Iconic Marvel artist Joe Sinnott dies at age 93

Comic book artist Joe Sinnott has died at the age of 93, as reported in a Facebook post on his official page. Sinnott's family, who drafted the post, did not disclose a cause of death.

Sinnott's grandson, Dorian, tweeted about his grandfather's passing, saying "It is with great sorrow that I must announce the passing of my grandfather, legendary [Marvel Comics] artist, Joe Sinnott. He passed away this morning, June 25th, at 8:40 am at the age of 93. He enjoyed life and was drawing up until the end. RIP, Poppy."

(Image credit: Joe Sinnott (TwoMorrows Publishing))

Sinnott was best known for his work with Marvel Comics, whom he worked for from the publisher's Timely/Atlas Comics days in the '50s, after starting his career inking comic strips and Western stories for Dell Publications. In the early days of his time at Marvel, Sinnott would ink and pencil stories assigned by then-editor-in-chief Stan Lee, primarily in the western and crime genres.

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During a period away from Marvel in the early '60s, Sinnott spent six months working in commercial art including advertising and billboards and even working for DC before Marvel eventually re-hired him. By this point, Marvel Comics had moved into publishing superhero stories, though Sinnott kept working on western comics alongside occasional issues of Thor or Fantastic Four, the title he'd eventually become most synonymous with. In this period, Sinnott also worked for Charlton and Dell before joining Marvel exclusively.

Diving into his Marvel career, Sinnott began inking Fantastic Four starting with 1965's #44, codifying Jack Kirby's vision of the Thing (which had often fluctuated with other inkers) and embarking on one of the longest runs in comic book history, with Sinnott inking Fantastic Four regularly until 1980, and even returning for a stint in the late '80s.

Though Sinnott stepped back from regular comic book work in 1992, he continued to do intermittent projects as well as inking the Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip until his formal retirement in 2019. Sinnott's last Marvel Comics work was inking a cover drawn by John Romita, Jr. for 2011's Captain America #1.

"It with great sorrow that we must announce the passing of Joltin’ Joe Sinnott on June 25th at 8:40 am at the age of 93. He went peacefully with the knowledge that his family, friends, and fans adored him," reads Sinnott's family's statement. "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. Thank you again for being such loyal and dedicated fans and friends to Joe. He considered all fans friends, and seeing you at cons and reading your messages was what kept him young at heart."

Sinnott's family requests that condolences be sent to: The Sinnott Family, 27 Spaulding Lane, Saugerties, NY 12477 USA.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)