Sal Buscema, Comic Book Legend, Dead At 89
Sal Buscema, a comic book legend known for his decade-long run on The Incredible Hulk, eight-year run on The Spectacular Spider-Man, and more, has reportedly passed away at age 89. Today would have been his 90th birthday.
The news was first reported on Facebook by artist Sterling Clark, who previously worked on an issue of a book called National Guardians that also included inks from Buscema. Clark was told by Buscema’s wife Joan that the legend passed away last Friday (January 23) — just shy of his 90th birthday. Wrote Clark:
“Wow. I just received word from Mrs. Joan that Sal Buscema passed away last Friday. He was 89. Today, he would’ve turned 90. When I think back on my childhood and all of the comic books that I read, Sal’s name seems to have appeared in just about all of them. I didn’t just read the books that he illustrated, I studied them.
Every nuance in his pencils and his inks I saw and tried to mimic. He was definitely one of the greats during those years at Marvel, when handling more than three titles a month was not just a requirement but a necessity. Sal’s art had a direct impact on my own, along with his older brother John, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, John Romita Sr and Ron Frenz.
Ron, God bless him, was the person responsible for Sal and I meeting some time ago and for that I’ll be forever grateful. Sal was a very nice, kind and generous person who I am happy to have known and who took note of my skills enough to mentor me. The wonderful conversations we had will always be cherished.
My condolences to his wife Joan, the Buscema family and to all of us fans who grew up with and love his amazing art. I’ll have more posts later. – SC”
Originally from Brooklyn, Buscema started in the comic book industry as an inker, working with his brother John Buscema on art at Dell Comics. Though he bumped around to different jobs over time, it wasn’t until 1968 that he came into his own.
That’s when he interviewed at Marvel, under encouragement from his brother, and eventually got some work working on Western comics. He also worked with John on Silver Surfer, inking his brother’s pencils, before Buscema started pencilling Avengers.
Other runs for Marvel over the course of three decades include stints on The Uncanny X-Men, Sub-Mariner, Captain America, and Marvel Team-Up. In the latter, he created Jean DeWolff, and helped debut the spinoff Spider-Man title Spectacular Spider-Man. He also worked on New Mutants, and Thor with Walt Simonson.
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The disrespect
Never heard of this, no wonder he was playable in True Crime LA