Jim Steranko

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Captain America #111 (March 1969): Steranko's signature surrealism. Inking by Joe Sinnott.
Captain America #111 (March 1969): Steranko's signature surrealism. Inking by Joe Sinnott.

James Steranko (born 5 November, 1938,Comics Buyers Guide #1636 (December 2007) p. 135 Reading, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American graphic artist, comic book writer-artist-historian, publisher, and film production illustrator. His most famous comic-book work was with the 1960s superspy feature "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." in Marvel Comics' Strange Tales and in the subsequent eponymous series. Steranko earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in sequential art during the Silver Age of comic books, particularly his infusion of surrealism, op art, and graphic design into the medium. His work has been published in many countries and his influence on the field has remained strong since his comics heyday. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

Steranko's first published comic-book art: Inset of George Tuska cover, Harvey Comics' Spyman #1 (Sept. 1966)
Steranko's first published comic-book art: Inset of George Tuska cover, Harvey Comics' Spyman #1 (Sept. 1966)

According to his authorized biography, Jim Steranko's grandparents emigrated from the Ukraine to settle in the anthracite coal-mining region of eastern Pennsylvania. Steranko's father, one of nine siblings, began working in the mines at age 10, and as an adult became a tinsmith. Steranko's early childhood, during the American Great Depression, was spent in a three-room house with a tar-paper roof and outhouse toilet facilities. He slept on a couch in the nominal living room until he was more than 10 years old.Steranko Arte Noir by Jim Steranko, J. David Spurlock, Angel de la Calle (Vanguard Productions/Semana Negra, 2002), pp. 11-12 Steranko's father and five uncles showed musical inclination, performing in a band that played on Reading radio in the 1930s, Steranko has said.Steranko Arte Noir, p. 18

Steranko began drawing while very young, opening and flattening envelopes from the mail to use as sketch paper. Despite his father's denigration of Steranko's artistic talent and the boy's ambition to become an architect, Steranko paid for his art supplies by collecting discarded soda bottles for the bottle deposit and bundled old newspapers to sell to scrap-paper dealers. He studied the Sunday comic strip art of Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, Hal Foster, and Chester Gould. Radio programs, Saturday movie matinées and serials, and other popular culture of the time also influenced him.Steranko Arte Noir, pp. 12-15

He learned stage magic using paraphernalia from his father's magic (illusion)|stage magician]] act, and in his teens spent several summers working with circuses and carnivals, working his way up to sideshow performer as a fire-eater and in acts involving a bed of nails and sleight-of-hand. At school, he competed on the gymnastics team, on the Rings (gymnastics)|rings and parallel bars, and later took up boxing and, under swordmaster Dan Phillips in New York City, fencing.Steranko Arte Noir, p. 5 At 17, Steranko and another teenage boy were arrested for a string of burglaries and car thefts in Pennsylvania.Stroudsburg Daily Record, Feb. 4, 1956. "Escape Artist One of Youths Under Arrest"

Up through his early 20s, Steranko performed as an illusionist, escape artist, close-up magician in nightclubs, and musician, having played in drum and bugle corps in his teens before forming his own bands during the early days of rock and roll.

During the day, Steranko made his living as an artist for a printing company in his hometown of Reading, designing and drawing pamphlets and flyers for local dance clubs and the like. He moved on after five years to join an advertising agency, where he designed ads and drew products ranging from baby carriages to beer.Lafuente, Eduardo Lopez. "Jim Steranko" (bio), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. trade-paperback collection (Marvel Enterprises, 2000)

Breaking into comics

After first attempting to find work at Marvel Comics in 1965, Steranko entered the comics industry the following year through editor Joe Simon at Harvey Comics, where Steranko created or helped create the characters Spyman, Magicmaster and the Gladiator for the company's short-lived superhero line, Harvey Thriller. Shortly afterward, he showed his "Secret Agent X" proposal to Paramount Television's animation unit in New York City (nothing became of it), and met with Marvel editor Stan Lee. Steranko inked a two-page Jack Kirby sample of typical "Nick Fury" scenes (first published in 1970 by Supergraphics in the extremely limited edition "Steranko Portfolio One" and then again thirty years later in slightly altered form in the 2000 trade-paperback collection Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.; see "Collected works", below), leading to Lee's assigning him the "Nick Fury" feature in Strange Tales, a "split book" shared each issue with another feature.

Future Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, then a staff writer, recalled Steranko's arrival at Marvel: "I met Jim [in 1965]; he brought his work up to Marvel then, I think, but it wasn't considered quite pro quality yet. The next year ... he came up to the office again — I presume he had an appointment — and I was sent out by Sol to look at his work and basically brush him off. Stan was busy and didn't want to be bothered that day. But when I saw Jim's work, which was even better than what I'd seen the previous year, on an impulse I took it in to Sol and said, 'I think Stan should see this'. Sol agreed, and took it in to Stan. Stan brought Steranko into his office, and Jim left with the 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' assignment. ... I think Jim's legacy to Marvel was demonstrating that there were ways in which the Kirby style could be mutated, and many artists went off increasingly in their own directions after that.Roy Thomas interview, Alter Ego #50, July 2005, p. 23. Another hyperbolic account appears in Steranko Arte Noir, pp. 24 & 26, in which author Spurlock claims Steranko had not gone to Marvel the previous year, had dealt only with receptionist Flo Steinberg, never did the sample-pages inking, and was supposedly given his choice of drawing any comic in Marvel's line, including replacing Jack Kirby on Fantastic Four or Thor or John Romita Sr. on The Amazing Spider-Man.}}

Silver Age Steranko

A rare quiet moment for Nick Fury: Strange Tales #168 (May 1968). Art by Steranko and Joe Sinnott.
A rare quiet moment for Nick Fury: Strange Tales #168 (May 1968). Art by Steranko and Joe Sinnott.

The 12-page "Fury" strip was initially by Lee and Jack Kirby, with the latter supplying such inventive and enduring gadgets and hardware as the Helicarrier — an airborne aircraft carrier — as well as LMDs (Life Model Decoys) and even automobile airbags. Marvel's all-purpose terrorist organization HYDRA was introduced here as well.

Steranko began his stint on the feature by penciling and inking "finishes" over Kirby layouts in Strange Tales #151 (Dec. 1966), just as fellow new Marvel artist John Buscema had done on the feature previously. Steranko began drawing the every-other-issue "Nick Fury" cover art two issues later, and, in a rarity for comics artists, took over the series' writing with #155. He additionally became the uncredited colorist along the way.

"Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." soon became one of the creative zeniths of the Silver Age, and one of comics' most groundbreaking, innovative and acclaimed features. Ron Goulart, in his Comix: A History of Comic Books in America, wrote, "[E]ven the dullest of readers could sense that something new was happening. ... Which each passing issue Steranko's efforts became more and more innovative. Entire pages would be devoted to photocollages of drawings [that] ignored panel boundaries and instead worked together on planes of depth. The first pages ... became incredible production numbers similar in design to the San Francisco rock concert poster of the period".Goulart, Ron. Comix: A History of Comic Books in America (Bonanza Books, New York, 1971; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-169-104)

Steranko introduced or popularized in comics such art movements of the day as psychedelia and op art; built on Kirby's longstanding work in photomontage; and in Strange Tales #167 (Jan. 1968), created comics' first four-page spread. All the while, Steranko spun outlandishly action-filled plots of intrigue, barely sublimated sensuality, and a cool-jazz hi-fi hipness. And he created his own version of Bond girls, pushing what was allowable under the Comics Code at the time.One notable example is a silent, one-page seduction sequence in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 that had two panels changed at the behest of the Comics Code Authority. In the third-to-last panel, de facto Marvel art director John Romita Sr. redrew a telephone that had been taken off the hook for privacy, placing the receiver back in the cradle; in the last panel, an image was removed and replaced with a closeup of an item from earlier in the page — a phallic long-barreled gun in a holster.

Journalist Robin Green described the event in "Face Front! Clap Your Hands, You're on the Winning Team!" Rolling Stone Vol. 1, #91 (Sept. 16, 1971): Template:Cquote

The story was reprinted as published in Nick Fury Special Edition #1 (Dec. 1983). When reprinted again, in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Who Is Scorpio? (Marvel Enterprises, 2001; ISBN 0-7851-0766-5), however, Steranko's original final panel was reinserted. In a black-and-white long shot with screentone shading, the couple is beginning to embrace, with Fury standing and the Contessa on one knee, getting up.

Steranko "combined the figurative dynamism of Jack Kirby with modern design concepts", wrote Larry Hama. When Steranko took over the series, he recostumed Fury from suits and ties to "a form-fitting bodysuit with numerous zippers and pockets, like a Wally Wood spacesuit revamped by Pierre Cardin. The women were clad in form-fitting black leather a la Emma Peel in the Avengers TV show. The graphic influences of Peter Max, Op Art and Andy Warhol were embedded into the design of the pages — and the pages were designed as a whole, not just as a series of panels. All this, executed in a crisp, hard-edged style, seething with drama and anatomical tension".Hama, Larry. Introduction, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Who Is Scorpio?

Steranko's Bond girl-like Contessa Valentina Allegra di Fontaine, from same issue as above left.
Steranko's Bond girl-like Contessa Valentina Allegra di Fontaine, from same issue as above left.

Fury's adventures continued in his own series, for which Steranko contributed four much-reprinted 20-page stories: "Who is Scorpio?" (issue #1); "So Shall Ye Reap...Death" (#2), inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest; "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill" (#3), a Hound of the Baskervilles homage, replete with a Peter Cushing manqué; and the spy-fi sequel "What Ever Happened to Scorpio?" (#5). Yet after deadline pressures forced a fill-in "origin" story by another team in issue #4, Steranko did a handful of additional covers only, then dropped the book. Decades afterward, however, their images are among comics' best known, and homages to his art have abounded — from updates of classic covers with different heroes in place of Fury, to recreations of famous pages and layouts. (See "Homages", below.)

Steranko also had short runs on Captain America (three issues out of four, missing a deadline that required Kirby to draw an issue over a weekend) and X-Men, for which he designed a new cover logo. Steranko also dabbled with a romance story, as well as a horror story — "At the Stroke of Midnight", published in Tower of Shadows #1 (Sept. 1969) — that precipitated a breakup with Marvel. Though that seven-page story would go on to win a 1969 Alley Award, editor Lee, who had already rejected Steranko's cover for that issue, clashed with Steranko over panel design, dialog, and the story title, initially "The Lurking Fear at Shadow House". According to Steranko at a 2006 panel<Publishers Weekly PW Comics Week (March 7, 2006): "Steranko and Simon: Back to Back", by Peter Sanderson and elsewhere, Lee disliked or did not understand the homage to horror author H. P. Lovecraft, and devised his own title for the story. After much conflict, Steranko either quit or was fired. Lee phoned him about a month later, after the two had cooled down, and Steranko would return as a cover artist for Marvel from 1972-73 and also created a new fan club magazine (FOOM) for Marvel which he produced in its first year.

Steranko gradually withdrew from comics between 1969 and 1974. Projects such as the history of comics and his own publishing efforts took up more and more of his time.

Publisher and paperback-artist

Writing, penciling, inking and coloring his own work, Steranko was unable to meet the monthly publication deadlines of the comics business of the time. He gravitated away from monthly comics toward covers and special projects. Never thinking of himself exclusively as working in comics, he branched into multiple other areas of publishing. He compiled a portfolio of acrylic paintings and met with Lancer Books art director Howard Winters, to whom he immediately sold a fantasy painting from among his samples. This led to a career illustrating dozens of paperback covers, popularly including those of Pyramid Books' reissues of the 1930s pulp novels of The Shadow.

The artist-historian's wraparound covers on the two-volume Steranko History of Comics
The artist-historian's wraparound covers on the two-volume Steranko History of Comics

Steranko also formed his own publishing company, Supergraphics, in 1969, and the following year worked with writer-entrepreneur Byron Preiss on an anti-drug comic book, The Block, distributed to elementary schools nationwide. In 1970 and 1972, Supergraphics published two tabloid-sized volumes entitled The Steranko History of Comics, a planned multivolume history of the American comics industry, though no further editions have appeared. Written by Steranko, with hundreds of black-and-white cover reproductions as well as a complete reprint of one story of The Spirit by Will Eisner, it included some of the first and in some cases only interviews with numerous creators from the 1930s and 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books.

Through Supergraphics he also published the magazine Comixscene (retitled Mediascene and finally Prevue), which began as a folded-tabloid periodical on stiff, non-glossy paper, reporting on the comics field. It evolved in stages into a general-interest, standard format, popular culture [magazine. It ran from 1972 through 1994, and in its later years was criticized for doing double duty as a catalog for Steranko's retailing business, particularly its erotica. In 1973, Steranko became founding editor of Marvel's official fan magazine, FOOM, serving for four issues before being succeeded by Tony Isabella.

Occasionally returning to narrative forms, Steranko wrote, drew, and produced the illustrated novel Chandler: Red Tide (1976), published by Byron Preiss Visual Publications/Pyramid Books as part of its "Fiction Illustrated" series.

Film work

For the movie industry, Steranko was the conceptual artist on Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, designing both the look of the film and the character of Indiana Jones. He also served as project conceptualist on Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula and wrote the episode "The Ties That Bind" of the DC Comics animated TV series Justice League Unlimited. Brad Bird has stated that Steranko's work was his main comic-book influence on Pixar's The Incredibles.Template:Fact

Steranko also drew a comic-book adaptation of the 1981 film Outland, serialized in Heavy Metal magazine. The lighthearted spy movie If Looks Could Kill (1991) features Roger Rees as the villain, Augustus Steranko.

Awards and honors

  • In addition to himself being inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006, Steranko's series Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was inducted, along with Stan Lee & Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four, into comic fandom's Alley Award Hall of Fame in 1969.
  • That same ceremony, Steranko took three 1968 Alley Awards, for Best Pencil Artist, Best Feature Story ("Today Earth Died", Strange Tales #168; first page depicted above), and Best Cover (Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6).
  • The following year, he won 1969 Alley Awards for Best Feature Story ("At the Stroke of Midnight", Tower of Shadows #1) and Best Cover (Captain America #113).
  • The DragonCon's Julie Award (2003)


Bibliography: Comic books

Chronological order. Artwork for Marvel Comics unless otherwise noted.

Bibliography: Author

  • Steranko on Cards (Ireland Magic Company, 1960)
  • The Steranko History of Comics 1 (Supergraphics, 1970, ISBN 0-517-50188-0; also wraparound cover)
  • The Steranko History of Comics 2 (Supergraphics, 1972; also wraparound cover)
  • Chandler: Red Tide (Byron Preiss Visual Publications/Pyramid Books, (1976); Dark Horse reissue, 2001; ISBN 1-56971-438-X)
  • Unseen Shadows: 50 Cover Concept Illustrations (Supergraphics, 1978)
  • Domino Lady: The Complete Collection (Vanguard Productions 2004, ISBN 1-887591-70-2)
  • Hypertype: Creating Expressive Typography For Entertainment Media (Vanguard Productions 2006, ISBN 1-887591-77-X)

Bibliography

Books about

  • Steranko: Graphic Narrative by Philip Fry & Ted Poulos; introduction and illustrations by Jim Steranko (Winnipeg Art Gallery exhibit publication, 1978)
  • Steranko: Graphic Prince of Darkness by Jim Steranko, J. David Spurlock, Peter DePree (Vanguard Productions, 1997).
  • Visual Theory: The Steranko Archives, Volume 1

Collected works

Book covers

Template:Expand list

  • Prisoners of the Sky by C. C. MacApp (pseudonym of Carroll M. Capps) (1969; science fiction)
  • The Mighty Barbarians: Great Sword and Sorcery Heroes, Hans Stefan Santesson, ed. (1969)
  • Ice World (1969; science fiction)
  • Master Of The Dark Gate by John Jakes (1970) ISBN 1199154598
  • Kelwin by Neal Barrett, Jr.(1970)
  • Fletcher by Jack Bickham (1970) (Western)
  • Wildcat O'Shea: A Stranger Named O'Shea (1970) by Jeff Clinton (Western)
  • Lord of Blood by Dave Van Arnam (1970; sword-and-sorcery)
  • The Mighty Swordsmen, Hans Stefan Santesson, ed. (1970)
  • G-8 and His Battle Aces #1: The Bat Staffel by Robert J. Hogan (1970; World War I)
  • G-8 and His Battle Aces: Ace of the White Death by Robert J. Hogan (1970)
  • G-8 and His Battle Aces: Purple Aces by Robert J. Hogan (1970)
  • Warlocks and Warrior, L. Spague de Camp, ed. (1971; sword-and-sorcery)
  • Wildcat O'Shea: Bounty on Wildcat (1971) by Jeff Clinton (Western)
  • Wildcat O'Shea: Wildcat's Claim To Fame (1971) by Jeff Clinton
  • The Shores Of Tomorrow by David Mason (1971; science fiction)
  • Infinity Two by Robert Hoskins (1971; science fiction)
  • The Masters of the Pit a.k.a. Barbarians of Mars by Michael Moorcock (1971; science fiction)
  • The Further Adventures of Erik John Stark: The Ginger Star by Leigh Brackett (1974; sword-and-sorcery) ISBN 0-345-31827-7
  • The Further Adventures of Erik John Stark 2: The Hounds Of Skaith by Leigh Brackett (1974) ISBN ISBN 0-345-24230-0
  • The Further Adventures of Erik John Stark 3: The Reavers of Skaith by Leigh Brackett (1976) ISBN 0-345-24438-9
  • Police Your Planet by Lester Del Rey with Erik van Lhin (1975; [[science fiction)) ISBN 0-345-24465-6
  • Weird Heroes Volume 1 (1975; pulp-inspired anthology) ISBN 0-515-03746-X
  • Weird Heroes Volume 2 (1975; pulp-inspired anthology)
  • Norgil the Magician by Maxwell Grant (pseudonym of Walter Gibson) (1977 reprints of pulp magazine stories) ISBN 0-89296-006-X
  • Norgil: More Tales of Prestigitection by Maxwell Grant (1979 reprints of pulp magazine stories) ISBN 0-89296-042-6
  • Tomorrow I Die by Mickey Spillane (1984) ISBN 0-89296-061-2
  • Blade of the Guillotine (1986)
  • Death Mask of Pancho Villa (1987)
  • Wild Cards XVI: Deuces Down, ed. by George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass (2002)
  • Swords and Deviltry 1 : Fafrd and the Gray Mouser (2003)
  • Swords against Death 2 : Fafrd and the Gray Mouser (2003)
  • Swords in the Mist/Swords against Wizardry 3/4 : Fafrd and the Gray Mouser (2004)
  • Meth o d, by Clifford Meth (2006)

Pyramid Books

The Shadow (reprints of pulp-magazine stories)
By Maxwell Grant (pseudonym of Walter Gibson)

  • The Shadow #1: The Living Shadow (1974) ISBN 0-515-03597-1
  • The Shadow #2: The Black Master (1974) ISBN 0-515-03478-9
  • The Shadow #4: Hands in the Dark (1974)
  • The Shadow #5: Double Z (1975)
  • The Shadow #6: The Crime Cult (1975) ISBN 0-515-03699-4
  • The Shadow #9: The Romanoff Jewels (1975) ISBN 0-515-03877-6
  • The Shadow #10: The Silent Seven (1975) ISBN 0-515-03966-7
  • The Shadow #11: Kings of Crime (1976)
  • The Shadow #12: Shadowed Millions (1976) ISBN 0-515-03968-3
  • The Shadow #13: Green Eyes (1977) ISBN 0-515-04205-6
  • The Shadow #14: The Creeping Death (1977) ISBN 0-515-04206-4
  • The Shadow #16: The Shadow's Shadow (1977) ISBN 0515042781
  • The Shadow #17: Fingers Of Death (1977) ISBN 0-515-04279-X
  • The Shadow #18: Murder Trail (1977) ISBN 0-515-04280-3
  • The Shadow #19: Zemba (1977) ISBN 0-515-04285-4
  • The Shadow #20: Charg, Monster ISBN 0-515-04284-6
  • The Shadow #21: The Wealth Seeker (1978) ISBN 0-515-04283-8
  • The Shadow #22: The Silent Death (1978)
  • The Shadow #23: The Death Giver (1978)
  • The Shadow #1: The Living Shadow (1978) (Different from 1974 edition)
  • The Shadow #9: The Romanoff Jewels (1978) (Different from 1975 edition)
  • The Shadow #11: Kings of Crime (1978) (Different from 1976 edition)
  • The Shadow #12: Shadowed Millions (1978) (Different from 1976 edition)

Other

  • The Revenge of the Hound: The New Sherlock Holmes Novel by Michael Hardwick (1987; mystery) ISBN 0-394-55653-4
  • Palladium Books Presents: Mystic China by Erick Wujcik (1995) ISBN 0-916211-77-0
  • The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler (1997)
  • Heroes Unlimited: Second Edition (1998)
  • Captain America: Liberty's Torch (1998)
  • The Bride Wore Black (2001)
  • Phantom Lady (2001)
  • Rear Window (2001)
  • Night and the City (2001)
  • Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique by Tony C. Caputo; introduction by Harlan Ellison (2003) ISBN 0-8230-0317-5
  • Compliments of the Domino Lady by Lars Anderson (2004 reprints of pulp-magazine stories) ISBN 0-9712246-6-8
  • The Edge (2004)
  • Domino Lady: The Complete Collection by Lars Anderson (2004) ISBN 1-887591-69-9
  • Domino Lady: The Complete Collection Deluxe by Lars Anderson (2004; signed limited edition) ISBN 1-887591-70-2
  • Drifter's Detour, by Bill Pearson (2006)
  • The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham, by Norvell W. Page (2007)
Date unknown
  • Why Isn't a Nice Girl Like You Married? or How to Get Most Out of Life While You're Single by Rebecca Greer (self-help)


References

External links

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