Tim is gone. I postponed writing this every day since his passing because I did not want to face the thought of never seeing him again. I emailed Tim about a month ago and never heard back, which was highly unusual for him. He would always answer and would check in regularly. Simply because he was genuinely interested in other people’s lives. He wanted to know how you were doing and what you were up to. Curious and excited, always. Never a bad word about anyone. Encouraging, generous and kind.
I want to say it was about 10 years ago or so at Toronto. Tim Sale was one of the guests and I made it one of my primary missions to get a commission from him. Unfortunately, so did a lot of people. I had a four day pass and missed the first day as the 8 hour drive to Toronto was well... 8 hours. However I was told to stop by in the morning for a slot. So I did. Three consecutive mornings, three times I missed out on it. On the last morning, he had noticed that I had stopped by every time only to miss out. So he asked me to stop by in the afternoon. When the hours passed, I stopped by and greeted the handler asking for a possible commission. She had mentioned that all slots were taken and Tim would do no more. But then he peeked up from a commission he was finishing, called her name, and nodded his head. I was going to get a sketch. Being a fan of his Marvel colors series, I opted for a Doctor Strange sketch telling him I think he'd do Doctor Strange justice on a Marvel colors series or just a run in itself. He thanked me for being patient and humbly replied he'll try. As he sketched and ink washed, we talked. Where I came from, his traveling for conventions, about how his art has a moody noirish feel, his inspirations. About old TV shows, with which he then whistled a tune unfamiliar to me at the time but then through him learned of Kolchak the Night Stalker. I have a Doctor Strange sketch from Tim Sale because he took that extra time for a fan, this memory will stick with me and I'll always forever be grateful for that.
EDIT: Took a while to post this but I've been away from home for a while, but here is the sketch:
I met him just once, I believe, which was last summer at Terrificon in CT. He was sat next to Klaus Janson (what a pair!!!), and was signing 2 books for free. Accordingly, I got my copy of Darwyn Cooke’s Batman: Ego and Other Tails, and Spider-Man Blue #3 (the MJ cover) signed.
We chatted about how much he enjoyed working with Darwyn, even if Darwyn was AWOL for a good chunk of time with the scripts for the final two parts of their Superman: Kryptonite story that ran in Superman Confidential. He laughed that the monster featured on the cover of issue 4 of that run looks so different from how the monster appears in that story because Darwyn was late on the script and unreachable, so he had to just make something up on the fly to make the deadline.
The thing he said that surprised me the most, and still continues to blow my mind whenever I look at his and his colorists’ work, is that he is COLORBLIND!!! This fact came out when I complemented, as many others here have, his work on For All Seasons, and, my personal favorite Tim Sale work, Spider-Man Blue. I laugh, and as I recall so did he, that the guy who is famous for the Colors series at Marvel is colorblind. What an amazing artist & wonderful human he was.
I met him once at Wondercon 2019 in Anaheim. He was one of my favorite artists and I had to get my books signed by him. I saw him walking the convention toward the end of the day and stopped him! I asked if he could sign my books there but he said he was tired and that tomorrow would be better. I said no worries! i totally understood he'd been tired from signing that day.
So next day I did as he said. I waited in a long line for him, and did not have the most enjoyable experience. His con people were rushing me and rude, but it didn't matter I wanted to meet the artist! He was quiet, and signed my books. I stuck out my hand for a handshake but settled for a fist bump. He came off a bit annoyed and agitated, but I know now that conventions do that to artists who are used to being alone behind a desk. It may not have been the best experience or first impression I had wanted, but they say never meet you heroes. But now I understand that some of us deal with things deep inside, and don't show it to the world. Perhaps he was dealing with the illness that ultimately took his life or some other invisible pain I could not see.
Nonetheless, I have my favorite books by him signed and I held them close when I heard of his passing, flipping through them and admiring his works one more time, and never for the last. I will always go back to his art, there is a feeling of discovery each time. Like you Elsa, I too went back to all his works after reading Long Halloween. I can pinpoint that time in my life when I really got into comic books. All because of Sale's art. Thank you Tim. You will be missed.
I work at a comic book library. The most frequent question I get asked is how to start reading any given superhero, and one of the things i always say is look for Tim Sale’s name on the side of a volume. Always means the volume is beautiful, iconic, and era-defining for the hero he drew.
Months ago I read Superman: For All Seasons. Since then I'm a Supes fan, and i'm pretty sure that his portrait of Clark Kent was the bigger reason. Was such a beautiful work.
Tim has always been my favorite artist. What was great about his art is it was so unique it would simply stand out among everyone else’s art. I loved that when he drew Batman, he embraced the weirdness of that world. I only met him once, 6 years ago at the Denver Comic Convention. I paid for my first original art piece from him (Batman of course) as a gift to myself when I turned 40. It proudly sits on my wall in my bedroom. He was so nice as he worked on it, just chatting with me while he worked. He also was great with my son, asking him questions as well. A great artist and person who will definitely be missed.
I met Tim Sale just once at C2E2 around 2014; In a line full of people trying to get single issues signed I had a cheap Paperback version of Long Halloween and asked if he'd be willing to sign my favorite page on the interior instead of the cover. He laughed at this, saying it was my copy and he'd sign wherever. I flipped open to the Rogues Gallery splash you have at the top of your post and he told me a great story about Jeph Loeb and him fighting over the original art for the page. I think he said it hadn't ever been returned to him and thought Loeb had kept it in an office somewhere. I have no idea if its true but I remember he made me laugh telling it and I picked up a print I hadn't intended to buy just because he took the time to be entertaining in a signing line. I wish I'd got to see him more times. He will be missed.
I meet Tim ar Toronto fan expo. I work in television I remember being an art book off of him. And pepering him with questions about working with Jeff who was not at the event, but I work in film and television so Jeff is a pretty big hero for some one that has loved the books they put out together. Like a class Act Tim took the time to tell me a bit about their work process and some of the steps Jeff has taken to write in both worlds. Thank you Tim for spending the Tim you had caring about people.
Never had the honor of meeting him. His work is incredible and the stories I have heard about him give me the impression that he was just one of the nicest people ever. I wish I could have met him. Superman For All Seasons made me fall in love with Superman and he’s been one of my favorite characters since. I’m not huge into variant covers, but if Tim was doing one, I picked it up. Whenever I think of favorite interpretations of some of my favorite characters, Tim Sale is usually the first one mentioned. I own his collaborations with Jeph Loeb in multiple formats and when I’m introducing someone to superhero comics for the first time, they get Superman For All Seasons, Spider-Man Bkue, and Batman The Long Halloween.
Tim Sale was huge in my getting hooked on comics back in high school. One of the first guys who made it click that comics were capital A Art. He was also my brother's favorite so we could always connect on his books. And a few years ago, me and my brother got to go to a con in Anaheim and we saw Tim at his table sketching so we just stopped there and watched him work for a few moments, it was amazing.
You made me smile saying that as soon as you finished Long Halloween you immediately went searching for his other works. Exactly the same reaction here. A purely beautiful art style that will never be replaced. He will be missed.
This is a beautiful tribute, Elsa. I wish I had a Tim story, but I never met him and never communicated. I only knew him as a fan. Always loved his covers, which could be deceptively simple but could convey so much.
With all due respect to the other writers which whom he worked, Tim had an ideal collaborator in Jeph Loeb. I put their partnership on the same Olympian level as Lee-Kirby, Lee-Ditko, O'Neil-Adams, Englehart-Rogers, Claremont-Byrne, Ostrander-Mandrake, and Brubaker-Phillips. Each brings out the best in each other, so the finished work really is greater than the sum of the parts. I loved everything you mentioned, as well as the earlier Batman Halloween specials, as well as those superb "Color" series for Marvel. (I always sorta hoped they would do one more, about Tony Stark, with the rather obvious title IRON MAN: GOLD.)
One interesting way that your work echoes Tim's is you use of blacks - not just shading or grays (although those can look great), but the stark black against the white. Mike Mignola and Paul Grist are like that, too.
Between Neal Adams, George Perez, and Tim Sale, Comic Book Heaven has been getting a heck of a bullpen. Stinks for us on Earth, though....
I want to say it was about 10 years ago or so at Toronto. Tim Sale was one of the guests and I made it one of my primary missions to get a commission from him. Unfortunately, so did a lot of people. I had a four day pass and missed the first day as the 8 hour drive to Toronto was well... 8 hours. However I was told to stop by in the morning for a slot. So I did. Three consecutive mornings, three times I missed out on it. On the last morning, he had noticed that I had stopped by every time only to miss out. So he asked me to stop by in the afternoon. When the hours passed, I stopped by and greeted the handler asking for a possible commission. She had mentioned that all slots were taken and Tim would do no more. But then he peeked up from a commission he was finishing, called her name, and nodded his head. I was going to get a sketch. Being a fan of his Marvel colors series, I opted for a Doctor Strange sketch telling him I think he'd do Doctor Strange justice on a Marvel colors series or just a run in itself. He thanked me for being patient and humbly replied he'll try. As he sketched and ink washed, we talked. Where I came from, his traveling for conventions, about how his art has a moody noirish feel, his inspirations. About old TV shows, with which he then whistled a tune unfamiliar to me at the time but then through him learned of Kolchak the Night Stalker. I have a Doctor Strange sketch from Tim Sale because he took that extra time for a fan, this memory will stick with me and I'll always forever be grateful for that.
EDIT: Took a while to post this but I've been away from home for a while, but here is the sketch:
https://imgur.com/a/HBQnHGC
I met him just once, I believe, which was last summer at Terrificon in CT. He was sat next to Klaus Janson (what a pair!!!), and was signing 2 books for free. Accordingly, I got my copy of Darwyn Cooke’s Batman: Ego and Other Tails, and Spider-Man Blue #3 (the MJ cover) signed.
We chatted about how much he enjoyed working with Darwyn, even if Darwyn was AWOL for a good chunk of time with the scripts for the final two parts of their Superman: Kryptonite story that ran in Superman Confidential. He laughed that the monster featured on the cover of issue 4 of that run looks so different from how the monster appears in that story because Darwyn was late on the script and unreachable, so he had to just make something up on the fly to make the deadline.
The thing he said that surprised me the most, and still continues to blow my mind whenever I look at his and his colorists’ work, is that he is COLORBLIND!!! This fact came out when I complemented, as many others here have, his work on For All Seasons, and, my personal favorite Tim Sale work, Spider-Man Blue. I laugh, and as I recall so did he, that the guy who is famous for the Colors series at Marvel is colorblind. What an amazing artist & wonderful human he was.
I met him once at Wondercon 2019 in Anaheim. He was one of my favorite artists and I had to get my books signed by him. I saw him walking the convention toward the end of the day and stopped him! I asked if he could sign my books there but he said he was tired and that tomorrow would be better. I said no worries! i totally understood he'd been tired from signing that day.
So next day I did as he said. I waited in a long line for him, and did not have the most enjoyable experience. His con people were rushing me and rude, but it didn't matter I wanted to meet the artist! He was quiet, and signed my books. I stuck out my hand for a handshake but settled for a fist bump. He came off a bit annoyed and agitated, but I know now that conventions do that to artists who are used to being alone behind a desk. It may not have been the best experience or first impression I had wanted, but they say never meet you heroes. But now I understand that some of us deal with things deep inside, and don't show it to the world. Perhaps he was dealing with the illness that ultimately took his life or some other invisible pain I could not see.
Nonetheless, I have my favorite books by him signed and I held them close when I heard of his passing, flipping through them and admiring his works one more time, and never for the last. I will always go back to his art, there is a feeling of discovery each time. Like you Elsa, I too went back to all his works after reading Long Halloween. I can pinpoint that time in my life when I really got into comic books. All because of Sale's art. Thank you Tim. You will be missed.
I work at a comic book library. The most frequent question I get asked is how to start reading any given superhero, and one of the things i always say is look for Tim Sale’s name on the side of a volume. Always means the volume is beautiful, iconic, and era-defining for the hero he drew.
Months ago I read Superman: For All Seasons. Since then I'm a Supes fan, and i'm pretty sure that his portrait of Clark Kent was the bigger reason. Was such a beautiful work.
Tim has always been my favorite artist. What was great about his art is it was so unique it would simply stand out among everyone else’s art. I loved that when he drew Batman, he embraced the weirdness of that world. I only met him once, 6 years ago at the Denver Comic Convention. I paid for my first original art piece from him (Batman of course) as a gift to myself when I turned 40. It proudly sits on my wall in my bedroom. He was so nice as he worked on it, just chatting with me while he worked. He also was great with my son, asking him questions as well. A great artist and person who will definitely be missed.
Long Halloween is my favorite Batman art, shit, probably just my favorite comic art. So sad.
I met Tim Sale just once at C2E2 around 2014; In a line full of people trying to get single issues signed I had a cheap Paperback version of Long Halloween and asked if he'd be willing to sign my favorite page on the interior instead of the cover. He laughed at this, saying it was my copy and he'd sign wherever. I flipped open to the Rogues Gallery splash you have at the top of your post and he told me a great story about Jeph Loeb and him fighting over the original art for the page. I think he said it hadn't ever been returned to him and thought Loeb had kept it in an office somewhere. I have no idea if its true but I remember he made me laugh telling it and I picked up a print I hadn't intended to buy just because he took the time to be entertaining in a signing line. I wish I'd got to see him more times. He will be missed.
I meet Tim ar Toronto fan expo. I work in television I remember being an art book off of him. And pepering him with questions about working with Jeff who was not at the event, but I work in film and television so Jeff is a pretty big hero for some one that has loved the books they put out together. Like a class Act Tim took the time to tell me a bit about their work process and some of the steps Jeff has taken to write in both worlds. Thank you Tim for spending the Tim you had caring about people.
Never had the honor of meeting him. His work is incredible and the stories I have heard about him give me the impression that he was just one of the nicest people ever. I wish I could have met him. Superman For All Seasons made me fall in love with Superman and he’s been one of my favorite characters since. I’m not huge into variant covers, but if Tim was doing one, I picked it up. Whenever I think of favorite interpretations of some of my favorite characters, Tim Sale is usually the first one mentioned. I own his collaborations with Jeph Loeb in multiple formats and when I’m introducing someone to superhero comics for the first time, they get Superman For All Seasons, Spider-Man Bkue, and Batman The Long Halloween.
Tim Sale was huge in my getting hooked on comics back in high school. One of the first guys who made it click that comics were capital A Art. He was also my brother's favorite so we could always connect on his books. And a few years ago, me and my brother got to go to a con in Anaheim and we saw Tim at his table sketching so we just stopped there and watched him work for a few moments, it was amazing.
this is all so beautiful. thank you for sharing!
You made me smile saying that as soon as you finished Long Halloween you immediately went searching for his other works. Exactly the same reaction here. A purely beautiful art style that will never be replaced. He will be missed.
I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and history with Tim.
I never met Tim but always wanted to. I love his art and own a few pieces.
This is a beautiful tribute, Elsa. I wish I had a Tim story, but I never met him and never communicated. I only knew him as a fan. Always loved his covers, which could be deceptively simple but could convey so much.
With all due respect to the other writers which whom he worked, Tim had an ideal collaborator in Jeph Loeb. I put their partnership on the same Olympian level as Lee-Kirby, Lee-Ditko, O'Neil-Adams, Englehart-Rogers, Claremont-Byrne, Ostrander-Mandrake, and Brubaker-Phillips. Each brings out the best in each other, so the finished work really is greater than the sum of the parts. I loved everything you mentioned, as well as the earlier Batman Halloween specials, as well as those superb "Color" series for Marvel. (I always sorta hoped they would do one more, about Tony Stark, with the rather obvious title IRON MAN: GOLD.)
One interesting way that your work echoes Tim's is you use of blacks - not just shading or grays (although those can look great), but the stark black against the white. Mike Mignola and Paul Grist are like that, too.
Between Neal Adams, George Perez, and Tim Sale, Comic Book Heaven has been getting a heck of a bullpen. Stinks for us on Earth, though....
Thank you for sharing your story.