a lot of the guys who lived in New York scrambled over to DC and the other

companies to get work. Living in Saugerties, I couldn’t do it so readily, but before I could, I got a call from one of the editors at Watson Guptill (who published an art magazine). He told me, ‘My son has written a strip called Dolph Finlay and we have both admired your style. We want you to draw it for us.’ So I said, ‘Okay.’ He said he had contacts in the industry and could help with King Features. The script came up and it was about a Navy frogman (now he’d be a Navy Seal) and it was pretty good. I inked and penciled it in the evenings (as I had just picked up some work with Charlton and Treasure Chest) and they showed it to King. It seems all the syndicates were looking for funny stuff and that continuity strips were on the way out.

“What was amazing about it was that, even though we got good reaction, they still said no! One year later, Lloyd Bridges came out with Sea Hunt, which was a great success. Editors may be smart, but they don’t always make great decisions!”

THE GHOST WHO WALKS “Another character I loved as a kid was The Phantom. I marveled at the artistry of Wilson McCoy and when he passed away in 1961 from jungle fever, I wanted

When the jungle vapors cleared, Sy Barry was given the job instead of Joe Sinnott, after one strip by Carmine Infantino, and he worked on the Phantom until his retirement in the early ’80s.

JOHNNY HAWK, ALL AMERICAN

to do The Phantom. I had already practiced my craft at Atlas, Marvel, Treasure Chest, and Dell, and felt confident enough to do a good job. So, I worked up a sample and sent it in.”

In the early 1960s, Joe Sinnott was working full-time for Dell, Treasure Chest and Marvel Comics. “My editor at Treasure Chest, Bob Wischmeyher, called me up one day and told me he had an idea for a strip called Johnny Hawk, All American. He wanted to collaborate with me. It was about a college athlete trying to make the team. I knew how hard it was to sell a strip, so I worked on it at night after supper. Looking back, I thought I did some of my best work ever on it. It would have been popular in 1939, but in 1962 with college age youths

BELOW: Sample Phantom strip by Joe Sinnott.

The Phantom ©2007 King Features. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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ABOVE: Science-fiction themed newspaper comic strip sample by Joe Sinnott, circa 1950s. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

BELOW: Joe Sinnott ghostinked a solid run of the 1979 Incredible Hulk newspaper strips penciled by Larry Lieber. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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burning buildings and turning their back on college, it was out of sync, but I owed it to him.”

MARVEL STRIPS Working at Marvel Comics had its advantages. From the mid-’70s onward, they maintained a newspaper presence with the Amazing Spider-Man, Conan and The Hulk. Conan did not have a long paper life and The Hulk lasted only a handful of years.

Stan Lee and Larry Lieber were the original writer/ artist team on The Hulk comic strip series that ran in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Larry said, “Stan got so busy with Spider-Man that he eventually asked me to write [The Hulk] as well, so I did. Frank Giacoia was originally inking me on the strip, but when he ran into deadline problems, Joe stepped up.”

Joe inked Larry on The Hulk for a short time. “I inked Larry for around four months or so. From the end of April to August 1979 I inked Larry’s pencils. Of course, I was still inking comics full-time as well, so I had to give it up. I’m not credited, but Larry and I both know!”

ALONG CAME A SPIDER “I had told Marvel that I was going to retire, and they

asked me to come down to give me a big party, a big sendoff. It was my birthday and all the editors took me out.

There was a big group of them, John and Virginia Romita, Tom DeFalco… you know, the whole group, and George Roussos. (George was a great friend of mine and a real good guy.) And anyway, Jack Abel… so many of them are gone now, it’s unbelievable… Mark Gruenwald. And anyway, that was in October of ’91 and I was, let’s see… would I have been 62 then? Well, in any case, I told them, ‘I’m just burned-out. I’ve just got to hang it up.’ I didn’t need the work, so to speak. But right away, they said, ‘Joe, would you stay on? And Stan would like you to ink the Spider-Man Sunday.’ So I said, ‘Yeah, that would be interesting.’ At the time, Ron Frenz was penciling it and he had some personal problems, so he had to give it up and it went to Sal Buscema, then it went to Fred Kida. (Fred Kida was an excellent artist; he worked on Airboy, and I was only a kid when I used to love that book.)”

That was 1991, and 16 years later, Joe is still inking the strip, and Stan is still writing it.

“I’ve inked some great pencilers on the strip. Paul Ryan, Sal Buscema, and then Alex Saviuk picked up the pencils. Alex has been doing it around seven years

already. I have taken some breaks for personal reasons.

When I hurt my arm, Jim Amash took over. When Betty passed away, he took over again for a few months. I still don’t need the money from it, but it does give me

something to do. I guess life works that way; you always go back to your roots.”

THIS PAGE: Two SpiderMan Sunday newspaper comic strips inked by Joe Sinnott. Top features Paul Ryan pencils; bottom, pencils by Alex Saviuk. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Sinnott Strips

THIS SPREAD AND NEXT: Various newspaper strip samples

by Joe Sinnott. All are ©2007 the respective copyright holders.

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Chapter Five

Penciler Up! love doing comic book art,” Joe said. “But another thing that’s dear to my heart is sports. As a youngster, I played football for the Eagles Club, and baseball around Saugerties in the ’30s-’40s. I haven’t played football for a while now, but my friends know how to get my attention: Just mention the San Francisco Giants.”

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ABOVE: Sports nostalgia cartoon by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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As a young man, football was his sport of choice. The Saugerties area was not a pigskin hotbed, so as a result, the Eagles would play anyone who wanted a game. Being the mid-’30s, and the tail end of the Depression, funding for community teams was tough to find, even for uniforms, but the Eagles were a determined team.

“We really wanted to stand out, so we needed a uni-

form. And the only way we could get them was to sell Christmas cards. There was a company who gave prizes for selling a certain volume of cards, and it turns out the prize uniforms had a gold eagle on them! So, over the year we sold and sold until we all had uniforms. We weren’t the best around, but we looked the best!”

When not playing baseball, Joe and his brothers could be found on the baseball diamonds around Saugerties. “I lived around two blocks from the ballfield and I played all day, hitting balls, catching. That was before Little League. There were two teams in town, the Twisters and the Tamers. My brother played for the Tamers and I played for the Twisters. We played twice a week all throughout the Summer of 1936. The next year the Lions Club formed a community league. They named teams after major league teams and I played on the Yankees. That was perfect for me, as at that time, I was a big time Yankees fan.

“Even though we lived fairly close to New York, I didn’t see a Major League game until 1941. It was the first game of the Dodgers/Yankees series. We sat five rows behind Babe Ruth and it was a huge thrill for me! He was my hero!

“Before that, in the 1930s, Lou Gehrig was my idol. I grew up in a time when two of the greatest all-time players were active. And when I began sketching players, I gravitated towards the ‘old-timers.’

“Now, having said that, I was able to combine my love of sports with my art many times. My art hangs in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. My portraits of Roberto Clemente, Monte Irvin, Josh Gibson, and Babe Ruth decorate their walls. I may not have been able to play professionally, but my pencil hit a home run… four times!”

Joe’s artwork has graced the pages of many sports comic books, too. He has illustrated the stories of Mickey Mantle, Brooks Robinson, Duke Snider, and even Pete Rose! Don’t think that he’s only a two-sport artist: want some tennis tips? Check out “Stan Smith’s Tennis Tips,”

penciled by Joe and inked by fellow comics veteran Frank McLaughlin!

“After I returned from the war, I still played softball and hardball. I played until one day I hurt my arm and had to stop. It was winter and my younger brother and I were throwing the ball back and forth in the driveway. I felt a tear and that was it. Today, it could be fixed with surgery, but then, I had to stop playing. One day I could throw a ball 300 feet and the next, 50! After that I told my players all the time to warm up! I managed until about five years ago [2001] and loved it.

“Sports had been in my blood for over 60 years and even though I only watch it on TV now, it always will be.”

Today, Joe proudly displays his sports pictures. “Even though I’m not a Dallas Cowboys fan, I drew a Troy Aikman picture that has been seen around the States. I really like doing Jim Thorpe and Red Grange, complete with their leather helmets.”

On the All-Star Comic Book team, Joe Sinnott is a star… every time!

THIS PAGE: Tributes to sports figures

by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott

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Chapter Six

A Thing for Bing here are many sides to Joe Sinnott.

Sports-wise, he roots for the San Francisco Giants. Artwise, he has a thing for the ‘Thing’.

Musically speaking, Bing Crosby looms large in his life.

“Back in 1939, my mother listened to a half-hour of Bing every day. I was 12 and it came across to me that he could sing every type of song ever written — Western, jazz or crooning. He could sing anything he put his voice to, and sounded excellent to my young hearing,” Joe said.

That started a lifelong love of all things Bing Crosby. And when the chance came to meet Bing Crosby, Joe jumped at it!

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THIS SPREAD AND NEXT: Bing Crosby illustrations by Bing fanatic Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

“It was late March or early April 1945, and two sailors and I were walking down Hollywood Boulevard when a Cadillac pulled up next to us, and I said to my two buddies, ‘That’s Bing Crosby!’

“They didn’t believe me.

“He got out of the car, walked past us, and went in this tobacco store, and we still didn’t know what to do.

We were a little scared so we didn’t know whether to

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follow him in or wait ’til he came out. So we waited until he came out and he was stuffing his pipe with the tobacco and he walked right by us; he looked at us, but he walked by us. I had a little pencil in my pocket and I tore up the — we had a piece of paper from a program that we had and I said, ‘I’ve got to ask him for his autograph.’ So I went up to him and I said, ‘Bing!’ I called him before he got in his car and I said, ‘Could I have your autograph?’ And he said, ‘Sure, guys, but keep walking.’ He said, ‘Don’t stop.’ He didn’t want to draw a crowd probably.”

A CONVERSATION WITH CROSBY “For a young guy, meeting his idol, it was an experience I never forgot. Actually, I still have it and it looks like he just wrote it yesterday. I don’t know how it survived over all these years. But, in any case, I said to him, ‘The only thing...’.

We talked to him, but I don’t remember most of the conversation, but I did say to him, ‘Bing, what movie are you making?’ He said, ‘Oh, a little thing called The Bells of Saint Mary’s.’ He got in his Cadillac, and it was a convertible with the roof down. So he waved to us and then took off down Hollywood Boulevard. But that was a great experience as you can imagine, meeting your idol, so to speak.

“After that, I took extra delight in Bing Crosby. I went to every film he made, and as an adult, I even had a Bing Crosby radio show with a good friend, Jim Johnson. For three hours every week, we played and talked Bing Crosby.

The power of radio has always intrigued me, and I

remember one time when a truck driver called in because he enjoyed our show so much! I loved doing the show, and of all the songs Bing ever sang, ‘Riding Down the Canyon’ and ‘You Are My Sunshine’ are two of my favorites. Did you know that Winston Churchill even wrote Bing a telegram telling him how much he loved his music? Can you imagine that? Not that I really dislike any of his music; it’s all good. Most collectors focus on 1933 when he was at his jazzy best, but I love the music from 1937-40 more.”

Being an artist, Joe has tapped his inner talent to celebrate Bing Crosby as well. “I did a lot of covers for magazines, the overseas Crosby Collector and The Bing Crosby Fan Club, and numerous albums… Bingang, covers for a guy from Redmond, Washington… Even covers for the old radio plays on cassette. I do Christmas cards with Bing and, whenever the mood hits me, Bing is on the page!”

MOVIE STAR BING The actor Bing Crosby had a long career, from 1932 to the early ’70s. Films like Rhythm on the River and White Christmas captured the public’s interest.

“My favorite Crosby films are hard to choose, but I’d have to say Going My Way, The Bells of Saint Mary’s, Holiday Inn, High Society and Here Comes the Groom.

Frank Capra even once said that Bing was as good an actor as Spencer Tracy, but they never gave him the roles Tracy got. I love the new Crosby set with the unreleased films like Double or Nothing, and the Road movies are real classics in my mind.

“When Bing died on the golf course in Spain on October 14, 1977, I was getting ready to go to Boston. I

was supposed to be the keynote speaker at a comic book convention, and when I got to Boston, instead of talking comic books, I talked about Bing Crosby.

The crowd loved it. It was my tribute to a man who entertained me for almost 40 years, and still does.

Dick Giordano was there that day, and he loved that, too.

There will never be another Bing.”

LEFT: Joe Sinnott and Jim Johnson discuss the singer during their Bing Crosby radio show in ’94.

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All art this spread ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Chapter Seven

Speaking of Joe... uch as Jack Kirby codified the language of comic book storytelling, his illustrious cohort Joe Sinnott wrote the rules for comic book brush technique. The study of his sinuous, thickand-thin India ink lines are a required procedure for anyone who hopes to understand even the most basic elements of classic comic book inking. In fact, for the Comic Book Art and Graphic Novel classes that I’ve taught at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, I make the study of Sinnott’s work a key part of my

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BELOW: Joltin’ Joe salutes Stan the Man in this tribute drawing. The Thing ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

courses. His technique is so perfect, so seminal, and so influential on modern comics that he’s one of the few inkers whose work has become a mandatory cornerstone of my lessons. I explain to students that they can certainly branch out from there, but the classic rudiments that they’ll need all begin with Joe Sinnott. With a deft swoop of ink line to the curve of a bicep, Sinnott can convey more form than a hundred crosshatched pen lines or feathered brush strokes could convey. It’s quite astounding. As far as I’m concerned, in theory and practice, comic book inking technique all starts with Sinnott. He’s one of the true icons of the field.

Absolutely.

--Timothy Truman Back in the ‘old’ days, if someone asked me who the best three inkers in the business were, I would say Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano and Joe Sinnott. As a ‘Marvel’ mate, I have always loved Joe’s work. No matter how simple the pencils were, the result was always beautiful.

We haven’t worked much together; primarily on The Hulk comic strip in the 1980s and his inking over Frank’s pencils were wonderful. As penciler on the Spider-Man daily strip, I watch with awe his inking on the Sunday panel and still wonder, after almost 50 years in the business, how he can turn squiggles into the most amazing backgrounds. He is still at the top of his game. He is more than an inker; he is a stylist, and the best finisher we have in the industry today.

-- Larry Lieber Joe Sinnott was the first professional inker I ever had.

I had entered a Fantastic Four piece in a fanzine contest (EPOCH) and Joe had been contacted to ink it. When it came back, Joe had some nice things to say about my pencils. Later on, when I was writing and penciling The Fantastic Four, whatever I asked for, Joe delivered. I remember one scene where I had asked for a black marble

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floor, and Joe, being the professional he is, worked very hard to get the floor right. As a writer, I knew absolutely that I could trust him. Whatever I penciled, no matter how rough it was, I knew what it would turn out like. That’s the mark of an exceptional inker.

-- John Byrne Joe Sinnott is, and has been, the best inker in comics for almost 60 years. He has also done countless books for alternate publishers penciling and inking to show what a complete artist he is. Any aspiring comics artist would be wise to check out his body of work to see the polished, consistent quality he is noted for. Beyond that, there has never been a more reliable artist or a better person in the business. It’s a pleasure to know him and to be his friend and colleague.

-- John Romita Sr. As far as I know, I’m one of the few people who has ever inked Joe’s pencils (very intimidating). He drew a few figures for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Joe is a sweet lovely guy who reminds me a lot of a children’s host on a TV show when I was a kid, Officer Joe Bolton, friend of the Three Stooges.

Joe loves his family, his God, baseball and drawing pictures.

-- Josef Rubinstein I first met Joe Sinnott at a New York City convention back in the mid-’70s. I remember having a really nice conversation with Joe which made me realize why he was considered one of the truly nice guys in the business.

We were both asked to judge the comic book costume contest (which incidentally were outstanding). This was, unfortunately for me, the only encounter I had with Joe in all the years he and I have been in this industry.

Of course, I was fortunate enough to have Joe ink my penciling many times (Rom, among others), and as he did with everyone he inked, he made me look good! There is no question that Joe is a consummate professional. He

recently celebrated his 80th birthday, and as far as I know he is still working.

ABOVE: From left, it’s John Romita Sr., Joe Sinnott and Stan Lee in a recent photo.

-- Sal Buscema I was very late discovering Joe Sinnott’s magnificent talents. During the ’60s, when most comic book fans were eagerly awaiting the next issue of Kirby and Sinnott art on The FF or Thor or Cap, I was reading Mad magazine and totally oblivious to the Marvel explosion. When I finally did turn my attention to super-hero comics in 1973, I fell under Neal Adams’ spell and was totally absorbed in trying to learn his type of detailed, realistic comic art. But, as I began to try to add more dynamics to my penciling, I started studying Kirby and Buscema, and I finally noticed Joe Sinnott. His inking always streamlined the pencils in such a confident, informed way. He knew just how thick or thin to make a line, where to add a black, and where to add rendering or leave it out. He made the extremely difficult art of inking over another artist look easy, and that’s the true sign of a master. Of course, part of the reason for this is that Joe is a very skilled penciler as well, as his Pope

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ABOVE: Ms. Marvel pin-up

by Joe Sinnott. Character ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

John Paul comic showed. I’m sure he must have penciled many more jobs, which I’ll no doubt discover in this book, but this was unfortunately the only time I’ve ever seen his pencils.

The only time I got a chance to work “with” Joe was on the Marvel Treasury #28, in 1981, a crossover with Superman and Spider-Man. Eight other inkers and I inked the backgrounds while Joe inked the figures over John Buscema’s breakdowns. It was fascinating to see the loose pencils and then see Joe’s inks added over my backgrounds. His confident touch brought the whole book together and made all the different ink styles mesh.

Just this past year, I was commissioned to ink a Jack Kirby splash page from Thor #156, my first time inking Kirby. What a treat! I’m so jealous of Joe for being able to ink Kirby day after day, month after month, year after year. Kirby’s pencils are so much fun to ink! Definitely not easy, but a whole lot of fun. Congratulations to Joe for all of his accomplishments and his impressive career in comics.

-- Bob McLeod Joe and I have met at a few comic cons and over the telephone over the years. Even though we have both worked on Kirby pencils, we have only worked on one piece together. A collector commissioned a Fantastic Four piece where we both finished each others’ pencils. It looked terrific, but alas, neither of us have a copy. In my collection, I have a Tom Gill original Lone Ranger page that Joe inked in early 1950. Even then, his style was very unique!

We both have been working almost 60 years, and have developed a deep respect for each other. Just maybe we have one more collaboration left in us.

Congratulations, Joe.

-- Dick Ayers I first got to meet Joe when I was about 13 years old. I was interested in becoming a cartoonist at the time

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and my father, who knew him, arranged for us to meet.

Joe was kind enough to invite me to his drawing studio at his home and spend time with a young artist, answering questions and sharing his insights on the art, craft and business of comics. I was intimidated. Not only was this man responsible for bringing the comics I was reading to life, he was also on a first-name basis with SpiderMan and The Fantastic Four! But Joe quickly put me at ease with his great sense of humor and his easygoing, salt-of-the-earth demeanor. He gave me a rare glimpse into the life of a cartoonist and the process by which he achieves such indelible imagery. Most of us are only allowed to see the finished result of an artist’s work, but getting to see all of the preliminary drawings, countless revisions and refinements gives one a sense of the real work and mastery involved. Joe was generous enough to share his process with me at an important time in my life, and in doing so, imparted an invaluable lesson about the sweat required in striving to achieve greatness.

But of course, Joe, like the greatest of tightrope walkers, makes it all look easy. His commitment to craftsmanship and to great storytelling is a true inspiration that I have carried with me.

-- Alex Zamm I lived in Woodstock, New York, close to Joe when I was working with DC during the 1960s. Later on, when Joe was inking Ms. Marvel over my pencils, I had already moved. As so often happens in our business, we never really “met” personally, but shared artistic credits many times.

I was very impressed with Joe’s magnificent dexterity and control in using his brush. He was/is a very accomplished penciler as well. Occasionally, when editorial changes were required on my pencil work, Joe did an excellent job.

Like Joe, I am still working and, as long as Marvel wants us, we’ll be there!

Congratulations on an outstanding career, Joe.

-- Jim Mooney When my wife Hilarie and I moved up into the Hudson from the city a little over 30 years ago, I was working for Charlton. Of course, I wanted to move up to better-paying assignments with Marvel and wasn’t having much luck. I knew Joe lived in the area, so I called him up

out of the blue, and he asked us over. I don’t recall any brilliant advice he gave me, but he and Betty were both totally encouraging and comforting. I’ve known Joe since then and our paths cross fairly often up here.

Joe has always been a local celebrity and there used to be a department store in Saugerties with a big front window. At Christmas, Joe would set up in the window and do drawings for kids.

Sometime in the ’70s, I went up to Schenectady with Joe to do a charity appearance at the Boys’ Club. We were sitting at a table doing drawings for kids for free. There was this very cool little kid who kept on coming through for drawings. I think he called himself O.J. Joe finally asked him what he was doing with all the drawings. He was selling them outside for $5 apiece. (O.J. is probably making a mint on eBay these days.)

Hilarie and I are supporters of the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) in the city, so a few years ago we put on a big party at our house, getting every cartoonist and artist we could round up to show up, display samples of their work, and be exposed to information on MoCCA. We had at least a hundred people in the house that day. Joe showed up later in the morning, with lots of his relatives in tow and with lots of art. We had saved the front parlor for him and he set up a big display of cover recreations and drawings from all over (including Bing Crosby record covers). People rotated through and hung out with Joe and his family and admired his art. Joe is always full of stories so he kept everybody entertained. It was great seeing Joe surrounded by people who loved him and people who admired and appreciated his art.

If there is anybody in this business who really deserves to be called “beloved,” it’s Joe Sinnott.

Joe is a great artist, but he’s a greater human being.

We both love to talk and do so almost every day. From baseball to comics to our personal lives and more, we have a kinship that goes beyond our work. He is a downto-Earth, unpretentious “every-man” with a big heart. He is one of my closest friends, and my hero. You show me a guy that doesn’t love Joe Sinnott, and I’ll show you someone with a heart of stone!

-- Joe Staton

-- Jim Amash

Joe is the greatest inker in the history of comics, and like many other inkers, his work influenced mine. He was a vital part of the Marvel style, blazing the trail for those who followed in his stead. More than once, Joe has asked me to fill in for him on the Sunday Spider-Man newspaper strip. That kind of honor is rare, humbling, and intimidating for an inker, and I treasure the fact that he thought me capable enough to pinch-hit for him.

Joe Sinnott is the consummate inker, and it has been my great pleasure to work with him (in my small way) on the Spider-Man Sunday newspaper strips. I have been lettering the strip for more than 20 years, and, believe me, I have enough deadlines with my own comic book, Usagi Yojimbo. A big reason I continue with Spidey is because of Joe. It’s an opportunity to work with a legend. I can only marvel at the perfection and control Joe has with the

©2007 John Lustig.

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ABOVE: Cartoon by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

brush. I am in a unique position because I letter the art while it is still in the penciled stage. I see it again after it is inked and published, and, as good as the pencils were, the final art is so much better. I believe this is the only regular inking that Joe still does, and I plan on continuing with it as long as he does.

-- Stan Sakai I was a better artist, thanks to Joe Sinnott.

Please note that I did use the past tense. While I feel that I eventually became a better artist in the years that have passed, it was Joe who made me look oh so much better way back in the ’70s during my days on Fantastic Four. And he did it so subtly, so skillfully — I actually had the audacity to believe that I always looked that good.

You see, Joe has a great respect for pencilers, both experienced and skillful, like Jack Kirby, John Buscema and John Romita, and wet-behind-the ears, crude novices like the George Pérez of 1975. Joe knows how to

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make every artist look good — to let each artist’s individuality shine even under his unmistakable polished inks. The Joe Sinnott style cannot be mistaken, especially not on the FF. At the time, and probably to this day, he has inked more artists on that series than any other. After Jack Kirby’s departure it was Joe Sinnott who kept the Fantastic Four consistent from one artist to another. Even when an artist’s style didn’t quite mesh with the established look of the series, Joe managed to bring all the characters back to model — without totally burying the penciler underneath. And when an artist provided only loose layouts, Joe was there to finish the job — and make it look great. Joe’s skills as a penciler can never be over-valued.

When I recently got to see a page of original art from my old FF days, I was stunned to see just how much work Joe actually did to redraw what was necessary in order to fix my crude attempts at the characters’ faces. Yet, I never noticed it then because that’s how I imagined my pencil work had to look. That’s how I imagined I would draw the Fantastic Four — if I only could. In actuality I needed to be a far better artist than I was — I needed to be Joe Sinnott.

I first met Joe and his wife Betty at a convention in New York around 1976 or so. Joe would have been in his late 40s with about two decades of great work to his credit by then, and I was probably about 22 with just two years of comics under my belt. Yet, Joe never made me feel like the young pup I was; he treated me like an equal and actually said some incredibly complimentary things about my work. I still remember that he wasn’t intimidated by the amount of detail I put in — he just suggested that I lighten up on my pencils since I put so much pressure on them as to practically engrave the line into the paper. Since this made the image too slick due to the heavy coating of graphite, Joe would often have to erase my pencils a bit before inking and follow the impressions left on the paper. I was trying too hard to make my pencils look like ink — to make it look like the finished comics I grew up with. I wanted my lines to look like Joe’s. But I was no Joe Sinnott — not then, not now. Well, Joe’s career now spans a half-century covering so many different genres and we’re all here to celebrate that. He may be mostly retired from comic book work now, but I personally will always owe a great debt to him. Without his skill I might not have been so inspired to actually get better. Without his gentle kindness, I might not have known how to gracefully and graciously handle myself with peers and fans, young

and old. And without Joe Sinnott, I may never have been invited to Stan Lee’s office after the publication of my first issue of FF. Stan was so impressed with my work that at first he had assumed it might have been drawn by either Romita or Buscema. I got my first raise then and there and the impetus to live up to Stan’s boost of confidence.

Joe made me look that good.

He made everybody look that good.

Thank you, Joe, for all you’ve done and all you are.

-- George Perez Joe is a consummate professional and I have always admired his work. Although we have never worked together, I have never heard a negative comment about him or his craft. From our contact at conventions, he has been a perfect gentleman and an enthusiastic promoter of the industry.

He is one of the best.

--Murphy Anderson If I said I knew Joe Sinnott well, I’d be lying.

If Jack Kirby was around it would be the same for

him. The two came from a time when artists rarely met, and working through the mail made meetings even more rare. So Joe, to me, was “the good Marvel inker”. Oh, the other guys were good... but somehow, Joe Sinnott pulled it all together. He made-it-Marvel. When Johnny Romita, big John Buscema, and even Jack Kirby drew… in their own style, Joe Sinnott “made it Marvel.” It was his look.

How did I meet Joe? The first Academy of Comic Book Arts meeting... Joe Sinnott came. Wow... to me a legend. John Buscema came. I introduced them. They hadn’t met, even though Joe had inked John many times. Blew my mind.

Now I’ll tell you a secret. I worked with Roy Thomas and Tom Palmer at Marvel. I, also, wanted to work on one job, just one job… with Stan Lee and Joe Sinnott. Turns out Stan and Joe wanted to do the same thing. Finally, after X-Men and Avengers… Stan approached me to give it a shot. I wrote a two-part Thor. Stan dialogued them, and Master Craftsman Joe Sinnott inked them. It may not mean much to you, but for me... a dream come true.

--Neal Adams

BELOW: The Amazing Spider-Man and his villains

by Joe Sinnott. Characters ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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But no one ever made the Fantastic Four — and the Thing is particular — look better… no, as good… and to me that’s the gospel truth.

--Roy Thomas As one of the premier 1960s inkers, he never came into the office. Joe was like that, working out of his studio at home. I only met him during the first Marvel convention and introduced Jack Kirby to Joe Sinnott. It was a real privilege, and the young comic fan who witnessed it saw history! Many of the new artists are young and brash, and Joe was never like that. He is a real gentleman. His grasp of inking is incredible, and made my job easier in production behind the scenes.

--Marie Severin

ABOVE: Splash page to Conan the Barbarian #46 [Jan. 1975], with pencils

by John Buscema and inks by some guy named Joe (Sinnott, natch!).

Conan ©2007 Conan Properties, Inc.

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If one inker had to be chosen to stand for Marvel Comics in the 1960s, it would be Joe Sinnott... even though, except for Fantastic Four #5, he didn’t really begin inking super-heroes for the company ’til the middle of the decade. Good as some previous inkers on Fantastic Four were, it was Joe’s embellishing that really realized the full potency of Jack Kirby’s pencils. Joe came along just as Jack was reaching his artistic pinnacle, and made the perfect complement to him.

Of course, saying Joe was the quintessential 1960s Marvel inker for Jack Kirby doesn’t entirely do him justice in any area. In earlier years, he was a good full artist in his own right on mystery comics and the like... and in the 1970s and since he has continued to do top-flight work, even if now he mostly limits himself to the Sunday SpiderMan strip... and he helped a lot of good artists besides Kirby look even better. He even inked one issue of Conan the Barbarian, and I was sorry to see him move on.

I’ve known Joe since the early 1960s. I’ve done some lettering for him and he’s done some inking for me. We had a great relationship.

I want you to know that besides being the nicest fellow you would ever want to meet, in my mind, Joe is the best comic book artist I know.

Just looking at his work tells you he really enjoys what he is doing. He is a true craftsman, each and every line is precise, and his work has depth. By that I mean, he inks fine lines in the backgrounds, and bold strokes on the foreground, which gives his art a 3-D effect.

Even with backgrounds, which many of us consider to be too insignificant to spend much time on, Joe puts in every little detail. Speaking of detail brings to mind one of Joe’s greatest pieces of artwork I’ve ever seen. It was when he worked on a comic book about Pope John’s life. I can still picture it: The background tapestry and the Pope’s attire along with everything else was so meticulously inked — it brought out every little detail in the embroidery and everything else — that I’m still in awe of it. Of course, the likeness of Pope John was superb.

Another great example of his work was in a Marvel comic book titled Mother Theresa of Calcutta. That too, was, well, awesome. And of course, his many years of inking Stan Lee’s Spider-Man strip is legendary.

What more can I say? He’s a top-notch artist, one of the greatest. But above that, he’s an extremely nice guy with a happy disposition, who had a lovely wife and has a loving family. To me, that is the essence of life itself.

-- Jon D’Agostino

Kirby was the King, but only as a penciler. The undisputed King of Inking was Joe. He was tied to Jack with a rope, and the two formed the most powerful teamup ever in comics. I admit, mine were not the greatest pencils in the world, and though I was doing one of the top five books at Marvel, The Incredible Hulk, I gave up pretty early on having the pleasure of Joe’s inking on my work. The other thing that puts Joe at an even more kingly level, was the fact that he could draw really well. But, it’s like the fast-balling closer who never really gets to show his stuff as a starting pitcher. We rarely saw the complete talent.

Another thing is that Joe is one of the most amiable and gentlemanly humans I have ever known. If you meet him for the first time, you feel like he has been a life-long friend. As many did, I made a drawing for his 80th birthday celebration. He sent me one of the nicest thank you cards in return, even though life has been very rough for him lately. That’s the kind of guy Joe is. More guys like that would make the comics biz a lot better place to work.

I feel privileged to know him.

--Herb Trimpe As you may have noticed, Mr. Joe Sinnott has left these pages as the inker of The Mighty Thor. The reasons have nothing to do with high ranking Marvel officials, disgruntled creative people, cosmic calamity or personal tragedy. But, it does have to do with something a starry eyed eleven-year-old never considered.

It was in the pages of Fantastic Four #110 that I first discovered Mr. Sinnott’s work (over the pencils of John Buscema) and was irrevocably hooked! The striking clarity, life and vibrancy of his line is like no one else’s. His work truly stands out as the finest example of an inker’s craft!

Years pass away (never mind how many) and a still starry-eyed Penciler from Pittsburgh finds himself among the ranks of privileged professionals to have his work brought to life by Mr. Sinnott’s brush and pen.

And then, Thor #400 happened and Joe Sinnott consented to be our regular inker. Believe me, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Every issue became a textbook to me on how it should be done — a consistent and lasting lesson on creativity and professionalism, and two-anda-half odd years worth of fantastic Thor material.

It wasn’t until almost a year ago that I was finally presented with the opportunity to meet Mr. Sinnott, and his

wonderful wife and family at a comic convention. His wit and gentle humor, his obvious enthusiasm for his work, and his incredible professionalism were a sincere inspiration to a young buck screw-up like myself. (This meeting was also where I first learned that Mr. Sinnott inked Thor’s first appearance in Journey Into Mystery #83.)

Which brings me to that thing that a starry-eyed eleven-year-old never considered: Mr. Joe Sinnott is leaving regular comics work after 40-odd years in his first steps towards a well deserved retirement. As a fan and beneficiary of his extreme talent and aforementioned professionalism, I will miss him.

His fine ink line is gone from these pages, but his influence on this book, and every other Marvel title, will last a very, very long time… and we’re all much the richer for it! Please, accept our sincere and heartfelt thanks, sir, and our appreciation for a job well done!

Doctor Doom ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

-- Ron Frenz (from Joe’s final issue inking Thor)

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ABOVE: John Buscema penciled and Joe Sinnott inked this Spider-Man & Doctor Octopus illustration. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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I’ve known Joe Sinnott for nearly thirty years, since meeting him at one of the many conventions that used to proliferate in New York City. It goes without saying that Joe is a great and talented artist. He’s always made the other artists he’s worked with look good. And a finer, friendlier gentleman would be hard to find. For example, once he’d learned that I’d grown up in Indiana, Joe started greeting me with a rousing chorus of “On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away.” I’ve often tried to chime in, but not only does Joe carry a tune much better than I, he also has a better knowledge of the lyrics.

But I especially remember one particular convention, where Joe and I were guests along with Ron Frenz. This was back in the late ’80s, when Ron was drawing Marvel’s Thor series, and Joe was laying down the finished inks.

They had been working together for some months already, but they had — until that time — never met. In fact, I believe that Ron had agreed to be a guest at that convention specifically to meet Joe. Now, Ron is as big a wise guy as Yours Truly, maybe

bigger. He’s very quick with a quip and never at a loss for words. But Joe was one of his heroes and he seemed a little nervous about approaching the great man, so I agreed to make the introductions. Well, the words “Joe, this is Ron Frenz...” were just barely out of my mouth when Joe thrust out his hand.

“Ron Frenz! Great to meet you! Hey, I love inking you on Thor!”

I just stood back and grinned while Ron caught his breath. It was a wonderful moment: Ron was literally speechless. Joe, fortunately, was not. He elaborated on how much fun the book was, and how he really liked the way that Ron captured the scope and feel of Jack Kirby’s Thor without being a copy of Kirby. After a minute or two, Ron finally pulled himself together and stammered out his own thanks.

By the end of that convention, Ron had fully regained the power of speech and Joe was no longer just his hero — he was his friend.

And I’ve noticed that this is not an uncommon experience. I’ve seen Joe go out of his way to discuss craft with young artists and encourage them. I’ve seen so many acts of kindness and friendship. Joe is, as we say on the banks of the Wabash, “good people.”

Now, I’m no artist. Never was, never will be. And even if I were an artist, I know that I would never be as good an artist as Joe Sinnott.

But I hope that I can someday be as good a man.

-- Roger Stern Joe Sinnott! Would I say a few words? Wow... say something about the man who’s inking is the yardstick by which all others’ (including myself ) inking is measured?!

Normally I’d refer you to the encyclopedia and the listing

for verbose. You’ll find a color portrait of me there, but this time I’ll try not to ramble on... a hard thing to do when talking about one man’s body of great work.

Gawrsh... I’ve been an admirer of Joe’s beautiful art/inking since I first, as a youngster, experienced his work, if memory serves me correctly, in a space opera in the free Buster Brown comic book at my hometown’s Buster Brown shoe store about 50 years ago, probably at the very beginning of his prolific career on the four-color page. If my memory hasn’t served me well, Joe, please don’t correct me. For decades I remember my first look at your work being at Buster Brown’s and it’s kinda late for me to be changing my story.

Over the years, especially at the beginning of my career in comic books, I would consult the decades-old work of masters Alex Raymond, Burne Hogarth and the contemporary work of one Joe Sinnott to see “How would they have done it!?” Pretty good company, if you ask me...

Joe Sinnott, with his superb mastery of “thick ’n’ thin” with a brush and his attention to delicate detail with a pen point, is the ultimate practitioner of what I consider to be the cardinal rule in adding ink to pencil: the line defines the form! And the “artist” in Joe is his ability to add dimension, richness and beauty to every penciler, be he struggling novice or master alike, that makes Joe Sinnott’s work stand out in a fraternity of master craftsmen.

In the decade that I inked for Jack Kirby, the work of Joe Sinnott on Jack was always in the back of my mind.

I’ve often wondered that if I hadn’t had to complete three pages of inks a day just to keep up with Jack’s fiery pencil, just how much I would have let Joe’s beautiful work influence my labors. I know… it’s rather immodest of me to even suggest I could even come close to Joe’s superb line handling, but it would have been fun to find out. As it was, at least, I copied the way Joe did burst/speed lines and the marvelous way he developed to handle Jack’s “crackle.” Thanks, Joe. I would like to point out that this “crackle” handling of Joe’s had its influence on Jack! When Jack saw how Joe was handling these vague background shapes as clusters of black circles (done with a speedball B-5 or B-51⁄2), the penciler then emulated the inker to better define these shapes. I’m sure that there are many more examples of Joe’s influence on those he inked.

Sherlock Holmes many times pointed out the folly in “assuming,” but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I betcha everyone who’s ever put pen and brush to

pencil has had Joe’s work in the back of their mind at some point in the process. How could one approach uninked pencils without looking at the remarkable work done by a gifted talent like Joe Sinnott and not aspire to that greatness?

Comics are richer for the years that Joe Sinnott has, and bless his heart continues to, toil in the trenches.

Joe, I salute you!!

Comicly,

ABOVE: Two of Jack Kirby’s greatest inkers, Mike Royer (left) and Joe Sinnott, say cheese at a recent comic book convention.

--Mike Royer As a kid I was extremely fortunate to have parents cool enough to support my enthusiasm for comics. The only stipulation they put on me was that I had to be able to read before they would allow me to actually collect them every week. So as soon as I could read, I became a serious collector at age eight. For my 13th birthday they took me from North Carolina to New York City, to attend the Marvel Comic Con. This was the first time I met my friend Joe Sinnott. I got to meet my favorite penciler Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Barry Windsor-Smith (with whom I would work later as well), Roy Thomas, Steranko, Gil Kane, etc. … all my favorite comics creators at once. My second meeting with Joe was 15 years later after graduating from the Joe Kubert School. He and his wonderful wife Betty were appearing at a comic store in South Carolina. I asked if he ever needed an assistant, and amazingly it happened! It was one of the biggest thrills of my life to ink Joe’s backgrounds on Thor.

There’s not enough one can say about the incredible quality of Joe’s work. As an inker I’m particularly in awe of his ability to make long, swooping, curved parallel lines without the use of an ellipse. The biggest testament to how great Joe’s work is would have to be his incredible

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ABOVE: Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions cover art by Ron Frenz (penciler) and Joe Sinnott (inker), ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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run on Fantastic Four. Just look at the first 43 issues (excluding #5, which Joe inked) and see the huge leap in quality the art made when Joe took over. Of course Jack and Stan were constantly getting better, but I believe the addition of Joe to the team inspired them both (especially Kirby). Jack had to feel he could put more effort into the pencils just because he now knew the art wouldn’t be lowered in quality by the inker. The difference in the art was so extreme that as a child, confused by the meaning of the comics credits (“What’s an inker, Mom?”), I actually thought my two favorite comics, Fantastic Four and Thor, were drawn by two different artists! A lot is said about Kirby’s massive contribution to the visual language of comic art, but remember that Joe is the one who decided how these innovations should look in ink! No one had fig-

ured out how to ink Jack’s radiating explosion lines indicating a burst of light until Joe took the wheel. No one would have known how to ink the Thing’s rocky skin without Joe showing the way. Kirby’s crackling cosmic energy was raised to a new level of prominence after Jack saw what Joe would do with it. Everything from Jack’s slithery, metallic shine lines on the Silver Surfer to the way to ink an object traveling at great speed was first understood and then translated from pencil to ink the right way by Joe. Most importantly, as Joe inked Jack’s work he always pushed the drawings toward greater realism. I have always believed that the reason Jack’s art was more universally lauded during his first stay at Marvel was because it was more realistic. For me Jack was at his peak from around ’65 to ’80, but when he left Marvel and moved over to DC his work became more stylized and never seemed quite as based in reality as his previous Marvel art did. A lot of this difference in the art was the loss of Joe as the inker. By looking at Jack’s pencils in the Kirby Collector anyone can see how much Joe kept Jack’s art consistent, especially when it came to the likenesses of the characters. Many times Jack would draw the faces perfect but not always. With Joe’s help the faces always looked right, and often much more like the character than what Jack had actually drawn. Joe knew when to change and adjust Jack’s work and when to ink exactly what Jack had put down. Joe also always improved Jack’s hands, which became much less realistic after Jack jumped to DC as the ’70s began. Combining reality with Jack’s far out imagination was the mixture that made Marvel’s books so captivating and believable. It should also be noted that Stan’s incredible writing heightened the realistic effect as well. Without Joe, the real world in Jack’s art looked less real; therefore, the contrast between it and Jack’s imaginary worlds seemed less. Summed up, Joe was able to improve the greatest comic book pencils ever produced! I personally never saw Joe ink any artist whose work he didn’t compliment. From Steranko, who has told me “Joe was the best!”, to the Buscemas, from Gil Kane to Neal Adams, Joe inked them all and it always looked amazing.

These are some of the many reasons I consider Joe the greatest inker of all time! And he’s a great guy, too!

Working with Joe was such a pleasure. He was inking Ron Frenz at the time, who was heavily influenced by Kirby and Buscema. I was already enjoying their run with Tom DeFalco on the Thor series, when I found myself a small part of it. The way Joe and I usually worked together

was Joe would ink the parts he wanted to do and I would finish up what he left in pencil. I basically always inked the backgrounds but occasionally Joe would leave a foreground object such as Thor’s hammer for me to do as well. Sometimes I would ink a few pages of backgrounds in a given issue and other times I might ink most of them.

If memory serves, the least I did was 3 pages and the most I did was 17. Joe always inked all of the faces and figures.

Getting to see his originals was very informative. I would always think “What would Jack and Joe do?” when I was inking and this helped me keep the work in Joe’s style. I always loved inking outer space, and Asgard and the Rainbow Bridge are iconic images from my childhood since Thor is my second favorite comic ever. I always felt the reason I preferred the Fantastic Four was because Joe inked it and Vince Colletta inked Thor. From Joe I learned to use the Hunt #102 pen nib, the extreme importance of varying line thickness, how to better spot blacks, and a lot more. The fact that Joe trusted me with his originals gave me tremendous confidence, and getting to do the work itself gave me the chance to practice and improve. I can proudly say that I became an inker because I met Joe. He’s one of the biggest influences on my life.

--John Floyd I’ve often told the story of how a guy in my dorm shoved Amazing Spider-Man #30 in front of me and said, “You’ve got to read this.” Indeed I did, and afterward, I went down to my local college newsstand, where they were very sloppy with their magazines, and picked up a 3month run of almost every Marvel comic (so I was swept up in the ongoing storylines right away). Among that treasure trove was my first FF—#49, right in the middle of the Galactus saga—and very soon I was running around the dorm, shoving that comic in people’s faces, and saying not only “You have to read this,” but “This is the best artwork I’ve ever seen in comics. You cannot call it cheap crap after you look at Jack Kirby inked by Joe Sinnott.”

And of course I had Kirby inked by other people in that trove so I knew what I was talking about.

-- Steve Englehart To refer to Joe Sinnott as “a class act,” “the nicest guy in comics,” “the industry’s premier inker,” or “one of the most consistent, dependable professionals in the history of the business” would be true—each of those statements

completely justifiable—yet any one of them individually wouldn’t successfully encapsulate why Joe is so admired, practically without exception, in a fractious and sometimes contentious community of artisans and oddballs.

First, there’s Joe’s immense and undeniable talent.

His approach to drawing and rendering is laudably straightforward, with an emphasis on clarity of line and bolstering composition through choice of line thickness and subtle balancing of the background details against the foreground figures. Joe’s control over his line technique—both pen and brush—is extraordinary. He can make any drawing seem better, just by the assurance that his touch can bring.

I’m one of those who’s had the good fortune to have collaborated with Joe. For my own part, during the ’80s at Marvel, I was inking my own covers on Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and when editor Jim Salicrup advised me that he wanted to go with a different look for the cover art, I lobbied for Joe to take over the inks and was rewarded with not only a series of superior examples of how well my pencil art could be rendered (covers #5, 6, 10, 12, and the unpublished #11), but also the beginnings of a fine working relationship with the legendary Joe Sinnott. Joe was friendly, enthusiastic, complimentary towards my pencils (!), and—not surprisingly— completely professional and reliable. I requested Joe for many Marvel jobs thereafter and was always hugely pleased by the results. One job—an eight-page “Christmas Carol” take-off (featuring the Fantastic Four’s mailman Willie Lumpkin in the lead role) remains one of the most satisfying finished art jobs of my career. Joe doesn’t steamroll a penciler—or make “penciler’s decisions” for him—yet everything is improved. On our collaborations,

ABOVE: Deadbeats cover art by penciler Richard Howell and inker Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Claypool Comics.

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©2007 ABDO Publishing Co.

the finished work still looks like my penciling but every aspect of it has been improved. It’s as if Joe took my pencil work and brought it into very sharp focus, while retaining its intent.

I expect that I’m not the only one who’s benefitted from the presence of Joe Sinnott in the comics industry, not only as a craftsman and collaborator, but the enjoyment of someone of that stature who still retains such enthusiasm for his work, commitment to his job, his upbeat, always-positive attitude, the respect he shows to every one of his collaborators and co-workers, and the class and grace which he brings to the business. Joe’s a great inker, a fine gentleman, and a major asset to the comics industry and the world. Joe’s the best.

--Richard Howell Like so many comics readers of the 1960s, I first discovered Joe Sinnott’s work with the fifth issue of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four. In all likelihood just a fill-in job, Joe Sinnott was hired to apply his skills to the famously dynamic drawings of comics’ greatest artist, Jack Kirby. I, for one, had never seen such impeccable craftsmanship from a comic book inker. Sinnott’s lush style was a striking departure from the standards of the day. While his brush work was bold and fluid, he employed small steel pens to render details with the eye of an artist and a gem cutter’s precision.

Fantastic Four #5 offered observant fans the first glimpse of what was to come over three years later. With the forty-fourth issue of “The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine,” Sinnott returned to Marvel and, teaming again with Kirby, produced some of the finest super-hero comics of the 20th century. I know I’m not alone in considering Joe Sinnott’s exquisite styling to be the high water mark, the quintessence, of all that is lasting and memorable in the field of comics art.

But that is just one facet of Joe Sinnott. The journeyman side, let us say. He is a multi-tiered man of great

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character, a ready smile, and a story to tell for every occasion.

One such occasion came about during a bathroom break at the prestigious Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards of 1970. I happened to be the first to enter the men’s room and, typically, I held the door open for the person behind me. As he entered, saying “thank you,” I noticed the name tag on his lapel. It read JOE SINNOTT. I was a newcomer to professional comics and it was just a few years before, in my art school days, that I had shown Joe Sinnott’s work to my fellow students and teachers alike, impressing them with Sinnott’s pen and ink craftsmen.

Now, here I was, in some fancy New York hotel’s lavatory with “Jolting Joe” himself.

Had I known then of the rascally nature of my inking idol, I might not have waited outside in the lobby. But nevertheless, as he came out of the men’s room, I proffered my hand while introducing myself, then briefly expressed my admiration of his work. Joe (I called him Joe) smiled brightly, offered some polite thanks, and then we both returned to our respective banquet tables.

Decades later, at a bustling comics convention, I noticed Joe from across the room so I strolled over to say hello to him and his wife Betty. Joe was just concluding an animated chat with the fans that surrounded him. Some were smiling, a few were laughing, as I sidled up to the front just as Joe uttered his coup de grace, “ . . . then Barry turned around and peed all down my pants leg!” The crowd whistled and whooped at this as Joe raised his hands in dismay, saying, “And they were my favorite pants, too!”

The fans were practically delirious at the thought of a young Barry Windsor-Smith, unable to contain himself (in more than one sense), abruptly turning from the urinal in mid-piddle to praise Joe’s extraordinary brush and pen work. When the fans realized that I, the subject of Joe’s anecdote, was actually standing there among them, I could have straight-faced contested Joe’s variation of our first encounter in 1970. But it would have been mean spirited and anyway, Joe’s mischievous version of the story was more entertaining by far.

Joe Sinnott, artist and raconteur. I salute you, my friend!

--BarryWindsor-Smith To describe the work of Joe Sinnott you also describe the man. Both have style and class, along with a good deal

of panache.

Joe Sinnott has taken a simple tool and used it to draw some of the most beautiful line art I have ever seen, right down to the distinctive flourish of his signature.

Joe and his work have not changed over the years, and you can describe both with one word: elegant.

-- Tom Palmer Sr. As a young man, I lived in Westchester County. I was always impressed with his inking of Jack Kirby on the Fantastic Four. My friend and I would go to conventions in New York, but Joe would never appear. At that time, I looked in the phone book and found his number. I called him up nervously, and asked him if I could see him and get some books signed, and he said sure. We took the wrong bus and got there late. But he was gracious, and showed us what he was doing at the time. When it was time to go home, we went to the bus depot, and the conductor wouldn’t take our tickets. So he drove us to the express and paid for our tickets home!

Later on, when I decided to be an artist, I was influenced by his work as not an inker, but an enhancer. I have always tried to do the same.

--Bob Wiacek When I was at Marvel Comics, I was working on Captain America inking Sal Buscema and I put a bid in to pencil the book. While I was waiting to start penciling, Roger Stern and John Byrne expressed their interest so they got the book. In return for ‘giving’ the book up, I got to do The Defenders... inked by Joe! Of course, Joe is such a good penciler and inker that working with Joe was very pleasant. His work speaks for itself.

--Don Perlin I met Joe Sinnott as a young student. I was attending Word of Life Bible Institute and my choir had performed in Saugerties, New York. A friend and I were invited to stay overnight at one of the houses, and our host asked me what I wanted to be. So I said, “A cartoonist”. I know a cartoonist... Joe Sinnott, he told me. So I went over to Joe’s house that night, and he took a picture of us with him. Later he sent me a copy. He was such a gentleman and so encouraging such that he invited me to be his background artist. I had to refuse because I needed a work

permit! It was an exhilarating experience for a young man.

Thanks Joe!

-- Sergio Cariello

ABOVE: Pin-up of the Fantastic Four by penciler John Buscema and inker Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Joe Sinnott: His ink don’t stink!

I first became aware of Joe Sinnott’s inks on the legendary Fantastic Four #5, the issue that introduced Doctor Doom to Marveldom. Not that I knew Joe had inked it — I only knew that this issue looked different and somehow better. Of course, at the time, being a young comic fan from the suburbs of Detroit, I don’t believe I even knew what inking was, let alone the fact that it could make a difference in the appearance of the comic art I liked so much. But I learned.

With Thor’s first appearance in Journey into Mystery #83, I once again noticed the extra degree of polish applied to Jack Kirby’s scintillating pencil work. Soon I

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BELOW: Drawing of Joe as a boy in his Eagle Football team uniform. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

discovered why this was so. This issue too, had been “inked” by Joe Sinnott. It seems like a woefully inadequate word. Enhanced, embellished, exalted might better serve.

Because since then I have learned what inking is and what a great inker, Joe, can do to bolster the pencils of cartoonists of all levels of talent. Over the years I looked on with awe and respect as Joe added his talents to those of the Buscemas, Gil Kane, John Romita, Jim Steranko, Jim Starlin, countless up-and-coming young pencilers, and Jack Kirby, always Kirby, with some brilliant runs on The Fantastic Four, Thor, Captain America and dozens of other great characters.

Joe has the skill, the technique, the wide range of textures and mastery of the inking utensils to render any object beautifully. But he has more. Joe is not merely an

inker, slavishly following the penciler’s lines; Joe is a terrific draftsman, more than capable of penciling and inking his own work. In other words, Joe can draw. This is one of the greatest assets for an inker, allowing him to understand the penciler’s intent and transform that fuzzy gray graphite scribble into a crisp, well-defined black line.

And Joe has at least one other asset that many other inkers lack. He has the gift of... restraint. He can ink a penciler’s work, polish and improve it, without overwhelming or disguising it. Some inkers, even some very good ones, bury the penciler’s style under their own, with mixed results. Joe always had too much respect for the pencils to do that. He inks, embellishes, polishes, finishes, but you can always recognize the style of the penciler underlying the inks. This is one of the greatest gifts an inker can give a penciler — from the rawest rookie to the most prolific professional — allowing said penciler to retain his individuality.

When I was an editor at Marvel, he was a dream to work with. Always professional, he inked whoever and whatever was asked of him beautifully and (just as important to an editor) always on deadline. During my years penciling at Marvel I was extremely fortunate to have Joe ink my own pencils and/or breakdowns on many occasions. He often inked me on the Avengers — East and West Coast teams. The finished results were always far better than I envisioned when I handed in my humble pencils.

He always improved my work and for that, I thank him.

On the handful of instances when we met, mostly at conventions, Joe was warm and friendly, as respectful to fans and fellow pros as they were to him. Besides being a truly great inker—the gold standard to which many of us aspired during that wonderful period now known as the Marvel Age of comics—Joe is a true gentleman, in the very best sense of the word. Two such qualities in a man are rare indeed, and should be cherished.

-- Al Milgrom When I was teaching at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in 1948, I was freelancing for Timely, ACG, and Harvey Comics. A young Joe Sinnott was one of my students, and I asked him to be my assistant. Of all the assistants I ever had, he was the most talented, and I knew he was going to be successful. He did not disappoint me.

--Tom Gill 106

I have been a fan of Joe Sinnott ever since I started reading Marvel Comics in the early 1960s... he drew some memorable Thor stories at first and then when he came on to ink Jack Kirby on Fantastic Four #44 he blew away anyone else who ever laid a brush on the King’s pencils on the FF up to that time. “Slick” was a very appropriate description for his overall beautiful linework... but there were no textures that weren’t rich and alive, either, when Joe got done — rocks were coarse, metal shone, hair flowed, waves splashed, and flora and fauna alike each had a their own distinctive look and recognizability. Joe’s world was a wonderful place to live!

When I first started working for Marvel in 1986, I knew that finally I just might get the ultimate thrill to have Joe Sinnott finish my work — a cover or drawing or two at first here and there, but I have had the extreme pleasure of working with Joe on the Amazing Spider-Man Sunday newspaper strip for the last 10 years — and to this day, I am still excited and amazed at his skill and ability to make my pencils “sing and dance” — a complete professional through and through equally adept with a pen or a “brush. After all these years he still can make either of those tools do his bidding with the unwavering ease of a true master — the like of which has been imitated but never equaled.

God bless you, Joe — please keep entertaining and exciting us with your beautiful work! — and I can’t wait to see the next batch of Spider-Man Sundays when they get done!

All the best to you for many years to come,

-- Alex Saviuk I have always loved the work of Joe Sinnott over the years. As one of the early comic book writers/editors/ artists, I have seen many talented artists over the last 65 years, and even with that comparison, Joe is a master.

Being 93, he is still a “child” to me at 80, albeit a talented one. In my mind, he is the ‘Number One Joe’!

Congratulations on a great career Joe! It’s not over yet.

-- Joe Simon When discussing the art of comic books, inevitably the discussion encompasses the twin art forms of penciling and inking, each discipline defined by disparate ends and means, yet so united in their common graphic goal

that, when each are at their best, they comprise a yin-yang of perfectly balanced artistic collaboration.

While a great penciler must provide the essential framework of the art, it is up to the inker to not merely trace the pencils with India ink in a robotic display of mimicry, but, by intuitively understanding the uniqueness of the pencils, lend them their proper and correct shape and form, and thus, metaphorically bring them to life.

The history of comic book art is peppered with but a handful of great penciler-inker collaborators, teams who demonstrated, by their artistic prowess, this understanding of their respective roles in the creative end product: Ross Andru and Mike Esposito; Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson; Gene Colan and Tom Palmer; and

ABOVE: Pastiche of Fantastic Four #1 cover, only this one featuring members of the Justice League of America. Pencils by Ron Frenz, inks by Joe Sinnott.

Characters ©2007 DC Comics. Art ©2007 Ron Frenz & Joe Sinnott.

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ABOVE: Superb full pager

by Jack Kirby (pencils) and Joe Sinnott (inks). From Fantastic Four #95 [Feb. 1970]. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott.

Sinnott fortuitously began inking Kirby on The Fantastic Four in late 1965, right when the King embarked on what is arguably the greatest phase of his long career, the full flowering of his creative dynamism exploding the Marvel Universe. Coincidentally during this fertile period, Kirby also developed the many artistic tropes and stylized delineations of speed, power, and energy (“Kirby Krackle”) that have since become graphic

standards for generations of comic artists.

Sinnott was there to ink and codify it all, giving Kirby’s complex and sprawling pencils a sensitive, flexible contour and attention to detail that his FF predecessors, Dick Ayers, Chic Stone and Vince Colletta, could never have. They were all too one-dimensional: Ayers too heavyhanded with his brush, Stone too cartoony with his uniformly thick outlines, and Colletta too fine-lined with his scratchy pen (better suited to Kirby’s Thor work) to give Kirby’s new, multidimensional pencils the discriminatingly detailed and time-consuming inking they deserved.

Sinnott had in his inking arsenal what those others didn’t: both a bold brushline that was able to give Kirby’s supersized figures the heft and weight they commanded, as well as a fine penline that seemingly never missed the tiniest of dots in Kirby’s Krackle or a single rivet in the King’s outrageous, outsized technology. Sinnott’s brushline also had a natural thick-thin range to properly finesse Kirby’s true graphic signature, the omnipresent squiggle, found on everything from musculature to machinery, as no other inker had before or since.

Of course, aficionados of Mike Royer’s inking of Kirby at DC Comics in the 1970s might disagree. They claim Royer’s inks were the truest to Kirby’s pencils, and have cited Kirby’s own endorsement of Royer’s work as such.

While it is true that Sinnott would often “fix” details of Kirby’s work that Kirby would either overlook or pencil sloppily—like crooked eyeballs or costume details— Royer’s more so-called “faithful” inking indirectly exposed a harsher aspect of Kirby’s pencils, a rough-hewn quality that, in its uniformity of rendering by Royer, lacked depth from foreground to background. Nevertheless, Royer has his adherents, and, while such a subjective argument can

never be settled, I maintain Sinnott to be Kirby’s greatest inker.

And if Kirby is indeed the greatest penciler in comic book history, and his FF work his greatest single body of work, then Joe Sinnott can justifiably stake a claim as the greatest inker in the history of the medium.

-- Arlen Schumer Long before I ever met Joe Sinnott, I got to know him through his comics work. Just about every Saturday throughout most of the 1960s, my dad would dutifully drive my brother Bill and me the few miles to a neighboring town where we would visit arcane establishments that sold used comic books. For five cents each, we would pick up back issues of wonderful stuff from times that were as recent as the previous week or as far back as a decade prior to our respective births. Going into those places was like opening one of Forrest Gump’s boxes of chocolate.

Among the comics that I acquired during that time were a batch of Treasure Chest comics that featured artwork by the great Reed Crandall. Crandall may have been the reason that I shelled out a series of nickels for those books, but I was also impressed by the work of other artists who drew for Treasure Chest. One of those talented guys was Joe Sinnott.

I started to notice Joe’s name on other stuff and to recognize his art. The combination of his work and my liking of the Beatles was almost enough to persuade me to buy the higher-priced Beatles comic that Joe drew during the earlier days of Beatlemania. I can still remember holding the book in my hands and looking through it and wondering if I could afford such an extravagance before I returned the comic to its place on the spin-rack. As my daughter Kate (an avid Beatles fan) is fond of reminding me, I made a big mistake that day.

When Joe started inking Jack Kirby on Marvel’s Fantastic Four, I was there with my twelve cents. The Kirby/Sinnott team was a match made in some four-color Heaven. All the power and dynamism of Kirby’s work was kept intact by Joe’s inking, but there was an extra something there that no one... not even Kirby himself... could have provided.

Years later, I found myself making a living by working at the creation of comics. I wrote and drew and inked and colored whenever I could, but most of my comics work involved lettering for just about every comics com-

pany that had a book on the newsstands. Inevitably, I was forced to letter a very late book for Marvel that was in the midst of being inked. Using photocopies of the penciled art, I created the captions and balloons on separate paper.

These were then ... in the Marvel offices ... cut out and pasted down on the inked artwork. When I saw what had been done with my lettering, I was not happy and made a point of insisting that I would handle all the paste-ups on anything that I might letter in a similar manner in the future.

That’s the reason that, once a month, the Federal Express truck would pull up in front of our house and drop off the latest batch of inked-by-Joe Sinnott Fantastic Four pages. I had usually at least gotten a start on the lettering, having received the final script about the time that Joe was finishing his work on the inked art. As I finished the lettering (being able to be more precise because I was basing my stuff on the inked art instead of mushy

BELOW: Captain America pin-up penciled by Jim Steranko and inked by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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ABOVE: The Thunder god’s Asgardian lady friend, as penciled by John Workman and inked by Joe Sinnott. Sif ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 John Workman & Joe Sinnott.

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Xeroxes of the pencils), my wife Cathy would cut out the balloons and paste them down, and then I would extend the artwork into the slight white area outside those balloons.

I do remember getting a worried call from the FF’s editor. One of the characters in an important sequence was supposed to be Johnny Storm in his Human Torch form instead of the person who was in those panels. With time so tight, there was nothing left to do but have me re-draw and ink the Human Torch for those necessary panels. I can’t remember who the penciler was on that particular issue, but I thought that I’d managed to match his art style. The tough part was trying to be Joe Sinnott when I inked the Torch figures.

During that time, Joe and I talked frequently on the phone. I found out about his liking for Bing Crosby and told him of der Bingle’s visit to my “hometown” of Aberdeen, Washington during a time when one of the crooner’s sons had been involved in an auto accident there. Joe was impressed to know of my Washington connection, since Bing had been born in that state. I almost hated to admit to him that my actual birthplace was in West Virginia.

We talked a lot about comics as both an artform and a business, and I learned that Joe really liked working on layouts as opposed to finished pencils. The looseness of layouts gave him more freedom to work his wonders as an inker. We were both bothered by the necessity of adding the balloons after the inking was finished. I had always loved the idea that a penciler would be able to work from

a finished script and be able to plan for the placement of the captions and the word balloons and to make them a real part of the art and of the overall page design. I had to struggle to make the balloons on our Fantastic Four collaborations look as if they were an organic part of the artwork and not just an element that had been placed “on top” as an afterthought.

Joe was bothered by the idea of not knowing what the characters were saying in the panels he was inking. He felt that he wasn’t able to bring subtlety to the facial expressions because he didn’t know how happy or angry or sad the characters were supposed to be. If he knew that the last word spoken by a character in a particular panel contained an “o” vowel sound, he could form that characters lips in such a way that the visual matched the word.

But when the dialogue was written after all the artwork had been finished, there was a piecemeal feeling and a total lack of the wonderful unity of visual and written elements that is the hallmark of the greatest comics.

For the 400th issue of Thor, I drew a one-page “pinup” of the Norse God’s girlfriend Sif. I can’t remember if I requested that Joe ink it or if things just happened that way, but it was a real thrill to send a page of my own stuff off to Joe. If I’d had any sense, I would have done the art much looser so that Joe could really go wild. He inked the figure with lush ink lines and did simple and beautiful things with the backgrounds. He did stuff with that page that I never could have matched. There was raw power right next to incredible subtlety in his work, something similar to what Johnny Craig, Frank Robbins, Harvey Kurtzman, and Alex Toth brought to the world of comics.

When I got the original art back from Marvel, I studied it and saw even more evidence of the brilliance of Joe Sinnott’s work. I’d left a place for our signatures at the bottom of the page. Joe signed his name there, but he also signed and dated it on the back of the artwork. I’ll still have that piece of art when I breathe my last.

I wish I’d known, back when I had that Beatles comic in my hand, that one day Joe Sinnott and I would be sharing the art chores on a page in a Marvel comic and be working as inker and letterer on hundreds of others.

Being human, we never really acknowledge those unthinkably wonderful possibilities.

“Life is like a...”

You know.

-- John Workman

Chapter Eight

Pin-Up, Anyone? he career of Joe Sinnott post-‘retirement’ has been busy. The weekly assignment of SpiderMan has been a challenge unto itself, but not too much of a stretch for a man who could ink while he was sleeping better than most awake!

But while his regular work had stopped, his production of pin-up and commission art increased. Not only did he keep an active sketchbook, but he also created a variety of pin-up quality pages with characters from the Fantastic Four to Kent Blake.

Of course, The Thing has been a popular character in many of the prints he has drawn.

A complete listing of art created by Joe would fill this book many times over, and it would make the most exacting student of art drool with envy. A short

T

glimpse into the portfolio of Joe Sinnott might include some of the selections you see gracing these pages.

Pick a topic… he’s done a character study, sketch, or full print. Pick a character, he can do it. Cowboys, cowgirls, soldiers, actors, singers, super-heroes, children, passion, peace, educational material, advertising art, and even battling animals.

Dig back into his portfolio, and you will find a lifetime of doodles, studies, and works in progress that will never see ink or print. Look into the cabinets of comic pages executed with his comic book costars from Tom Gill to Alex Saviuk and everyone in-between. And appreciate the talent that took the simplest of ideas to fruition.

That is the art of Joe Sinnott.

LEFT: Western-themed pin-up by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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ABOVE: Wild stallions in full battle. Pin-up by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

BELOW: Illustration by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Silver Surfer and the Thing pin-up by Joe Sinnott. Characters ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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THIS SPREAD: Various characters as imagined by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Chapter Nine

While Bing Gently Sings oe Sinnott doesn’t always draw comic books... or Bing Crosby.... or sports figures... really. There are times he used his talent in other ways. For instance, during the 1960s and ’70s, Joe took on a variety of assignments from the advertising field.

“I was approached by the District of Carpenters group to produce a series of illustrations for their publications. The result was a whimsical series of art that I did in the evening. It was great

J

INSET RIGHT: Beatles-like cartoon drawn by Joe Sinnott for an advertising client in the mid-1960s. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

work, and some that none of my fans have seen until now. But, that wasn’t the only time I took on ad projects. I had an account in the mid-’70s with Ideal that resulted in a very popular ad that appeared on the back of comics for quite some time.

My Evel Knievel picture is one of my favorites of that time. I also did ad art for Marvel for a variety of products on their accounts.”

While working on his Bing Crosby radio show with Jim Johnson, Joe Sinnott also kept his pencil humming. Not only did he produce artwork for the international Bing Crosby fan community, but he put on his fedora and illustrated The Shadow, as well as many other radio characters. “I always liked The Shadow and thought I did a great job on it,” Joe commented.

“One thing I enjoyed about freelancing over the years is the variety of projects I have done. Not only have I done thousands of comic books, but some unusual book covers too. I got the assignment to produce covers for crossword books in the mid-’60s and produced quite a few for them.

They were a good break from the regular type of work I was doing.”

Over the years, Joe Sinnott graciously shared his talent with anyone who dropped by to visit, or asked him to give a presentation. Many professionals have shared stories of the time when ‘I dropped by Joe’s,’ or fans have written to ask for a sketch and received one!

LEFT: The Shadow is smartly illustrated by Joe Sinnott for an album cover.

The Shadow ©2007 Condé Nast. NEXT PAGE: Hostess Twinkies ad art by Sal Buscema (p)/Joe Sinnott (i). The Mighty Thor ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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TOP: Humor illustrations by Joe Sinnott produced for a carpenter’s union in the 1960s. ABOVE: Other ’60s-era cartoon work by the master. All are ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

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Advertising artwork by Joe Sinnott, circa 1960s. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

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This Joe Sinnott-illustrated ad adorned the back covers of a million comic books back in the 1970s. ©2007 the respective copyright holder.

Sinnott Gallery It’s the big green man versus the man of steel in this Joe Sinnott pin-up.The Hulk ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Superman ©2007 DC Comics.

Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

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Mighty Marvel’s Western gunfighters are honored in this pin-up by Joe Sinnott.

Characters ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Mother Teresa of Calcutta [1984] page with pencils by John Tartaglione and inks by Joe Sinnott. ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Checklist

Joe Sinnott Comicography ARCHIE COMICS [All stories listed by year were penciled by Jon D’Agostino and inked by Joe Sinnott, for a total of 374 pages.]

1969 — 86 pages 1971 — 152 pages 1972 — 56 pages 1973 — 80 pages Blue Ribbon Comics #13

CANDAR Zany #2

ATLAS COMICS Adventures Into Terror #8, 9, 11, 17, 24, 28 Adventures Into Weird Worlds #5, 6, 25, 30 Amazing Detective #11, 13, 14 Apache Kid #8 (first Marvel story, “The Man Who Wouldn’t Die!”) Arizona Kid #6 Arrowhead #1-4 Astonishing #10, 11, 29-31, 45 Battle #27, 28, 31, 33, 37, 38, 44, 51, 56, 57, 62-66, 69, 70 Battle Action #3, 16, 19, 23, 27 Battlefield #4 Battle Front #6-9, 11, 26, 31, 40, 44, 45, 48 Battle Ground #1, 4, 5,7, 8, 10, 15-18 Bible Tales For Young Folk #1-3 Black Rider #24, 25 Caught #1 Combat #4, 6, 7 Crime Exposed #6 Devil-Dog Dugan #2, 3 Frontier Western #4, 7 Gunsmoke Western #40, 45, 49, 52, 70 Journey Into Mystery #25, 31, 36, 41, 50 to 56, 58, 78, 79 Journey Into Unknown Worlds #9, 21, 24,

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39, 51 Justice #24 Kent Blake of the Secret Service #1-3 Kid Colt Outlaw #83, 85, 90 The Kid From Texas #1, 2 Love Romances #83 Love Tales #50 Man Comics #22-24 Marines At War #7 Marines In Action #7, 10, 13 Marines In Battle #7-9, 17 to 20, 23, 24 Marvel Tales #105, 109, 116, 140, 144 Menace #2, 7, 10 Men In Action #6 Men’s Adventures #13, 21, 22, 25 My Own Romance #71 Mystery Tales #13, 36, 37, 48 Mystic #8, 10, 54, 56 Mystical Tales #6 Navy Action #4, 9, 15, 16 Navy Combat #1-9 Navy Tales #4 Quick-Trigger Western #18 Rawhide Kid #28 Red Warrior #2 Ringo Kid Western #1 Rocky Jordan Private Eye #6 Rugged Action #4 Secret Story Romances #3 Spellbound #4, 8, 9, 15-17, 27 Spy Thrillers #1, 2 Strange Stories of Suspense #9 Strange Tales #7, 9, 17, 23, 24, 27, 35, 39, 45, 46, 52, 67-69, 71, 94 (“Pildorr”) Strange Worlds #3-5 Suspense #23, 25 Tales of Justice #63 Tales of Suspense #2-6, 27, 28

Tales of the Marines #4 Tales to Astonish #2-6, 10, 31 Two-Gun Kid #50 Two-Gun Western #4, 5, 7 Uncanny Tales #13-16, 29, 37, 38, 41, 52 War #12, 15, 33, 37, 42, 46-48 War Action #2 War Adventures #5 War Combat #3 Western Gunfighters #25 Western Kid #12 Western Outlaws #6, 9, 18-21 Western Outlaws and Sheriffs #70 Wild Western #34-39, 55, 56 World of Fantasy #16-19 Wyatt Earp #25

CHARLTON COMICS [All stories listed were penciled by Joe Sinnott and inked by Vince Colletta between 195963.]

Brides In Love #24, 28 Confidential Diaries #13-15 Cynthia Doyle, Nurse In Love #66, 67 First Kiss # 14, 22-24 Gorgo #5-10, 12 High School Confidential Diary #5-11 I Love You #27 Just Married # 14, 16, 21, 22, 24 Love Diary #14, 15, 17-19, 21 My Secret Life #41 Repitsaurus #4, 5 Romantic Secrets #31-35, 37 Romantic Story #55, 58, 60 Secrets of Young Brides #22 Sue & Sally Smith Flying Nurses #49 Sweetheart Diary #59, 61, 62 Sweethearts # 61, 63-65 Teen-Age Confidential Confessions #9-15

MARVEL COMICS Adventures of the Thing #1, 2 Adventures on the Planet of the Apes #1 Amazing Adventures #9, 10, 12, 14, 15 America’s Best TV Comics #1 Astonishing Tales #4, 10 Avengers #100, 102-104, 108, 111, 113, 114, 134, 136, 152, 153, 157, 158, 160, 169, 192, 229-252, 463 Avengers Annual #12 Beware #1, 3 Big Jim’s Pack #1 Black Goliath #4 Black Panther #10, 11, 36 Black Widow (Web of Intrigue) #1 Tales of Suspense: “Captain America” #71, 87, 90-98 Captain America #110, 111, 116-124, 127131, 141, 142, 147, 159, 162, 181, 183, 186, 190, 205, 208, 215, 218, 219, 234, 236, 237, 242, 243, 245, 295, 319, 335, 338 Captain America Annual #7 Captain America (Guardian of Freedom) #1 Captain America King Size Special #1 Captain Marvel #23, 25 Captain Marvel (Life of ) #3, 4 Captain Planet #4 Chamber of Chills #2, 4, 14 Champions #2 Conan the Barbarian #46 Conan (Giant Size) #5 Conan Saga #81 Creatures on the Loose # 21 Crypt of Shadows #7 Daredevil #43, 61, 65, 70, 91, 121, 139, 140, 144, 147 Daredevil Annual #4 Dazzler #3 Dead of Night #1 Deadpool #11 Defenders #13, 19, 22, 38, 45-48, 55, 57, 63, 82, 83, 93-105, 108, 109 Defenders (Giant Size) #3 Devil Dinosaur #4-6, 8 DP7 #21

Dracula Lives! #2 Droids #3 Eternals #15 Evil Knievel (Ideal) (back cover) Fantastic Four #5, 6, 44-92, 94-96, 98-102, 106-151, 155-189, 191 to 193, 195, 197-231, 236, 287, 288, 296, 304-333, 358, 483 Fantastic Four King-Size Special #2-7, 10 Fantastic Four Annual #11-15, 19, 21, 22 Fantastic Four Atlantis Rising Collectors Preview #1 Fantastic Four (Giant-Size) #1-6 Fantastic Four (Official Marvel Index) #7, 8 Fantastic Four Roast #1 Fantastic Four (World’s Greatest Comic Magazine) #1-6, 9-12 Fantastic Four: The Movie (r: FF #5) Fantastic Four: The Movie #1 (r: FF Annual #5 pin-up) Fantastic Four: Fox/Best Buy comic (r: FF #51 + cover) Fantasy Masterpieces #1 Fantasy Masterpieces (v2) #1-3 Fear #3, 4, 6 FOOM #5, 11, 20 Ghost Rider #1, 2, 10, 13, 23 G.I. Joe Order of Battle #3 Heroes and Legends #1 Hostess ads 1977-80: Spider-Man; Iron Man; Capt. America; Daredevil; Capt. Marvel; Thing; Human Torch; Thor; Hulk Incredible Hulk #226, 240, 273-278, 281285, 288, 289, 292 Incredible Hulk Annual # 11 Hulk vs. Thing #1 Rampaging Hulk #8 Human Fly #3, 5 Human Torch #1 Invaders #5, 6, 12, 14-19, 30-32, 35-40 Iron Fist # 5 Iron Man # 55, 56, 59, 81, 108, 284 John Carter Warlord of Mars #27 Journey Into Mystery #83, 84, 90-96 Journey Into Mystery Annual #1

Jungle Action #8, 11 Kid Colt Outlaw #187 Man from Atlantis #1 Marvel Age # 29, 44, 57, 109, 138 Marvel Age Annual #1-3 Marvel Comics Presents #12, 18 Marvel Double Feature #11, 14-21 Marvel Fanfare #11, 16, 17, 41 Marvel Feature #11, 12 Marvel’s Greatest Comics #33-76, 79-82, 86-93, 95, 96, 97 Marvel Illustrated Swimsuit Issue # 1 Marvel Premiere #20, 33, 36, 37, 41, 55 Marvel Presents #5, 8 Marvel Saga #6, 22 Marvel Selects #1-6 Marvel Special Edition #1 Marvel Spotlight #15, 25, 30 Marvel Super Action #4 Marvel Super-Heroes #24, 33, 56, 70 Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #5 Marvel Tales #9-11, 122-128 Marvel Team-Up #9, 14, 47, 61, 65, 67, 108 Marvel Treasury Edition # 2, 5, 11, 13, 21, 22, 23, 28 Marvel Triple Action #1-4 Marvel Two-In-One #1-4, 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 18, 21, 23-27, 31, 33, 37, 38, 47, 50-55, 62, 70, 71, 73, 75, 76, 100 Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1, 4, 5 Marvel Universe, The Official Handbook of vol. 7 Marvel Universe, The Official Handbook of (Deluxe Edition) #13 Marvel Universe, The Official Handbook of (Master Ed.) #24, 25, 27 Marvel Vision #11 Master of Kung Fu #22, 25, 33 Master of Kung Fu (Giant Size) #3 Monsters on the Prowl #17 Moon Knight (Special) #1 Mother Teresa of Calcutta #1 Ms. Marvel #1-9, 12, 13, 15 My Love #15, 29 Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1, 17 Night Nurse # 4

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No-Prize Book #1 Nova #1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 13-16, 18 Official Marvel Index to Fantastic Four #7, 8 Omega the Unknown #1 Our Love Story #16, 30 Outlaw Kid #21 Pope John Paul II (The Life of ) #1 Power Man #32, 48, 63 Questprobe #3 Rawhide Kid #89, 103 Ringo Kid #12 Rom #20-28, 29-33, 73 Savage Tales # 5 Shanna the She-Devil #3 Sergio Massacres Marvel #1 She-Hulk #5, 7, 100 Silverhawks #6 Silver Surfer #1-3, 15 Silver Surfer: Marvel Limited (graphic novel) Silver Surfer (vol. 3) # 32 Sledge Hammer! #2 Son of Satan #5, 6 Amazing Spider-Man #177, 178, 210, 350 Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 Spider-Man (Aim toothpaste) Spectacular Spider-Man #13, 14, 23 Untold Tales of Spider-Man ’96, ’97 Spider-Woman #1, 26, 30 Special Marvel Edition #25 Spitfire and the Troubleshooters #1 Strange Tales #94, 98, 139, 140, 166-168 Strange Tales Annual #2 Sub-Mariner #13, 14, 52, 54, 60, 62-64, 66 Superhero Merchandise Catalog Superheroes Puzzles and Games Supernatural Thrillers #7 Superpro (NFL) #1-11 Super-Villain Team-Up #3-5, 11 Super-Villain Team-Up (Giant Size) #1 Tales to Astonish #41, 42 Tales to Astonish (vol. 2) #13 Tarzan #19 Tarzan Annual #3 Thing #1, 2, 8, 9, 11-24, 26, 27 The Thing: Project Pegasus Saga (graphic novel)

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Thor #146 to 152, 158, 179 to 191, 198, 204, 207, 209, 210, 215, 218, 222, 224, 225, 227, 228, 230, 233-239, 241-251, 254, 257, 258, 260, 262-269, 271, 276, 279, 280, 331, 381, 400429, 432, 450 Thor (Giant-Size) #1 Thor Annual #2, 6, 14 Thundercats #3, 4, 13 Tomb of Darkness #16 Tower of Shadows #7 Two-Gun Kid #107 2001: A Space Odyssey #2 Vision and the Scarlet Witch #5, 6, 10, 12 Visionaries #1 Warlock #1, 4 Weird Wonder Tales #16, 20 West Coast Avengers #1-23 Western Gunfighters #1, 6 What If? #1-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 20 29, 30, 34, 42 What If? (vol.2) #9 What the--? #3 Where Creatures Roam #2 Where Monsters Dwell #18 X-Men #13, 52, 67, 76 X-Men (Heroes for Hope) #1 X-Men (The Early Years) #13 X-Men (The Hidden Years) #8

KING FEATURES Spider-Man Sunday Newspaper Strips Sept. 23, 1979 Larry Lieber/Joe Sinnott Dec. 26, 1982-Jan. 23, 1983 Fred Kida/ Joe Sinnott Sept. 27-Dec. 6, 1992 Ron Frenz/ Joe Sinnott Dec. 27, 1992-July 14, 1996 Paul Ryan/ Joe Sinnott July 28-Sept. 15, 1996 Sal Buscema/ Joe Sinnott Sept. 22, 1996-July 20, 1997 Fred Kida/ Joe Sinnott July 27, 1997-Present Alex Saviuk/ Joe Sinnott [NOTE: Joe Sinnott credited but Jim Amash

inked from June 5-Nov. 13, 2005, Mar. 26, Apr. 2, June 11, 2006, and from Dec. 17, 2006 to Mar. 15, 2007] Incredible Hulk Daily and Sunday newspaper comic strips Apr. 30-Aug. 26, 1979 Larry Lieber/ Joe Sinnott

GEORGE A. PFLAUM [All stories listed were penciled and inked by Joe Sinnott] Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact Vol. 17 #7, 19, 20; vol. 18 #1-12, 17, 18, 20; vol. 19 #1-20; vol. 20 #2, 4, 6, 8, 10-12, 14, 16, 18, 20; vol. 21 #1,2, 7, 11-20; vol 22 #2, 47, 10, 13-16, 18, 20; vol. 23 #8-11, 17, 19; vol. 24 #3-6, 9, 12, 17; vol.

25 #4-7, 10, 12, 16; vol. 26 #1-3, 58; vol. 27 #1, 4-8 Treasure Chest Summer Edition Vol. 1 #1, 2, 6; vol. 2 # 2

AMERICAN COMICS GROUP Magic Agent #2, 3 Adventures Into Unknown Worlds #157 Forbidden Worlds #105

GILBERTON Classics Illustrated Junior #554 (“The Enchanted Deer”)

DC COMICS Who’s Who In The DC Universe #16, 20 Superman, Man Of Steel Gallery # 1

DELL COMICS The Beatles #1 The F.B.I. #1 Jungle War Stories # 3, 7 Guerrilla War #12 12 O’Clock High #1, 2 Four Color #314 (Zane Grey’s Ambush)

THE EVENING STAR The Pride Of The Star

FANTAGRAPHICS Anything Goes #2

FLASHBACK COMICS Fantastic Worlds #2

GENESIS WEST Last Of The Viking Heroes #5

HOT LEAD STUDIOS Blackbird #1

Ed Sullivan and The Beatles are caricatured by Joe Sinnott. BELOW: Page from Joe’s art job on the Fab Four’s Dell comic book [Sept. 1964]. ©2007 the respective copyright holder(s).

IMAGE COMICS Wildstar: Sky Zero (graphic novel)

KRYPTON KOMICS Tales of the Wonderkind #3

MAGNUM Mickey Mantle #1-3 Brooks Robinson #1 Duke Snider #1

MASSTAR COMICS Pete Rose #1

RADIO SHACK Story Of Electricity

SONY The Recycler

STAN SMITH TENNIS TIPS ST. JOHN’S Mopsy #12 (“Trudi: The Heavyweight,” five pages, 1950—First published work)

THOMAS SCIOLI 8 Opus #5

TOPPS COMICS Zorro #5 Satan’s Six #1 [NOTE: A complete listing of Joe Sinnott’s work can be found at www.joesinnott.com]

127

Afterword by Mark Evanier

Just a Guy Named Joe haven’t seen Stan Lee’s foreword for this book so I have no idea what it says. But I’ll tell you what it should say if the man has a gram of honesty in his soul….

It should say, “Thank God for Joe Sinnott!”

Or at least, “Thank Odin….”

I’ve been a comic book editor… not like Stan, of course. No one’s ever been an editor like Stan. But I had the same problems they all have, that even Stan had. They involve getting comic books written and penciled and lettered and inked and colored and corrected and off to the printer. If that’s your job description, you get down on your knees and pray for a guy like Joe Sinnott.

Because a guy like Joe Sinnott makes your life so much easier.

There are some very fine writers and artists out there who have what we might call “occasional problems” getting work done in anything resembling On Time. (I’m being tactful. There are freelancers who couldn’t get it in by the deadline if you were holding their loved ones at gunpoint. I know because I tried it and it didn’t work.)

You wait and you wait, long past the date on your schedule. You hear excuses from them or — worse — sometimes you don’t hear excuses or anything from them.

You’re screwed and since comics work like an assembly line, the other folks involved in the process are probably screwed, as well.

Eventually, what the late guys hand in may be so good that it’s worth the tsuris. But not always. And sometimes, before you finally get the pages in, there are moments where you’re tempted to yank large clumps of hair from your own scalp...

I

INSET RIGHT: A recent portrait of the Great One.

128

...and you’d readily trade your parents and several of your own body parts for a guy like Joe Sinnott. Because, as you just heard if you were paying attention, a guy like Joe Sinnott makes your life so much easier. The work is always in on time and it’s always good.

Notice I didn’t put a “usually” in there. With Joe, it’s always on time and it’s always good. If he says it’ll be there on Thursday, it’s there on Thursday.

Or maybe even a day or two before.

Like clockwork.

And good. When Stan sent him excellent pencils — work by Jack Kirby or John Buscema or Gene Colan or anyone in that rarified category — he not only made every deadline but he’d actually do the under-drawing proud, capturing everything the penciler put in and adding in much that he hadn’t.

Joe especially has a way of separating the planes of the work... knowing that this is supposed to be in front of that, bolding the proper lines and truing-up the perspectives to make that happen. Small wonder that when Wally Wood — a great artist and a darned good inker of Kirby, himself — saw what Joe was doing on Fantastic Four, he remarked, “Now, that’s how Kirby should be inked...”.

But every editor occasionally winds up with penciled art that isn’t in the Kirby/Buscema/Colan class. Some new guys don’t work out, some old guys lose it. There were times at Marvel when they were so over-committed, spewing out more books per month than they should have, that lesser artists were employed and better ones were cattle-prodded to knock it out faster.

When those jobs went to Sinnott, they still came back looking good. He’d fix this, he’d adjust that, he’d add a little twinkle just where one belonged. If the artist scribbled ten lines to denote one shape, Joe’s erring eye

LEFT: Joe Sinnott at his drawing table in the 1960s.

would select the only one worth saving. Now and then, with a minimum of grumbling, he’d quietly redraw whole panels.

I remember seeing the pre-Sinnott pencils to one job that shamelessly exploited Joe’s skill and professionalism.

The penciler had left a lot of things loose and a lot of things out, knowing that since it was going to Sinnott, all would come out fine. Needless to say, it did.

The following issue, he tried it again and that time, it didn’t work. Why? Because some other book was in more dire need of Joe that month and the editors deployed their best inker in that direction. A normal human being embellished the lazy penciler’s next job and the absence of Sinnott left a hole the length and breadth of the Grand Canyon: Sloppy figures, missing backgrounds and cockeyed perspective.

The normal human being who’d finished the art wasn’t a bad artist, either. It’s just that he wasn’t Joe. I only have one negative thing to say about inking by Joe Sinnott. It’s that it’s prevented us from getting nearly enough complete art by Joe Sinnott. He’s a remarkable guy with a pencil, too. You’d have to be to keep up with some of the brilliant pencilers he matched, line for line, note for note.

Joe put the lie to the notion that an artist inks because he isn’t good enough to pencil or do it all on his

own. I don’t have to prove this to you because I’m sure this book contains proof enough. Look at all those great war and western jobs for Atlas. Look at all those historical dramas for Treasure Chest. Look at that Beatles comic book for Dell. Shouldn’t there have been more of that?

And that’s the only thing I don’t like about my friend, Joe Sinnott. The only thing. He is such a sweet, unassuming treasure of a man that the worst thing I can write about him here is that he’s spent too much of his career making others look good, not nearly enough reminding us that he never needed anyone else to have great comic book art coming off his drawing table.

There’s an old saying in comics that I think I made up. It’s that an artist can be very good, very dependable or very nice... and that in order to have a real career in the field, he needs to have any two of those three qualities.

Since the day he set foot in the industry, Joe Sinnott has not only been all three, he’s been the Gold Standard for all three.

To Stan Lee and all his successors as Editor-in-Chief at Marvel: You were lucky to have him all those years and I sure hope you appreciated him. I know all of us who read those comics did.

--Mark Evanier Elocutionist

129

Bibliography

Recent pin-up of The Thing by Joe Sinnott. Character ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

Classics Illustrated, A Cultural History With Illustrations. William B. Jones, Jr, McFarland & Company, 2002 Comics Creators on Fantastic Four.

130

Tom DeFalco. Titan Books, 2005

Joe Sinnott interview, Marvel Age #109

Joe Sinnott interview conducted by Peter Normanton, From The Tomb #17, Halloween 2005

www.comics.org www.joesinnott.com

Special Thanks Working on Brush Strokes With Greatness: The Life and Art of Joe Sinnott has both been an honor and a pleasure. Right off the bat, I got to have countless conversations with a man universally respected in the comics industry. That in itself, was a privilege. With the passing of his wife Betty, and the celebration of his 80th birthday, I was both party and witness to, the outpouring of love and support from friends and co-workers seldom seen in the industry. Over the course of many conversations with Joe, and his many admirers and fellow professionals, I gained an appreciation for him that goes beyond words. If they gave an award for dependability, humanity, and humility, it would go to Joe. But, he is so gosh darned humble, he wouldn’t accept! I would like to thank the many people who made this book a pleasure to write. In no particular order, thanks go to those who paid tribute to Joe, both in word or picture.

A big thank you to Mark Sinnott, without whom this book would not exist.

Mark, your love for your father and commitment to preserving his artistic legacy is highly appreciated.

To Scott Kress of Catskill Comics, your scanner rocks!

To John Morrow and his staff, those awards are no accident!

To Heritage Auctions, for the cover scan of Mopsey #12.

I’d like to thank my wife, Karen, and kids for your patience and putting up with ‘just one more call.’

Of course, Joe, thank you so much for sharing your talent and time with comic fans.

Tim Lasiuta, Red Deer, Alberta

Galactus by Joe Sinnott. Character ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

A Message from the Artist

From Joe, With Love...

The Hulk and The Thing toast all of the friends of Joe Sinnott.

Pin-up by Joe Sinnott.

Character ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Art ©2007 Joe Sinnott.

I need to say a few things that I have always wanted to be made known.

I can’t begin to say how much I have appreciated the interest in my work that the comic fans have always shown over these many years. Your truly genuine regard for my contribution to comics has always amazed me.

Whether it be at conventions, by mail, phone or otherwise, it is a humbling experience to know that you like my work. I can’t thank you enough.

I love and appreciate all of you.

January 2007

132

COMICS MAGAZINES FROM TWOMORROWS ™

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Just a Guy Named Joe...

Joe Sinnott is a true living legend. During his 56-plus-year career in comic books, he has worked in every genre, and for almost every publisher. As a young artist in the 1940s, he started with Stan Lee at Timely Comics, then branched off to Charlton Comics, Treasure Chest and Dell as a top penciler.

But the creation of The Fantastic Four in 1961 by Stan and Jack Kirby ushered in the Marvel Age of Comics, and Joe began a long and storied association with Marvel as its top inker. His deft touch can be seen on almost every book published by Marvel in the 1960s to the late ’80s, and today, Stan and Joe continue that tradition with their collaboration on the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip seen by millions every Sunday.

Brush Strokes With Greatness celebrates the storybook career of the versatile artist, as Joe demonstrates his passion for his craft. In it, he shares his experiences working on Marvel’s leading titles, memories of working with Lee and Kirby, and rare and unpublished artwork from his personal files. This book features dozens of colleagues and co-workers paying tribute to Joe and his amazing body of work, plus an extended art gallery, and a checklist of his output.

• Introduction by Stan Lee • Afterword by Mark Evanier • Appreciations by Neal Adams, Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Romita Sr., Roger Stern, John Workman, John Byrne, Joe Staton, George Pérez, Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe, Mike Royer and more!

• Rare art, color gallery and bonuses galore! $ 17.95 In the US ISBN #978-1-893905-72-6

TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina Thing, Thor, Spider-Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Silver Surfer, Ms. Marvel, Hulk, Dr. Doom TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. Other characters TM & ©2007 their respective owners.