CBR Live! Archive
R.I.P. Sonny Trinidad
I was sorry to hear that we lost another one of the Bronze Age greats from my childhood. Sonny Trinidad passed away three days ago, on November 23rd.
A self-portrait from Mr. Trinidad.
Sonny Trinidad was a big part of a lot of my favorite runs at Marvel, especially in the black-and-white books like Savage Sword and Dracula Lives and so on.
Sonny Trinidad's Morbius was the baddest one ever done.
But I also remember him doing some really amazing stuff on the short-lived Son of Satan.
Trinidad's Hellstrom was THE version as far as I was concerned.
And even the first issue of Man From Atlantis. It was the only time I liked the art on that book.
Even just inking a crappy licensed job like this Trinidad made it his own.
He was never a big fan favorite but I always admired his work, especially on the horror stuff like Morbius and the aforementioned Son of Satan. For some reason, the wave of Philippine artists that hit Marvel in the Seventies really tended to knock the fantasy/horror stuff out of the park and Trinidad was no exception.
You can find this and a bunch more of Sonny Trinidad's stuff in Essential Marvel Horror volume one.
I've been very fortunate, as an adult, to meet a great many of these artists and say thanks for making that decade a hell of a lot more bearable for me. Sadly, I never got the chance to thank Sonny Trinidad.
So I'm doing it here. Rest in peace, sir.
- Posted on November 26, 2009 @ 01:49 PM
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14 Comments
Patrick Joseph
November 26, 2009 at 2:33 pm
The credit box for that Man From Atlantis comic is just depressing. Everyone's either dead or incapacitated, excepting possibly the colorist.
I read the hell out of that comic as a kid. It was pretty fun.
Mary Warner
November 26, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I didn't recognise that name, but as soon as I saw he did Son Of Satan, I went and checked the one issue I have-- #7. He did do it, and I remember the very first time I read it I thought his art looked really unique. Styles didn't vary all that much in the '70s (not at Marvel, anyway), but his art in this issue didn't look like anyone else's that I've seen.
adam!
November 26, 2009 at 6:53 pm
A few Trinidad links in Gerry Alanguilan's website > http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/2187
The Philippines has a very solid tradition of that sort of art., which we're presently making efforts to rediscover and reclaim. Alanguilan hosts an online museum just for that. > http://alanguilan.com/museum/
Edo Bosnar
November 27, 2009 at 3:09 am
Now that I've cleansed my colon I feel up to commenting ... seriously, isn't there some kind of spambot that can that block or purge the junk comments from the thread?
Anyway - Sonny Trinidad. Sad news. The last 2 or so years have been really horrible in the sense that we've seen the passing of so many great Bronze Age creators.
By the way, I think that wave of Philippine artists, which actually hit both Marvel and DC and other companies at the time, really enriched the comics art scene.
Godwell
November 27, 2009 at 4:09 am
EDO, I have to agree. I was in the midst of reminiscing about the old Marvel era and the years I first started collecting and all of a sudden 'COLON CLEANSE'????
Its called CAPTCA, people.
Learn it well.
R.I.P. SONNY!
Godwell
November 27, 2009 at 4:10 am
CAPTCHA. sorry
Eumenides
November 27, 2009 at 4:30 am
I had never heard of Sonny Trinidad before, but the artwork you displayed was really impressive, especially the black-and-white pages. Thanks for sharing them. And may Sonny Trinidad rest in peace.
Greg Hatcher
November 27, 2009 at 6:12 am
We do have spam blockers and they work pretty well most of the time... so I don't know how the colon guy got through. Anyway, I manually dumped those into the spam queue, so one hopes that's the last of him here unless he changes IPs or something.
"O" the Humanatee!
November 27, 2009 at 8:08 am
I also enjoyed Trinidad's work, especially in black and white. Isn't that Son of Satan page an example of Trinidad inking Craig Russell, or at least working over Russell's layouts?
Emmanuel Seyman
November 27, 2009 at 3:08 pm
His work on "Gabriel, Devil-Hunter" (from Marvel's horror books) blew me away. RIP, Sonny
Alan Coil
November 27, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I don't know what it says about anything, but I really didn't recognize the name when I first saw it. After I saw the art, the name became more familiar. I've probably read all the examples you provided, and may still own all of them.
I'd guess that because I am getting older, I don't remember some things. My brain no longer works the way it should. Darn brain.
Greg Hatcher
November 27, 2009 at 5:37 pm
The latter. It's from Son of Satan #5, Russell did rough layouts and Sonny Trinidad is credited as doing "finished art." I really wanted to run an example of Trinidad inking himself on Son of Satan, that was where he shone, but I don't own a scanner myself and couldn't find anything online. But if you have the Essential reprinting that stuff, it's really worth a look. #2, 3, and 7 are the solo Trinidad jobs. #4 and 5 are Trinidad over Russell's layouts and #6 is Trinidad over Ed Hannigan.
Ben Herman
November 30, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Wow... I had not even realized that Sonny Trinidad was still alive. What was his last published work? Sad to hear about his passing. I've always been fond of the Filipino artists, and Trinidad did nice work.
Speaking of Filipino artists, I was thrilled to see Rudy Nebres doing brand new work on a creepy series Maura, published by Berserker Comics. The art is shot directly from Nebres' pencils, and it looks amazing.
Cherry
February 1, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Thank you very much, Mr. Greg Hatcher and to all his fans. Although my father was ill for some time now, drawing was still one of his greatest passions. His last works were now kept by our family in the Philippines and I am amazed to see how his illness never affected the quality of his art. It is my promise to him that I will create a webpage in his memory and attached the last pieces of his works. One of these days I will post it on the web.