Sal Buscema, a penciler and inker whose career included lengthy runs on The Incredible Hulk, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Rom, died on January 23, 2026, at the age of 89. He spent the bulk of his career as an artist for Marvel Comics in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, where he created numerous new characters and teams and launched new series as well as working on classic characters.
Born on January 26, 1936, Buscema grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of four children of a Sicilian barber. Encouraged by his older brother, John Buscema, he began drawing at an early age, and both brothers attended New York’s High School of Music & Art. When John started working for Dell Comics, Sal occasionally helped out by doing inking and backgrounds.
Sal graduated in 1955 and was drafted the following year; he spent 21 months in the army doing graphic art for training materials, and after the war he continued to work as a graphic artist for government agencies. He began doing freelance inking for Marvel in the late 1960s, while working as a commercial artist, and with John’s help, taught himself to pencil so he could be a full-time artist, focusing on the dynamic style then current in Marvel comics.
Buscema began working for Marvel in 1968, on comics that were cover-dated 1969. He began by inking John’s pencils on The Silver Surfer #4-7, at John’s request (he was unhappy with the work of previous inker Joe Sinnott) and Larry Lieber’s in The Rawhide Kid #68, then did the story “The Coming of Gunhawk,” written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and penciled by Werner Roth, in Western Gunfighters #1.
That was followed by a run on The Avengers, and Buscema was soon one of the busiest artists at Marvel. He had significant runs inking and penciling Captain America and was often the first artist on a new series, launching The Defenders with Steve Englehart in 1972, The Spectacular Spider-Man with Gerry Conway in 1976, and Rom with writer Bill Mantlo in 1979. During this period, Buscema was the artist for the Rom/X-Men crossover that was reissued in 2023 (see “Marvel to Reprint Rare Rom/X-Men Crossover Stories”). He had lengthy runs on all these series and also worked with Mantlo on The Incredible Hulk, which Buscema said was one of his favorite comics. He was a penciler and inker for Thor between 1971 and 1987 and occasionally penciled stories for Marvel’s romance comics as well. Englehart, who also collaborated with Buscema on Captain America, described him on his website as “a perfect comic book storyteller.”
Buscema introduced a number of new characters during this time, including Psyklop, who first appeared in Avengers #88 in a story written by Harlan Ellison; Starhawk, who debuted in The Defenders #27; The Hulk’s parents, Brian and Rebecca Banner; and the Squadron Sinister, who debuted in a three-story Avengers arc scripted by Roy Thomas. In 1969 and Thomas assembled the Invaders, a team of original Timely Comics superheroes from the 1940s that included Captain America, Human Torch, and Namor (see “Time Travel to Bring Cap Back”).
In 1997 Buscema decamped for DC Comics, where he worked on Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow titles, but he returned to Marvel in 1999 and became the regular inker on The Incredible Hulk once more. Although he declared himself retired in 2003, he started inking Spider-Girl that year and stayed on it through 2009, a period that included its relaunch as The Amazing Spider-Girl in 2006. He continued working on individual projects after that, inking the crowdfunded comic The R.I.G.H.T. Project in 2023 (see “Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz Get Back Together for New Superhero Comic”).
Buscema’s long career as an inker was recognized by several Inkwell Awards, including the Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award in 2020 and induction into the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame in 2021; he also received an Inkpot Award in 2003 and the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
“When I think back on my childhood and all of the comic books that I read, Sal’s name seems to have appeared in just about all of them,” artist Sterling Clark wrote on Facebook. “He was definitely one of the greats during those years at Marvel, when handling more than three titles a month was not just a requirement but a necessity… Sal was a very nice, kind and generous person who I am happy to have known and who took note of my skills enough to mentor me. The wonderful conversations we had will always be cherished.”
Source: ICv2
