Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

No.98: Tim Sale

Artist Tim Sale, one of the most influential Batman artists of the 1990s, kicked off his career drawing fantasy series Mythadventures and Thieves World in the 1980s. He soon moved onto making a reputation for himself with writer Jeph Loeb initially on the acclaimed Batman Halloween Specials and Batman The Long Halloween. Words: Joel Meadows…

photo courtesy of Luigi Novi

He soon moved onto making a reputation for himself with writer Jeph Loeb initially on the acclaimed Batman Halloween Specials and Batman The Long Halloween. Sale also worked with Loeb on series like Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-man: Blue and Hulk: Gray at Marvel and Catwoman: When In Rome, Superman For All Seasons and Batman: Dark Victory, the follow-up to The Long Halloween, at DC. He also worked with the late Darwyn Cooke on Superman: Krypton.

In terms of influences, Sale has often stated that artists like Spider-man and Doctor Strange visionary Steve Ditko and also Marvel 1970s mainstay Mike Ploog have had a major effect on his work. But you can also see 1980s indie powerhouse Matt Wagner, who he has worked with, also present in his lines. He also owes a great debt to artists like Terry and The Pirates’ Milton Caniff and master comics illustrator Alex Toth.

Sale got a little bit of a boost in terms of his profile when he was hired by NBC to create art for their hit show Heroes back in 2006.

He has just returned to working with Loeb in a brand new Long Halloween special coming out this autumn from DC.

It is his instantly recognisable bold linework, exceptional storytelling and idiosyncratic characterisation, which meant that he had to be included on this list.

JM

Read the first three entries so far here too

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.100

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.101