13 COVERS | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Jan26

13 REASONS to Love Our Pal SAL BUSCEMA

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jan 26, 2026

A tribute to the Marvel mainstay, who has died at the age of 89… — UPDATED 1/26/26: Today was to be Sal Buscema’s 90th birthday but word emerged that he died three days ago. Here is a piece from his birthday in 2024. For more, click here and here. — Dan — By CHRIS RYALL Sometimes working in comics is pretty great. In fact, minus the complicated business end of things, most parts are great — primarily the chance to get to know and befriend creators whose work made me love comics in the first place. And one of the best creators I had the good fortune to get to know and work with is “Our Pal” Sal Buscema, who is celebrating his birthday. Sal turns 88 and he’s still working, bringing that steady hand and brush to masterfully ink the lines of pencilers like Ron Frenz and Guy Dorian Sr. For all the years I worked with Sal, I never met him in person until 2021, when he and I and Guy signed together at Comics and Gaming, a Virginia comics shop near Sal’s house. (A video interview with Sal at that event, with color commentary from Guy and me, is available on YouTube). To help celebrate Sal’s birthday this year, I tried to dig a bit deeper than the usual Sal covers that get spread around (deservedly, don’t get me wrong; it’s just that he’s done so much great work over the course of his long career that I wanted to see if I could spotlight some lesser-posted images. And besides, 13thD overlord Dan Greenfield already did a great job spotlighting 13 of Sal’s Avengers and Defenders covers in a past celebration. And since I always find it hard to limit myself to 13, I’ll again bookend the official pics with a few additional images before and after the numbered pieces to follow. Up first, I like this single-page Hulk origin piece that Sal produced in a joint collab between Marvel and Coke (back when they were testing out their Gamma Ray-enhanced version of New Coke). The one below didn’t quite make the cut of my final 13 but I felt like any image with M.O.D.O.K. getting punched in his enormous cranium deserves some special attention. And finally, I’ve always loved this self-portrait with Sal at the...

Jan26

PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite SAL BUSCEMA Splash Pages

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jan 26, 2026

PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite SAL BUSCEMA Splash Pages

The celebrated Mr. K pays tribute to the artist, who has died at 89… — UPDATED 1/26/26: Today was to be Sal Buscema’s 90th birthday but word emerged that he died three days ago. Here is a piece from his birthday in 2025. For more, click here and here. — Dan — By PAUL KUPPERBERG I can tell you exactly when I first noticed Sal Buscema’s work. It was in Silver Surfer #4 (February 1968), as the inker over his brother John’s pencils. I can also tell you exactly how I reacted to Sal’s inks on his brother John’s pencils: Where has this guy been hiding all this time? At the time, I had no way of knowing that not only had Sal not been hiding, but he had also already worked briefly in comics during the early-1950s and gone on to a career in advertising and commercial art, including work for the U.S. government for the Department of Defense and Department of Agriculture. That early comics work had also been inking over brother John’s pencils on the stories he was doing for Dell Comics, and when Sal (born Jan. 26, 1936) did make the move back into comics in 1968 with John’s encouragement and help, it was, “to be an inker. I didn’t want to pencil,” Sal told comics historian Jim Amash. But he had spent a year under John’s tutelage learning how to produce a dynamic Marvel Comics page, resulting in samples that Stan Lee liked enough to ask the artist to come to New York and draw for the company. “I wanted to work full-time for Marvel, so it was out of necessity that I pencilled,” he told Amash. According to Sal, John was unhappy with Joe Sinnott’s inks on the first three issues of Silver Surfer, feeling his pencils were being overshadowed by the inker’s finishes. Sal told Amash, John “knew that I knew how to ink his work.” And that he did, but as good as the finished product was and as reluctant as Sal was to lay down his brush in favor of the pencil, the younger Buscema was soon one of Marvel’s busiest artists. He would go on to such memorable runs as 10 years as artist of The Incredible Hulk, and eight years on The Spectacular Spider-Man, as well as long...

Home » 13 COVERS

Mar30

Happy Birthday, BATMAN! Here are 13 Great Covers

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 30, 2015

And they’re not all what you might expect.

Mar26

My 13 Favorite Romance Covers, by JANELLE ASSELIN

Posted By 13th Dimension on Mar 26, 2015

The editor behind the white-hot crowdsource project Fresh Romance is here to school you on love…

Mar22

13 COVERS to Salute WILLIAM SHATNER!

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 22, 2015

Captain Kirk turns 84 today! Hailing frequencies open …

Mar14

13 COVERS to Salute IRWIN HASEN

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Mar 14, 2015

We lost one of the last links to the Golden Age of comics this week with the death of Irwin Hasen at age 96. Here’s our 13 COVERS tribute.

Feb27

13 COVERS to Salute LEONARD NIMOY

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 27, 2015

One of our favorites left us today — and Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock certainly deserves a 13 COVERS Salute!

Feb17

A Birthday Salute to CURT SWAN

Posted By 13th Dimension on Feb 17, 2015

For over three decades Curt Swan drew DC‘s flagship title Superman, along with Action Comics, Lois Lane, World’s Finest, Superboy in Adventure Comics, and other titles. He’s been called “the Norman Rockwell of comics.” As a kid growing up in the ’60s, his was the Superman and Superboy I will always consider the definitive version. Here’s 13 covers to celebrate Curt Swan’s birthday…

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13 REASONS to Love Our Pal SAL BUSCEMA

PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite SAL BUSCEMA Splash Pages

Happy Birthday, BATMAN! Here are 13 Great Covers

My 13 Favorite Romance Covers, by JANELLE ASSELIN

13 COVERS to Salute WILLIAM SHATNER!

13 COVERS to Salute IRWIN HASEN

13 COVERS to Salute LEONARD NIMOY

A Birthday Salute to CURT SWAN

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