25 Facts About Sal Buscema

Sal Buscema is the younger brother of comics artist John Buscema.

Sal Buscema's father, who was born in Italy and died in 1973, was a barber.

Sal Buscema began working in the comic book industry as an inker in the early 1950s when his brother agreed to let him ink comics pages; this led to Sal Buscema helping John by doing occasional background art on Dell Comics series John was drawing.

Sal Buscema went on to a larger commercial-art studio, where he was a gofer and a delivery person.

Sal Buscema quit, then spent less than a year filling wedding-ring orders for the jewelry manufacturer JR Wood and Sons before being drafted into the peacetime US Army in 1956.

Sal Buscema spent 21 months doing film strips and charts as training aids before being discharged.

Sal Buscema 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 in Washington, DC where he did illustrations for government agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense.

Sal Buscema joined Mel Emde, a friend and colleague from Creative Arts Studio, who was opening his own company, Design Studio.

In 1968, Sal Buscema began working for Marvel Comics, where John was already established as a freelance artist.

Sal Buscema 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 Buscema asked me to come on up to New York, which I did, and I went through the most fantastic interview of my life.

Sal Buscema made the sound effects, the whole nine yards.

John Sal Buscema specifically asked for his brother as inker on The 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 solo series priced at 25 cents, more than twice the price of the standard 32-page, 12-cent comic.

Sal Buscema was a little spotty on my first issue, but after that he was absolutely delighted with what I did.

Sal Buscema drew an Avengers story plotted by science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, which featured the debut of Psyklop.

Mantlo, a frequent collaborator, later said that Sal Buscema was a formative influence on his plotting.

Sal Buscema was the original artist on The Spectacular Spider-Man, which debuted in December 1976.

From 1997 to 1999, Sal Buscema worked for rival DC Comics, including penciling Batman, Superman, and Superboy stories, and inking the Creeper, Wonder Woman, and other characters' stories.

Sal Buscema then returned to Marvel, inking Pat Olliffe on Spider-Girl 1999, the summer annual of that series, and did work for both companies briefly before becoming the regular inker on The Incredible Hulk vol.

Sal Buscema inked Spider-Girl stories over Frenz's pencils in the omnibus title Web of Spider-Man vol.

In February 1959, Sal Buscema started dating Joan, a secretary at Creative Arts Studio in Washington, DC, where he worked.

Sal Buscema was recognized in 1987 with BRAPA for his portrayal of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in which he appeared at the Little Theatre of Alexandria, Virginia in 1998.

Sal Buscema received the Inkpot Award in 2003 and the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2013 at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Sal Buscema was awarded the Inkwell Awards Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award in 2020.

In 2021 Sal Buscema was awarded the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award for his inking career.