Born inBrooklyn, New York City, toSicilian parents,[3][1] Silvio "Sal" Buscema was the youngest of four siblings. His father, who was born inItaly and died in 1973, was a barber.[4] Sal's brothers were Alfred andJohn, a celebratedcomic book artist, and his sister was Carol.[5]
As a youth, Buscema was a fan ofHal Foster'sPrince Valiant comic strip,[6] ofGeorge Tuska's comic book art,[7] and of commercial illustrators such hasRobert Fawcett andNorman Rockwell.[8] He acknowledged that his artist brother John was "greatly responsible for me pursuing drawing. ... John was definitely an inspiration".[9]
Sal began working in the comic book industry as aninker in the early 1950s when his brother agreed to let him ink comics pages; this led to Sal helping John by doing occasional background art onDell Comics series John was drawing.[10]
After high school, Buscema found work at "a small, two-manadvertising art studio inManhattan" but was fired after three months of doing mostly production work. He went on to a larger commercial-art studio, where he was a gofer and a delivery person. He quit, then spent less than a year filling wedding-ring orders for the jewelry manufacturer J.R. Wood and Sons before beingdrafted into the peacetimeU. S. Army in 1956. Classified as an "illustrator", he served with theArmy Corps of Engineers stationed atFort Belvoir in Virginia.[11] He spent 21 months doingfilm strips and charts as training aids before being discharged. He attained the rank ofspecialist 3rd class, which he called "equivalent tocorporal."[12]
Sal briefly returned to New York City to assist at a one-man art studio, but through a friend from the army, he secured a position at Creative Arts Studio inWashington, D.C. where he did illustrations for government agencies, including theDepartment of Agriculture and theDepartment of Defense. After living with his godparents for three months, Buscema and an Army buddy became roommates inAlexandria, Virginia.[13]
In 1961, a call from his brother John brought Buscema to New York City to work with him at the advertising agency Alexander Chaite, Inc. After a year and a half, John returned to the comic book industry. Sal joined Mel Emde, a friend and colleague from Creative Arts Studio, who was opening his own company, Design Studio. Sal worked there until 1968.
In 1968, Sal began working forMarvel Comics, where John was already established as a freelance artist.[14] Sal had spent "every night for about a year" teaching himself "how to produce a dynamic page" in the Marvel Comics storytelling style, enduring harsh critiques from John. Sal recalled in the late 2000s:
Once I got the hang of it I made up ... six sample pages ofpencils [i.e. penciled, uninked art pages], which I regret, because I wanted to be aninker. I didn't want to pencil. My first few jobs for Marvel were inking jobs, but I did those while working for Design Center. I wanted to work full-time for Marvel, so it was out of necessity that I penciled. [Editor-in-chiefStan Lee] loved [the samples]. He asked me to come on up to New York, which I did, and I went through the most fantastic interview of my life. Stan was leaping on his chair and his desk, just to relate to me physically what he wanted on a comic-book page. It was fascinating and it was charming all at the same time. He made the sound effects, the whole nine yards. ... He demonstrated every other way you could possibly demonstrate what he wanted on those pages—the dynamics and so on.[15]
The interview had come about after Buscema, at his brother's urging, had first written to Marvel production managerSol Brodsky to introduce himself and his work. Brodsky had no assignments for him at the time, and Buscema "called him a couple of times just to bug him a little bit and let him know that I was still alive, and eventually the first job came through" in June 1968[16] — the 10-pageWestern feature "Gunhawk". "I think they just said, 'Sal, here's the plot, go to it,'" Buscema recalled in 2003.[7] That story, "The Coming of Gunhawk", by writerJerry Siegel and pencilerWerner Roth, was published in the omnibus titleWestern Gunfighters #1 (cover-dated Aug. 1970). Sal's first published comics work had come before that: inking John Buscema's pencil art on four 39- to 40-page stories in thesuperhero comicTheSilver Surfer #4–7 (Feb.–Aug. 1969); and inkingLarry Lieber's pencils on the regular-sized, 20-page WesternThe Rawhide Kid #68 (Feb. 1969).[17]
John Buscema specifically asked for his brother as inker onThe Silver Surfer, at the time a high-profile project dear to writer-editor Lee, who gave the character an unprecedented for the time double-sized, 64-page (with ads and covers) solo series priced at 25 cents, more than twice the price of the standard 32-page, 12-cent comic. Sal Buscema recalled,
Joe Sinnott inked the first threeSilver Surfer [issues]. John was not happy with the inking Joe was doing ... because Joe's style of inking was somewhat overpowering, and at the end it ... didn't look like John Buscema anymore.... John told [Stan], 'I don't want Joe inking my work. He's losing my penciling.' ... He said, 'I want my brother' ...[H]e knew that I knew how to ink his work. He was a little spotty on my first issue, but after that he was absolutely delighted with what I did.[18]
Within a year, Buscema was penciling the superhero-team comicThe Avengers, and for the next thirty years, he was one of the most prolific artists at the company. He recalled in the late 2000s, "At first I was very slow. If I knocked out six or eight pages a week I was happy. Then I started getting a little bit better, and I could probably do a couple of pages a day. But once I hit that five-year transitional period, I was like a machine. I could grind the stuff out. ... Everything just fell into place, and all of a sudden I found it very easy to do."[19]
Sal and writerRoy Thomas introduced theSquadron Sinister inThe Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969) as a homage to theJustice League.[20][21] The Thomas/Buscema team produced the last new story inThe Uncanny X-Men before that series became all-reprints for several years,[22] and created the super-villainLlyra inSub-Mariner #32 (Dec. 1970).[23] Buscema drew anAvengers story plotted by science fiction writerHarlan Ellison, which featured the debut ofPsyklop.[24] WriterSteve Englehart and Buscema launchedDefenders as an ongoing series in August 1972[25][26] and introducedValkyrie to the team in issue #4 (Feb. 1973).[27] Buscema also worked with Englehart onCaptain America; their 1972–1975 run on that title saw it become one of Marvel's top-sellers.[28] The pair teamed on several issues ofThe Avengers as well[17] and Englehart has described Buscema as being one of his "all-time favorites" and "a perfect comic book storyteller."[29] With writer Steve Gerber, Buscema co-createdStarhawk, adding the character to the roster of the future-based super-team, theGuardians of the Galaxy.[30][a] In 2010,Comics Bulletin ranked Buscema's collaboration with Gerber onThe Defenders first on its list of the Top 10 1970s Marvels.[31]
With writerBill Mantlo, Buscema created the supporting characterJean DeWolff inMarvel Team-Up #48 (Aug. 1976).[32] Mantlo, a frequent collaborator, later said that Buscema was a formative influence on his plotting.[33] Buscema was the original artist onThe Spectacular Spider-Man, which debuted in December 1976.[34] He andJim Shooter createdGraviton inThe Avengers #158 (April 1977).[35] TheRom series was launched by Mantlo and Buscema in December 1979.[36] The Mantlo/Buscema collaboration onThe Incredible Hulk included the creation of theU-Foes[37] and theSoviet Super-Soldiers.[38] Buscema had a 10-year run on that Hulk series,[39] which he described as "[p]robably one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career. The fact that theHulk is my all-time favorite character might be a contributing factor. I never tired of the character. Every story was a new challenge."[40] He became the artist onNew Mutants, beginning with issue #4 (June 1983).[41] Beginning in the late 1970s, Buscema generally inked his own work.[42] In 1986, he began drawingThor, working with writerWalt Simonson.[17] In the late 1980s, he returned to inking others' work, again including that of his brother John Buscema on an Englehart-scripted run onFantastic Four.
From 1988 through 1996, he penciled and mostly inked a 100-issue run onThe Spectacular Spider-Man.[17] This included such story arcs as the "Lobo Brothers Gang War" withGerry Conway[43] and "The Child Within", written byJ. M. DeMatteis, featuring the death ofHarry Osborn in #200 (May 1993).[44] In a 2002 interview, DeMatteis said, "I really loved the two years onSpectacular Spider-Man that I wrote with Sal Buscema drawing. Talk about underrated! Sal is one of the best storytellers and a wonderful collaborator. I loved that run."[45]
From 1997 to 1999, Buscema worked for rivalDC Comics, including pencilingBatman,Superman, andSuperboy stories, and inking theCreeper,Wonder Woman, and other characters' stories.[17] He recalled, "[T]he short time I worked for DC, they were giving me all these young guys that could hardly hold a pencil in their hands, and asking me to 'tweak it.' In cases like that I would definitely put a lot of myself into it and change whatever I felt needed to be changed."[18]
Buscema then returned to Marvel, inkingPat Olliffe onSpider-Girl 1999, thesummer annual of that series, and did work for both companies briefly before becoming the regular inker onThe Incredible Hulk vol. 3, #11–20 (Feb.–Nov. 2000) and inking a smattering of other titles.[17] In 2003, he described himself as "retired for three years ... and I'm still inking jobs for Marvel!"[7] That same year he returned to comics full-time, inking Oliffe onSpider-Girl #55 (March 2003) and then launching into a long stint inking or doing finished art over pencil layouts byRon Frenz from issues #59–100 (June 2003 – Sept. 2006). He continued to ink the series when it was relaunched asThe Amazing Spider-Girl #1–30 (Dec. 2006 – May 2009). He inked Spider-Girl stories over Frenz's pencils in the omnibus titleWeb of Spider-Man vol. 2, #1–7 (Dec. 2009 – June 2010) and in the four-issueminiseriesThe Spectacular Spider-Girl vol. 2 (July–Oct. 2010) and theone-shotSpider-Girl: The End! #1 (Oct. 2010). In 2011, he was the inker, over Frenz, on the five-issue superhero miniseriesThunderstrike vol. 2.[17] He returned to DC Comics in 2011 withDC Retroactive: The Flash – The '70s[11] and a Superman one-shot,Superman Beyond[46] In 2012, Buscema inkedIDW Publishing'sG.I. Joe Annual and the ongoingDungeons and Dragons: Forgotten Realms series.[11][47] In 2017, he started inking long-time collaborator Ron Frenz onThe Blue Baron, written byDarin Henry and published by the new company Sitcomics.[48] Buscema collaborated with Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz onThe R.I.G.H.T. Project for Apex Comic Group.[49] The one-shot comic book was crowdfunded viaIndiegogo and sent to its backers in February 2022.
In February 1959, Buscema started dating Joan, a secretary at Creative Arts Studio inWashington, D.C., where he worked. They married in May 1960. Their first son, Joe, was born in 1968, followed by Tony and Mike.[50]
Buscema has acted incommunity theatre. He was recognized in 1987 with BRAPA (Blue Ridge Alliance of Performing Arts) for his portrayal of Tevye inFiddler on the Roof in which he appeared at the Little Theatre ofAlexandria, Virginia in 1998.[51]
^abcBuscema, Sal (August 30, 2012)."The Silver Age Sage".wtv-zone.com (Interview). Interviewed by Bryan D. Stroud.Archived from the original on August 28, 2013.
^DeFalco, Tom (2008). "1960s". In Gilbert, Laura (ed.).Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London:Dorling Kindersley. p. 138.ISBN978-0756641238.Writer Roy Thomas was poking fun at his distinguished competition when he and artist Sal Buscema presented the Squadron Sinister on the last page ofThe Avengers #69. They designed the four members of thee Squadron...to evoke DC Comics' Justice League of America team.
^Eury, Michael (August 2012). "The Unofficial Justice League of America Avengers Crossovers".Back Issue! (58). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing:29–32.
^Sanderson, Peter, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 145: "[X-Men #66] would be the series' last issue by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema."
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 147: "Llyra, the greatest super-villain in the history of theSub-Mariner series, was introduced by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema."
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 149: "Ellison devised a plot for a two-part story, scripted by Roy Thomas, that began inThe Avengers #88 and led intoThe Incredible Hulk [vol. 2,] #140. In this issue, drawn by Sal Buscema, an insect-like being called Psyklop fought against the Avengers."
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 156: "The Defenders moved into their own bimonthly comic book withThe Defenders #1, written by Steve Englehart and penciled by Sal Buscema."
^DeAngelo, Daniel (July 2013). "The Not-Ready-For-Super-Team Players A History of the Defenders".Back Issue! (65). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing:5–6.
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 158: "[The] Enchantress of Asgard, endowed Barbara Norriss with the consciousness, physical appearance, and superhuman powers of Brunnhilde, leader of the Valkyries."
^Amash, p. 46: "When Steve and I [Sal Buscema] got on the book ... if I remember correctly, the book hit #5 in sales. It really shot up the charts."
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 170: "In this story line by writer Steve Gerber and artist Sal Buscema, the Defenders had traveled to an alternate future, in which they aided the Guardians of the Galaxy against Earth's conquerors, the alien Brotherhood of theBadoon. This issue [#27] introduced a new super-hero, Starhawk."
^Manning, Matthew K. (2012). "1970s". In Gilbert, Laura (ed.).Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 89.ISBN978-0756692360.Police Captain Jean DeWolff made her first appearance in this Mantlo/Buscema [story].
^Shayer, Jason (February 2014). "Hulk Smash More!: The Incredible Hulk in the 1980s".Back Issue! (70). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 51.
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 177: "Spider-Man already starred in two monthly series:The Amazing Spider-Man andMarvel Team-Up. Now Marvel added a third,Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, initially written by Gerry Conway with art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito."
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 179: "In this story by writer Jim Shooter and artist Sal Buscema, physicist Franklin Hall became the Avengers' latest costumed enemy, Graviton."
^Sanderson, "1970s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 191: "Prolific writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema created a Marvel comics series and a whole mythology around Parker Brothers' toy 'ROM'."
^DeFalco, "1980s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 199: "Inspired by the 1979 Graham Parker song 'Waiting for the UFOs', the creation of the U-Foes was truly a team effort. Writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema produced the first U-Foes story, but editor Al Milgrom helped design the costumes and Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter suggested some of the names."
^DeFalco, "1980s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 201: "The Soviet Super-Soldiers, the Russian equivalent of the Avengers, were a team of super-powered individuals assembled by the Soviet government in this issue [#258] by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Sal Buscema."
^DeFalco, "1980s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 211: Professor Xavier's young students were given their own monthly title. It was written by Chris Claremont...Sal Buscema took over the penciling chores with issue #4.
^DeFalco, "1980s", in Gilbert (2008), p. 238: Created by writer Gerry Conway and artist Sal Buscema, Carlos and Eduardo Lobo possessed the mutant ability to transform into werewolves.
^Manning, Matthew K. "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 263: "The 200th issue ofThe Spectacular Spider-Man, written by J. M. DeMatteis and with art by Sal Buscema, featured the shocking death of Spider-Man's close friend, Harry Osborn."
^DeMatteis, J.M. (June 24, 2002)."Interview: J.M. DeMatteis".SlushFactory.com (Interview). Interviewed by Dan Epstein. p. 3. Archived fromthe original on March 6, 2005.
