Sal Amendola (born 1948) is an Italian American comics artist and teacher primarily known for his association with DC Comics.

Career

Sal Amendola graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1969 with the school’s then offered 3-year certificate. He eventually returned, with Robert McGinnis as his thesis adviser, to earn his MFA in illustration. Sal started his comics career in 1969, drawing stories for editor Dick Giordano's The Witching Hour, and becoming Giordano's assistant editor in 1970. At DC, Amendola worked in the production department, where he did coloring, inking, lettering, and page headings. He provided artwork on such features as "Green Arrow" in Action Comics and "John Carter, Warlord of Mars" in Weird Worlds. He drew spot illustrations for an Aquaman text story in Super DC Giant #S-26 (July–August 1971). Amendola left DC for Marvel Comics in 1972, where, as an associate editor, he worked on letters pages, coloring, and backgrounds. Unhappy at Marvel, Amendola soon returned to DC. He plotted and pencilled the Batman story "Night of the Stalker!" based on an idea by Neal Adams, but the story was rejected by Batman editor Julius Schwartz. Several years later, Schwartz was succeeded by Archie Goodwin, who asked Amendola to show him the story, and accepted it. It was finally published in Detective Comics #439 (Feb.–March 1974), with dialogue and captions by Steve Englehart, and inks by Dick Giordano. It is considered one of the greatest Batman short stories ever. In 1976, Amendola was part of the Crusty Bunkers, a group of comic book inkers who assisted Neal Adams on various projects. Amendola eventually became an editor and talent coordinator at DC, where he stayed until 1986. He edited the New Talent Showcase and Elvira's House of Mystery titles. He inked Curt Swan's pencils on the comic book adaptation of Superman III in 1983 and was one of the artists on World's Finest Comics #300 (Feb. 1984). In the mid–1970s, Amendola wrote and drew for Archie Comics and did storyboard art for movies. He began teaching at New York's School of Visual Arts in 1974, and later at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. In 1988, he joined the faculty of the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Archie Comics

Atlas/Seaboard Comics

DC Comics

Other publications