Sal Buscema is one of my favorite comic book artists. This month, November 2018, is the 50th anniversary his professional debut.
Sal is the younger brother of artist John Buscema. While he was still working on honing his craft, Sal would occasionally do uncredited background inking on John’s artwork. In 1968 Sal finally felt he was ready to enter the comic book industry on his own, and brought sample pages to Marvel Comics. He was quickly hired by editor Stan Lee.
Sal’s very first credited work for Marvel Comics was on Rawhide Kid #68, inking Larry Lieber’s pencils. According to Mike’s Amazing World of Comics, this issue went on sale on November 5, 1968.
Sal’s second job also came out that month, on November 19th. Silver Surfer #4 was penciled by his brother John. It is now well-known that John was often critical of inkers, believing that only a few really knew how to do his pencils justice. He would have preferred to do full artwork, pencils and inks, but time and financial constraints often prevented this. John, from having had Sal assist him in the past, knew that his brother would do a faithful job inking his pencils on this issue.
“The Good, The Bad, and the Uncanny” features an epic confrontation between the Surfer and Thor, who have been manipulated into combat by Loki. It is often regarded as one of the high points of John’s artistic career, and from all indications he was satisfied with Sal’s inks on it, as well as on the next three issues.
(For an in-depth look at Silver Surfer #4 please head over to Alan Stewart’s blog Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books.)
Sal had initially intended to focus on inking, but he was very quickly recruited by Marvel to pencil. He was immediately thrown into the deep end, assigned the team book Avengers. His first work was penciling the cover to issue #67, and a month later did the full interior pencils for #68, paired with writer Roy Thomas and inker Sam Grainger. The issue featured the Avengers in a titanic tussle with the diabolical robot Ultron.
Sal went on to have a very successful career in comics. He worked on nearly every Marvel title published in the 1970s and 80s. Beginning in the mid 1990s he also began working for several other publishers. Sal was blessed with speed, an incredible work ethic, and a strong sense of storytelling. This meant that he could always be relied upon to turn in a quality job on time.
Although officially retired, Sal continues to work in comic books, primarily as an inker, most often paired with penciler Ron Frenz, who he has inked on numerous occasions over the past two decades, on a long run on Spider-Girl, as well as several other series. Sal is also currently working with Guy Dorian Sr. on several projects. Among these was the Rom storyline “Battle Scars” which saw Sal’s return to the cult classic Space Knight.
For a really good, informative look at Sal’s career and artwork, I highly recommend the excellent book Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast & Furious Artist by Jim Amash with Eric Nolen-Weathington, from TwoMorrows Publishing. The cover artwork is a wonderful showcase of Sal’s dynamic artwork, an explosive illustration by Sal of the Incredible Hulk and his longtime adversary the Abomination slugging it out.
I want to offer my congratulations to Sal Buscema on creating a half century of amazing comic book artwork. He has brought enjoyment to so many readers over the past five decades, myself included. Thanks, Sal!
In My Not So Humble Opinion 