Tag Archives: Comic book history

Making The Cut

“Stan [Lee]’s secretary would call me. She’d tell me that things weren’t going well and ask me if I’d take a $3 rate cut. Well, what could you say? I needed the work because I was raising a family. And the other companies weren’t doing much better. Places like EC had folded up.
“About three months later, she’d call again and ask if I’d accept another cut … I was up to $46 a page for pencils and inks and that was a good rate for 1956, when the decline started. I was down to $21 a page when Timely stopped hiring me. And they expected the same quality of work.

[Later on, in 1959 …]

“I got a call from Vinnie Colletta, who wanted to know if I was interested in penciling romance stories for [Charlton Publications]. I must have done hundreds of stories for Charlton. I could really knock them out … I got paid $8 a page, and then it went to $7 a page, which was like a dollar a panel.”

– Joe Sinnott
from and interview with Jim Amash
Alter Ego fanzine #26

Joe Sinnott

One of my all-time favorite comic book artists gives an overview of his career.

Interview with comics legend Joe Sinnott, Part 1 from The Comic Archive on Vimeo.

Interview with comics legend Joe Sinnott, Part 2 from The Comic Archive on Vimeo.

A couple years ago, I had the great pleasure of hiring Joe to ink this variant cover, penciled by Sal Buscema, another comics legend himself, for “The Life and Times of Savior 28” issue # 1, the series I co-created with J.M. DeMatteis. Colors by Andrew Covalt.

The Brave and the Bold

“Mort [Weisinger] and I got along with in a business way, but it was an awful time. If you shook in your boots, especially in those days, they would jump all over you. When he was very rude to [Jerry] Siegel, I told him, “You wouldn’t be sitting behind that desk if he hadn’t created Superman, you know.” I never kept my voice down. When they wanted me to do something over I would say, “Whatever I give you is the best I can do.” My attitude was, they’re not bosses, they’re editors.”

-Al Plastino (Golden/Silver Age “Superman” artist extraordinaire)
from an interview with Jim Kealy & Eddy Zeno
Alter Ego fanzine #59