Sal Buscema is a God 1 1

[JadeGiant]

[glendgold]

I got very very late onto Sal's commission list and the request went unfulfilled - I wanted an Elf with a Gun, as a page with him on it is pretty much the final missing piece of my collection.

[glendgold]

On 4/20/2022 at 6:18 AM, JadeGiant said:

Oh, it won't stop at 4 - trust me

Hey, how many pages did Sal draw? That's the number we're looking to replicate.

[JadeGiant]

On 4/20/2022 at 12:16 PM, glendgold said:

Hey, how many pages did Sal draw? That's the number we're looking to replicate.

I like the cut of your jib sir! 

I'd like to have all of his Hulk pages but that won't happen - almost to 50 of them, a long way to go!

[Drummy]

I liked Sal and Joe S. on the Hulk, mostly because #199 was the very first comic I read along with FF #172.  Perez/Sinnott certainly gave me more artistic punch of the two, but there was something about Hulk's savagery under Sal's pencils that made the action come alive.  Would love more Sal Hulk pages in time; am actually working to get my first splash page as we speak!

Dan

[Chaykin Stevens]

On 4/20/2022 at 5:16 PM, glendgold said:

Hey, how many pages did Sal draw? That's the number we're looking to replicate.

According to Mike's Amazing World, Sal pencilled 13578 pages (7th most prolific), inked 8539 pages (33rd most prolific) and worked on a total of 18750 pages (again 7th most prolific).

[glendgold]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:31 PM, Chaykin Stevens said:

According to Mike's Amazing World, Sal pencilled 13578 pages (7th most prolific), inked 8539 pages (33rd most prolific) and worked on a total of 18750 pages (again 7th most prolific).

We are ants.

Edited April 23, 2022 by glendgold

[Drummy]

Speaking of Sal, I was at the NJ Art Con this morning and saw the dealer who bought this recently...had the entire book up for sale.  Not an important issue, but a cool one with lots of action and heroes.

Dan

[Eelco]

On 4/23/2022 at 9:47 PM, Drummy said:

Speaking of Sal, I was at the NJ Art Con this morning and saw the dealer who bought this recently...had the entire book up for sale.  Not an important issue, but a cool one with lots of action and heroes.

Dan

Wow cool and rare to see such a complete seventies book by Sal! Thanks to share. 

[Michaeld]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:31 PM, Chaykin Stevens said:

According to Mike's Amazing World, Sal pencilled 13578 pages (7th most prolific), inked 8539 pages (33rd most prolific) and worked on a total of 18750 pages (again 7th most prolific).

Who were the first 6?

 

[joeypost]

On 4/23/2022 at 11:02 PM, Michaeld said:

Who were the first 6?

 

Rank	Name	Pages	Stories
1	Stan Goldberg	21423	3703
2	Jack Kirby	19021	1519
3	Curt Swan	18916	1419
4	John Buscema	18029	823
5	John L. Byrne	16862	829
6	Gene Colan	15867	1239
7	Sal Buscema	13578	675
8	Carmine Infantino	13279	1108
9	Mark Bagley	12439	598
10	Gil Kane	12295	967

pencils

Edited April 24, 2022 by joeypost

[joeypost]

On 4/24/2022 at 7:00 AM, joeypost said:

Rank	Name	Pages	Stories
1	Stan Goldberg	21423	3703
2	Jack Kirby	19021	1519
3	Curt Swan	18916	1419
4	John Buscema	18029	823
5	John L. Byrne	16862	829
6	Gene Colan	15867	1239
7	Sal Buscema	13578	675
8	Carmine Infantino	13279	1108
9	Mark Bagley	12439	598
10	Gil Kane	12295	967

Inker 

 

Rank	Name	Pages	Stories
1	Michael Esposito	22878	2162
2	Scott Hanna	22100	963
3	Vince Colletta	20926	1623
4	Tom Palmer	17299	815
5	Giordano	14986	773
6	Allen Milgrom	14836	784
7	Josef Rubinstein	14022	602
8	Klaus Janson	13671	607
9	Danny K. Miki	12964	568
10	Robert Allen Smith	12952	1174

[Latverian Tourism Board]

I will add my entries for Sal’s godliness here. Talaoc shares in the divine spark on that Ufoes page. The rest is all Sal. 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Latverian Tourism Board

[Bronty]

I like that last page.   Nicely done.

[gumbydarnit]

On 4/24/2022 at 9:10 AM, Latverian Tourism Board said:

I will add my entries for Sal’s godliness here. Talaoc shares in the divine spark on that Ufoes page. The rest is all Sal. 

Very nice Sal collection… Ufoes were really very memorable! CONGRATS!

[DeadpoolJr.]

Besides the amount of art Sal has done he's also known for how he signs his pages. Not always in the most desired parts in the negative space of the art itself. 

Edited April 24, 2022 by DeadpoolJr.

[MAR1979]

On 4/24/2022 at 9:00 AM, joeypost said:

Rank	Name	Pages	Stories
1	Stan Goldberg	21423	3703
2	Jack Kirby	19021	1519
3	Curt Swan	18916	1419
4	John Buscema	18029	823
5	John L. Byrne	16862	829
6	Gene Colan	15867	1239
7	Sal Buscema	13578	675
8	Carmine Infantino	13279	1108
9	Mark Bagley	12439	598
10	Gil Kane	12295	967

pencils

Wow, I had no idea Byrne and Big John were that prolific.  Also surprised Dan Decarlo and Warren Kremer did not make into the top 10. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by MAR1979

[zhamlau]

Ha....I don't check in on the boards for a bit and a little anarchy ensues.

Well, it appears ARTSOC has failed in our noble effort to keep "The Average" in his place. Even party loyalists are coming out admitting his importance and value to the industry and among his peers...I never thought I would see the day...

So, all cards on the table I guess. I like Sal (obviously) both as an artist but also as a historically significant comic book artist. My thoughts on this are pretty clear.

  1. 7th all time on the pages pencilled list. That alone makes you one of the greats. You don't get that much work if you aren't that skilled. Inkers can something slide by with lesser efforts and still get paid, pencillers not so much.

  2. . Worked consistently from 1968-2014 due to the caliber of his craft and not just nostalgia like most others on this list. He even worked on a story in 2020 for marvel, and the work was still good. To be consistent for so many decades and be able to work on so many varied stories for so many different publishers, I can't think of anyone else like him in that regard.

3. 34th all time most pages inked, that alone is impressive. Whats more though, I think the only guy on both lists with similar numbers is John Byrne (and he was mostly just inking himself). To be able to mesh with so many other artists as both a penciller and inker to the point you are HOF caliber in both over a 50+ year span, that is unique in comic book history. 

4. The man is 86 years old, and he is still doing high quality commissions of varied and unique characters. I've seen work from him over the last 5 years that looked like something he could have done in the 1970's (my favorite era for his work). How many artists have ever been capable of that? So many later in life commissions by some of the greats are mere shadows of the work they produced while in their prime. The same can no be said for Sal's output. That shows a love and dedication to the craft. That means something, at least to me. 

5. The man did almost 14k pages while only working on 675 stories. Think about that, most of these guys "padded" those numbers by doing tons of fill in pages on huge jam books with multiple artists. Sal's output is almost exclusively as a penciller on books he was the primary artist on. The books sank or swam with him as the artist because he was usually pencilling all the pages. And he was so good, so consistent, he was given decades and decades of first run titles to pencil and almost all from the varied main stream publishers. It wasn't all self published or single character runs for one company. He could and did work as the primary artist carrying the book on dozens and dozens of different runs. He could and did work on any almost any character for any publisher who needed quality work done in quick order.

 

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the guy. Him being a good dude who is humble as heck and good to fans of course plays a part in this as well. But just on the quality, scope, and longevity of his work I say the man is a top 10 comic book artist of all time and a top 5 marvel artist specifically.

[fsumavila]

On 4/26/2022 at 12:30 PM, zhamlau said:

Ha....I don't check in on the boards for a bit and a little anarchy ensues.

Well, it appears ARTSOC has failed in our noble effort to keep "The Average" in his place. Even party loyalists are coming out admitting his importance and value to the industry and among his peers...I never thought I would see the day...

So, all cards on the table I guess. I like Sal (obviously) both as an artist but also as a historically significant comic book artist. My thoughts on this are pretty clear.

  1. 7th all time on the pages pencilled list. That alone makes you one of the greats. You don't get that much work if you aren't that skilled. Inkers can something slide by with lesser efforts and still get paid, pencillers not so much.

  2. . Worked consistently from 1968-2014 due to the caliber of his craft and not just nostalgia like most others on this list. He even worked on a story in 2020 for marvel, and the work was still good. To be consistent for so many decades and be able to work on so many varied stories for so many different publishers, I can't think of anyone else like him in that regard.

3. 34th all time most pages inked, that alone is impressive. Whats more though, I think the only guy on both lists with similar numbers is John Byrne (and he was mostly just inking himself). To be able to mesh with so many other artists as both a penciller and inker to the point you are HOF caliber in both over a 50+ year span, that is unique in comic book history. 

4. The man is 86 years old, and he is still doing high quality commissions of varied and unique characters. I've seen work from him over the last 5 years that looked like something he could have done in the 1970's (my favorite era for his work). How many artists have ever been capable of that? So many later in life commissions by some of the greats are mere shadows of the work they produced while in their prime. The same can no be said for Sal's output. That shows a love and dedication to the craft. That means something, at least to me. 

5. The man did almost 14k pages while only working on 675 stories. Think about that, most of these guys "padded" those numbers by doing tons of fill in pages on huge jam books with multiple artists. Sal's output is almost exclusively as a penciller on books he was the primary artist on. The books sank or swam with him as the artist because he was usually pencilling all the pages. And he was so good, so consistent, he was given decades and decades of first run titles to pencil and almost all from the varied main stream publishers. It wasn't all self published or single character runs for one company. He could and did work as the primary artist carrying the book on dozens and dozens of different runs. He could and did work on any almost any character for any publisher who needed quality work done in quick order.

 

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the guy. Him being a good dude who is humble as heck and good to fans of course plays a part in this as well. But just on the quality, scope, and longevity of his work I say the man is a top 10 comic book artist of all time and a top 5 marvel artist specifically.

ALL OF THIS. 

I'll also add that aside from an astounding amount of work, Sal was involved with countless runs that are considered classics. The guy is a fantastic storyteller.

 

[trimpehulk]

The Man called …Sal Buscema