Sal Amendola graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1969 with the school’s then offered 3-year certificate. He eventually returned, with Robert McGinnis as his thesis adviser, to earn his MFA in illustration. Sal started his comics career in 1969, drawing stories for editor Dick Giordano's The Witching Hour, and becoming Giordano's assistant editor in 1970.[1] At DC, Amendola worked in the production department, where he did coloring, inking, lettering, and page headings. He provided artwork on such features as "Green Arrow" in Action Comics and "John Carter, Warlord of Mars" in Weird Worlds.[2] He drew spot illustrations for an Aquaman text story in Super DC Giant #S-26 (July–August 1971).[3]
Amendola left DC for Marvel Comics in 1972, where, as an associate editor, he worked on letters pages, coloring, and backgrounds. Unhappy at Marvel,[4] Amendola soon returned to DC. He plotted and pencilled the Batman story "Night of the Stalker!" based on an idea by Neal Adams, but the story was rejected by Batman editor Julius Schwartz.[5] Several years later, Schwartz was succeeded by Archie Goodwin, who asked Amendola to show him the story, and accepted it.[6] It was finally published in Detective Comics #439 (Feb.–March 1974), with dialogue and captions by Steve Englehart,[7][8] and inks by Dick Giordano.[5] It is considered one of the greatest Batman short stories ever.[5][9][10]
In 1976, Amendola was part of the Crusty Bunkers, a group of comic book inkers who assisted Neal Adams on various projects.[11]
Tarzan of the Apes/The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (2012), full color cover, black & white interiors
A Pack of Trouble by James Gauthier (2011), full color cover, black & white interiors
Witnessed, the True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions by Budd Hopkins (1996) selected interior artwork
Left at East Gate by Larry Warren and Peter Robbins (1997) cover illustration
Streetwise edited by Jon B. Cooke and John Morrow, TwoMorrows Publishing; entry: “My Heroes Have Always Been Super”, written, pencilled, inked by Amendola
Leonard Starr’s Mary Perkins On Stage volume seven, Classic Comics Press (2010); Introduction
Draw Comics with Dick Giordano (2005) Impact Books; Perspective drawing pages
The Illustrated Comic Art Workshop (1982) the pages on perspective, and some pages on figure drawing and hands
Notesedit
^Source, Sal Amendola ledger, 1975 - 1983.
Dates in parentheses indicate when artwork was completed, not necessarily publishing dates.
^Levitz, Paul (2010). "The Bronze Age 1970-1984". 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Cologne, Germany: Taschen. p. 507. ISBN 9783836519816. This rarity appeared in a publication cover–dated four months after the first Aquaman series had been canceled.
^Rozakis, Bob (June 18, 2001). "In Search of... Sal Amendola". Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2008. Went to Marvel. I was 'associate editor', doing letters pages, coloring, backgrounds …. They rightly fired me.
^ abcArndt, Richard J. (April 2018). ""Nice" Is the Word: A Few Words on Archie Goodwin". Back Issue! (103). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 12.
^Hatcher, Greg (September 12, 2015). "Déjà Vu on the Night of the Stalker". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
^Hatcher, Greg (November 28, 2015). "More Déjà Vu with Sal Amendola and the Night of the Stalker". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
^Manning, Matthew K. (2014). "1970s". Batman: A Visual History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 116. ISBN 978-1465424563. Writer Steve Englehart earned his first Batman credit when he created the dialog for this issue's lead feature that was plotted and drawn by Sal Amendola.
^Hatcher, Greg (July 29, 2011). "Friday With The Best". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. 'Night of the Stalker' by Steve Englehart, one of the greatest Batman short stories ever.
^Reineke, Robert (n.d.). "The 10 Best/Must-Read Individual Batman Comic Book Stories Of All-Time! (Part 2 of 2)". Batman on Film. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017.
^Theakston, Greg and Nowlan, Kevin, et al., at Bails, Jerry; Ware, Hames. "Crusty Bunkers". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999. Archived from the original on May 11, 2007. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
^Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. In the tradition of DC's anniversary editions, World's Finest Comics #300 was an extra-length issue contributed to by a variety of comic book talent. Written by David Anthony Kraft, Mike W. Barr, and Marv Wolfman, and illustrated by Ross Andru, Mark Texeira, Sal Amendola, and George Pérez.{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External linksedit
Sal Amendola at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
Sal Amendola at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies; Arts & Letters Council