Joe Sinnott passed away on June 25th, 2020. I first saw Joltin’ Joe Sinnott’s inking on the first issue of the Fantastic Four (FF) I bought off the stands, FF #76. I was 10 years old and it was the most exciting time, in my opinion, to be a fan of comic books.
I didn’t know it was the crowning period of the Silver Age,but I sure do now.
This was the era of Jack Kirby, John Romita Sr, Gene Colan, John Buscema, Jim Steranko, giants all, but it didn’t take me long to appreciate the spit and polish Joe Sinnott brought to whoever he inked. Yes, he was always consistent and never seemed to do a rushed job.
He made Kirby shine that much brighter, and with an explosiveness that was almost auditory in nature.
When Joe inked Gene Colan for a short period on Captain America, he not only was able to still allow Gene to shine through, but he made the action look more in motion and the people in the issue look lifelike and either stunningly beautiful or just more … natural in their actions.
When Kirby left Marvel for DC, Joe stayed on the Fantastic Four! From 1965 to 1981 he did the inks on Marvel’s flagship title. He kept a consistent “look” to the FF whether it was drawn by Jack Kirby, Big John Buscema, George Perez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Keith Pollard or John Byrne.
He was 93 when he passed away and was working up to age 91, inking the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strip.
So we have lost another giant. It’s probably safe to say his record won’t be broken for professional longevity and personal kindness.
When I discovered Joe Sinnott at the age of 10, he even stood out as much to me as the great comics that were on the stands that month. The Spectacular Spider-Man #1 magazine, Amazing Spider-Man #62, Avengers #53, Daredevil#41, Captain America #103, Dr.Strange #179, Nick Fury #2, Sub-Mariner #3 and more!
I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but everything I ever read about the man never failed to mention what a genuinely nice man he was.
What a fantastic time to experience comics at the peak of the Marvel Age explosion of titles.
I am sure that most of you know Joe Sinnott’s work but if by some chance our younger readers of these posts are not familiar, do yourself a favour and pick up the FF#44 to 102! You will not be disappointed!
Continued Happy Collecting.
I had no idea he did the FF inking for so long! That is a run to be proud of. Amazing.
I still really like his solo Atlas stories in the 1950s, particularly his sci-fi work. He did a couple covers and some great stories in Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, #1 I believe, just before and at the beginning of the Lee/Kirby monsters era.
I think he did work across all the Atlas titles, really strong. But you nailed it, his inking for Kirby in the FF, nothing better.
Inkers don’t always get the credit they deserve, glad he has. It was a honor to meet him, and Joe Giella, in 2018 at Terrificon in Connecticut. I felt like a fanboy meeting two giants, a real highpoint for me. They were both selling signed prints of their best cover art, it was fun picking out my favories and getting them inscribed!
Bud he did a ton of work and for many publishing houses and every genre.He did Thor inJIM before Kirby took over and it could be said that he was probably as much of the Marvel “look” more than any other inker.He will be missed!
Agreed! His FF run is my all time favorite! He was a giant among giants and he will be missed!
And congrats, that’s a great picture of Sinnott and Stan. What a history those guys shared, and Joe stayed a Marvel artist thru thick and thin, from the fifties meltdown to long after Stan was no longer writing stories….
Happy 4th guys! And whatever it is to you Canucks, too.
Happy Independence Day Bud!
Thanks, Dennis! I didn’t know about this Profile thing until I clicked on your picture. I have a good pic of me breaking open a CGC book for a friend, I’ll figure out how to make that my picture. Ahh, technology… I had a wonderful oudoor/masked breakfast visit with my kids and grandkids. No fireworks in our county, too much fire danger…so amazingly quiet thia year.
Bud, sign up at gravatar.com and add your photo. They’re owned by the same company as WordPress and a lot of the internet uses Gravatar as the basis for user images.
Thanks Dennis. Joe was a Giant. I very much liked his inking,though I loved Kirby inked by many others as well. FF #44 to 64 was as good as the Fantastic four could get. But I found issues 65 to 102 less spellbinding, the panels were bigger and less numerous, something personal seemed to be missing from the heart of the Fantastic four. I suspect it was Jack Kirby”s heart that was missing. He’d been lied to, too much by this point. Still loved issues 102, 92,93 and 94…but the future end was in sight of Lee and Kirby’s FF .
Later I found Big John Buscema and Rich Buckler found that missing magic and returned the FF to their former glory
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