Pratt Robbed
Hey, Robb Pratt stole my dream job of cartoonist-animator!
Add comment July 4th, 2012
Posts filed under 'Comic Books'
Still in Search of Steve Ditko
With all of the publicity surrounding the new Spider-Man movie, I assumed my posts featuring In Search of Steve Ditko would get some more hits, and they are, but now there’s a much better copy available of the 2007 BBC documentary by Jonathan Ross.
Add comment July 2nd, 2012
Look! Up in the sky! Listen! Up in the Fresh Air!
Terry Gross on Fresh Air interviews Larry Tye, author of a new book about Superman and the men who created the character.
Tye apparently isn’t essentially a comic book fan, which is perhaps a good thing. I don’t know yet how he portrays Siegel and Shuster, the creators of Superman. In recent years it’s become apparent that there was a lot to not like about writer Jerry Siegel the man, and Joe Shuster drew sleazy fetish illustrations, perhaps out of financial necessity and/or an interest in the genre. There’s a Fresh Air segment about that, too.
Add comment June 19th, 2012
He’s Mighty Sore!
At the request of Mark Sinnott, I scanned a picture of the original, unedited cover to Journey Into Mystery #83 that his dad, Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, inked over Jack Kirby’s pencil art, for the first appearance of The Mighty Thor. Hover over the color picture to see how the illustration looked on Joe’s drawing table. Click here to see the scan I’m sending to Mark.
A point of particular interest to Silver Age comic book fans is the fact that the figures of the alien stone men were removed (undoubtedly at Stan Lee’s direction) during post-production, after Joe had inked them and turned in the finished job. Later, another comic book inker, who I shall not name, took it upon himself to sometimes erase background figures from Jack Kirby’s penciled pages, rather than ink them.
Add comment June 18th, 2012
Albany Comic Book Trek
Denro and I are in Albany for a one-day comic book show. Here’s a picture of Joe Sinnott holding court for a one-hour panel, moderated by Rocco Nigro. Joe’s son Mark is on the right. Rocco sat between them so the boys wouldn’t start fighting. 
Add comment June 10th, 2012
Fans in the fold-in
There was a 2-day comic book con in Boston this weekend. Three stalwarts of MAD Magazine were there — Al Feldstein, Al Jaffee, and Paul Coker. After writing and/or drawing many memorable stories for Bill Gaines at EC, Feldstein was MAD’s editor for almost 30 years, throughout its heyday.
Jaffee is famous for his fabulous back cover fold-ins. Click here to see some interactive Jaffee fold-ins, presented by the NY Times. Jaffee is also known for his Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.
Prolific Paul Coker’s unmistakable drawings appeared in many pages of MAD, but he’s perhaps best known for designing the animated Frosty the Snowman cartoon.
I spent most of my time at the convention today sitting at Joltin’ Joe Sinnott’s table, helping with requests for autographs and sketches, while his son Mark made the rounds and Denro procured old comics, including one from 1951 that he found, with Joe’s second ever appearance in a Marvel (then Atlas) comic book. This scan is of Joe’s inking on Steranko’s famous centerfold splash page in Captain America #111 (March ’69).
2 comments April 22nd, 2012