Our pal, Sal

Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema are doing some work for IDW now, which just makes me happy to no end. I’ve never been one to keep my love of ROM, SPACEKNIGHT a secret, and that’s due in large part to what Sal did on that book. And on THE INCREDIBLE HULK. And SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. And THOR. And MARVEL TEAM-UP, and on and on… so many decades of great work, just hundreds of issues of my childhood and adulthood. And while Sal holds a very special place for me and my love of comics, I also have always loved Ron Frenz’s work, from his more Ditko-like AMAZING SPIDER-MAN to his Kirby-esque THOR and beyond. And the two of them together are just a great team.

So it’s not hyperbole at all to talk about how much it means to have them doing work for me now. I mean, there are certain people you just so firmly associate with Marvel that you never really think they’ll be gettable. Sal did once pencil, and Joe Sinnott ink, a cover for J.M. DeMatteis‘ SAVIOR 28 for us, but I didn’t work directly with either guy on that one. It’s been nice to get to chat with Sal about all kinds of things now, but mostly about work, which he still does so well and is excited to do more. So the above cover is just a taste of what he and Ron’ll be doing with us. It’s the cover to our first G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO ANNUAL, coming in February. Sal will be inking chapters penciled by Ron, Herb Trimpe, and Ron Wagner there. And Sal and I are working up something else for him right now as well.

Suddenly I’m 10 years old all over again.