'' #439 (Feb.–March 1974). Inks by
Dick Giordano Sal Amendola graduated from the
School of Visual Arts in 1969 with the school's then-offered three-year certificate. He eventually returned, with
Robert McGinnis as his thesis adviser, to earn his MFA in illustration. Amendola 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. 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. ==Bibliography==