Comic book artist extraordinaire, Tim Sale, began his career drawing the comic book adaptation of Robert Aspirin’s Thieves’ World way back in 1983.
A stylish and thick line, perhaps more cartoony than Frank Miller or less detailed than George Perez (both giants of comic art at the time), Sale’s art might have looked a little odd to readers at the time. This is difficult to imagine today since his artwork has become so familiar that you can be sure of the quality of the story that his artwork accompanies.
An SVA Graduate (I keep meeting amazing artists from SVA), Sale also studied under the late John Buscema in his comics workshop. It was after meeting Matt Wagner that he got the golden opportunity that made many a fantastic artist shine in the comic book spotlight, Grendel.
Working on the outrageously complicated and ambitious final chapter of the Comico Grendel series (issues 34-40 in 1989-90), Tim Sale refined many of the stylish brush strokes that he is known for today.
The storyline consisted of numerous narratives, strange landscapes, futuristic technology and clothing design and more characters than you could find in a Shakespeare play.
Chronicling the rise of power of Orion Assante into the Grendel Khan, I have to think that Sale must have felt an enormous sense of accomplishment. I hope so because he certainly deserved it.
Eight years later he worked with Jeph Loeb on what was to become the first of many collaborative projects, Superman for All Seasons
. This book has the unusual reputation of establishing both writer and artist in the comic community.
A tale of Superman’s early years told through four point of view narrations (including Superman’s arch nemesis, Lex Luthor), the book is as touching and dynamic as a motion picture (far moreso than than the recent cinematic effort).
It is the delicate yet firm line work seen in Superman for All Seasons that conveys the awe and majesty of the character. Broad explosive splash pages throughout the book take the reader’s breath away with their power.
Almost poetically, his next work was the polar opposite to the bright and sunny innocence of Superman.
Loeb and Sale began work on what would be their most ambitious (and to date most famous) work, Batman: The Long Halloween, with a shorter story, the three part Batman: Haunted Knight
. In both stories, Loeb and Sale spread the world of Batman before themselves like a rich canvas of sweets for their readers.
Long Halloween told story set early on in the Batman’s career. A string of brutal murders takes place throughout an entire year, always set on a holiday. Batman battles each and every one of his villains searching for clues but in the end is baffled by the answers he finds.
The artwork is almost entirely the antithesis of his work on the Superman book which was set in the wide fields of Smallville and expansive skies over Metropolis. Here the reader is cramped into dark corners and alleys as the caped crusader darts across the page like an ebony angel.
The book was so successful that work began almost immediately on a sequel, Batman: Dark Victory
, which continued to develop the Batman’s early years and introduced the characters of Robin and Two-Face.
The team of Loeb and Sale moved to Marvel Comics to work on their ‘color trilogy’ consisting of Daredevil: Yellow 
, Spider-Man: Blue
, and Hulk: Gray
. Each series developed the characters in key moments in the beginning of their super heroic lives.
A love letter to the creators of the Marvel Universe (Bill Everett, Jack Kirby and John Romita to be specific), the color trilogy was a set of continuity tales as well as emotional stories.
Each story deals with loss, grief and hardship in the period setting of the late sixties. Using the narrative techniques of flashbacks, the stories develop the characters in the past and present. It’s a neat trick that works very well and plays to the benefit of the Marvel Universe, character.
Whereas the DC characters are defined by set pieces, Marvel characters have always been about character interplay. Spider-Man is defined by his love life (with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane), friends (Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn) and his ailing Aunt May for instance. Daredevil is defined by his friendship with Foggy Nelson or unrequited love for Karen Page. The Hulk by the hatred of General Ross and unending love of his daughter Betty.
Delving into the depths of these characters, Yellow, Gray and Blue remain highly recommended primers on the characters themselves and high water marks for Sale and Loeb’s story telling abilities.
In 2005, Jeph Loeb lost his 17 year old son Sam to cancer.
In their most touching and poignant collaboration, Loeb and Sale created ‘Sam’s Story’ for Superman/Batman #26 (which also saw Sam Loeb’s own story ‘The Boys are Back in Town‘ in print). Full of life-affirming defiance and laughter, Sam’s Story tells the tale of Jeph’s son by putting him into the world of Clark Kent’s childhood. In the comic story, Clark struggles with feelings of helplessness while Sam deals with his affliction with courage and dignity.
If you haven’t read it, I cannot recommend it enough.
Last year, Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale began work on the new series Superman Confidential
which develops the background cast of the Superman world. Mainly concerned with the Daily Planet staff, the series contains many of the strengths of Sale’s work that readers have come to expect.
Currently, Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb are still working together, but in an all new medium, television. Sale has been providing artwork for the TV series Heroes 
for the precognitive artist Isaac Mendez 9th Wonders! comic book.
This time around, Jeph Loeb is both writer and producer.
An innovator and modern master of the comic art form, Tim Sale embraces the innocence and ambition of the medium.
Personally, I look at what he has accomplished so far and cannot wait to see what he does next.
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