Joe Sinnott, the inker whose work helped define much of Marvel’s line from the 1960s into the 1980s, passed away this week, as reported by his family on Facebook.
“It with great sorrow that we must announce the passing of Joltin’ Joe Sinnott on June 25th at 8:40am at the age of 93,” the Facebook post says. “He went peacefully with the knowledge that his family, friends, and fans adored him. He enjoyed life and was drawing up until the end. He always loved hearing from all of you and having your comments read to him. Each and every one of you were special to him.”
A military veteran who served in the Navy during World War II, Sinnott receievd several medals while working as a SeaBee. After the war ended, he worked for his dad for three years before heading to art school. While still attending the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York, Sinnott’s first break in comics was Trudi in the St. John Publication humor comic Mopsy #12.
Sinnott then moved on to work with his instructor, Tom Gill, at Dell Comics as his background and incidents artist. The gig paid $7.00 a week, working evenings and weekends. Sinnot reflected on this time fondly as Gill was “paying [me] well” and “gave me my start.”
Sinnott picked up work from Atlas Comics, which later grew into Marvel Comics. He worked as a penciller and an inker on titles such as Journey Into Mystery, Two Gun Western, Battlefield, Young Folk and others. He also spent time on books like Classics Illustrated, being a ghost penciller on some DC Comics titles, and picking up gigs as a billboard artist, only to come back to the Marvel in 1965 to work on Fantastic Four as the inker to Jack Kirby, whom he worked with on Journey into Mystery. The two went on to collaborate on other comics, like Captain America, The Inhumans and The Silver Surfer graphic novel.
As one of Marvel’s most prolific inkers in the 60s and 70s, his credits also include The Avengers, Hulk, Black Panther, Spider-Woman, Nova, X-Men and The Mighty Thor.
When he retired from comic books in 1992, Joe Sinnott’s “semi-retirement” gig was an outstanding 27 year run a the inker of the Amazing Spider-Man Sunday comic strips, until its end in March 2019.
Creators have been pouring out their tributes and condolences for Sinnott.