Joe Sinnott - Captain America

2012.11.11 Albany Comic Con, Albany, NY

I had the pleasure of first meeting Joe Sinnott when Matt and I were at Comic Book Marketplace       NY, where he graciously signed a book for us. His commission card was full by the time we reached his table. This time, in Albany, I was able to achieve my goal of obtaining a Captain America sketch. I do not have any more Captain America FDCs, so I chose a 13-star envelope to represent the Captain America shield...

I don't often get to watch the artists draw, as I am visiting other artist to obtain sketches, but I stayed and we observed Sinnott work.  At 86 his hand is still steady, and the profile view truly shows his skill...

Sinnott started his career after his discharge from the US Navy, serving during World War II, by entering the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (School of Visual Arts). His first professional job was the backup feature Trudi, published by St. John Publications Mopsy #12 (1950). He became an assistant to Tom Gill drawing backgrounds on Western titles for Dell Comics...

His break came when he started at Timely/Atlas Comics (Marvel) when Stan Lee hired him in 1951. Sinnott would provide art for Adventures into Terror, Marvel Tales, Journey into Mystery, Battle Action, navy Combat, Frontier Western, and many others...

After some freelance work for DC, EC, Dell and Charlton comics, Sinnott would ink his first superhero story for Marvel over Jack Kirby's pencils on Fantastic Four #5 (1962). By 1965 Sinnott was back at Marvel full-time inking the X-Men #13 and a long stint on Fantastic Four and some Captain America stories.

Over the years Sinnott would ink the pencils of John Romita, John Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, Rich Buckler, George Perez on almost every major Marvel title....

Currently Sinnott is still in inking the daily Amazing Spider-Man Sunday comic strip, which he started in 1992...

Two of the 2007 Marvel stamps issued by the USPS feature the pencils of Jack Kirby and inks of Joe Sinnott, The Thing and Silver Surfer...

Jim Calafiore - Batman

2012.03.31 NY Comic Book Marketplace, NYC

Jim Calafiore first broke into comics on Valiant's X-O Manowar and Armorines. Moving on to DC and Marvel to produce quality work on Aquaman, Exiles Gotham Underground, various Batman titles, Secret Six. On his webiste Califiore lists his influences as John Byrne and the X-Men, along with Berni Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith, Richard Corben's work in Creepy and Eerie, Windsor McKay, Maurice Sendak, Bilal, Caza, Drulliet and most important Moebius.

Favorite characters are the Hulk, Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Metal Men

The first day cover honors the 50th anniversary of the motion picture industry in 1944, with the central design of the stamp showing GI's in the South Pacific watching the 3 Musketeers in a native setting. With this cover I had been waiting for the right artist to sketch the Batman as seen in the 1943 Columbia Pictures serial. The Batman had very pointed ears and a longer nose on the cowl. Calafiore depicted the character perfectly, and looks as if it could have been drawn in 1943.

The NY Comic Book Marketplace featured many great guests most notably Stan Lee. My son Matt had the opportunity to obtain Lee's signature on a Fantastic Four book and also obtained a signature from Joe Sinnott. All of the artists and celebrities in attendance were great, and a pleasure to meet. From Henry Winkler to Mark Texeira (his signed Ghost Rider comic is on Matt's Page). An excellent experience and a day to remember...

Marvel Comics - Fantastic Four Lost Adventures, signed by Joe Sinnott and Stan Lee.

We waited close to 1.5 hours for the Stan Lee signature. They kept all the fans at a 2-table distance from Stan, and used an intermediary to hand items back and forth. It was worth it. Through it all Stan kept his sense of humor and was very pleasant.

A quick out of focus photo of Stan Lee and Matt

I was speaking with Don Smith and Spiro Ballas at the Super Mega Show in Whippany in June 2012. When mentioning that Matt met Stan Lee, Don quipped "So he got his 30 seconds of Stan Lee!" Very appropriate. 

updated 2012.06.30

The autograph ticket was excellent, featuring a nice color sketch of Stan. However they collected the tickets as you reached the table and would not let you keep them. They would have made an excellent souvenir of the event.