best of the bunch

One of the highlights of the recently concluded Pittsburgh Comicon was getting to meet none other than Joe Sinnott, who gets my vote as the greatest comic book inker of all time.  In his lengthy career Joe has inked what surely amounts to thousands of comics, but I know him best as the definitive Fantastic Four inker.  He was there from the beginning - inking Dr. Doom's first appearance in FF #5 and then a long stretch from 1965-1981 - and he's shaped the look of the comic as much as any artist not named Kirby.  In addition to inking the main title, Joe also had his turn at inking many of the spinoff Fantastic Four titles, such as Marvel Two-In-One and the solo Thing title.

As I've often gushed over my love for the Thing as a character, I've always wanted to meet Joe and was thrilled to find out that he'd be attending the show.  Every time I go to a convention, I take with me a sketchbook that includes sketches of the Thing - and only the Thing.  Joe was kind enough to add his own rendition to the book, and you can see the result above.  What a classic image!  As impressed as I am by the 35-or-so other drawings in the book, this one takes the cake for sure.  It was such a thrill to get to meet a comic book legend and one of my all-time favorites.