| Jim Steranko | |
|---|---|
 Steranko in 2012 | |
| Born | James F. Steranko (1938-11-05)November 5, 1938 (age 86) Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Writer, Artist, Publisher |
Notable works | |
James F. Steranko[1] (/stəˈræŋkoʊ/; born November 5, 1938)[2] is an Americangraphic artist,comic book writer/artist,comics historian,magician, publisher and film production illustrator.
His most famous comic book work was with the 1960ssuperspy feature "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." inMarvel Comics'Strange Tales and in thesubsequent eponymous series. Steranko earned lasting acclaim for his innovations insequential art during theSilver Age of Comic Books, particularly his infusion ofsurrealism,pop art, andgraphic 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 went on to create book covers, become a comics historian who published a pioneering two-volume history of the birth and early years of comic books, and to create conceptual art and character designs for films includingRaiders of the Lost Ark andBram Stoker's Dracula.
He was inducted into the comic-book industry'sWill Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.
Steranko was born inReading, Pennsylvania. According to Steranko's authorized biography, his grandparents emigrated fromUkraine to settle in theanthracite 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 atinsmith.[3] Steranko later said his father and uncles "would bootleg coal – they would go up into a mountain and open up a shaft."[4] One of three children, all boys,[5] Steranko spent his early childhood during the AmericanGreat Depression living in a three-room house with a tar-paper roof andouthouse toilet facilities. He slept on a couch in the nominal living room until he was more than 10 years old.[3] Steranko's father and five uncles showed musical inclination, performing in a band that played on Reading radio in the 1930s, Steranko has said.[6]
Steranko recalled beginning school at age 4.[7] Later, "Because my father hadtuberculosis (and I tested positive), I began third grade at what was called an 'open-window' school, a facility across the city that had a healthy program for kids with special problems. I was bused to school for four years, then dropped into standard junior high."[7] There, being smaller and younger than his classmates, he found himself a target for bullies and young gang-members[7] until he studied boxing and self-defense at the localYMCA and began to successfully fight back.[8] His youngest brother was born when Steranko was 14, "severing even the minimal interaction between me and my parents."[9]
Steranko had begun 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 discardedsoda bottles for the bottle deposit and bundled old newspapers to sell to scrap-paper dealers. He studied the Sundaycomic strip art ofMilton Caniff,Alex Raymond,Hal Foster, andChester Gould, as well as the characters ofWalt Disney andSuperman, provided in "boxes of comics" brought to him by an uncle.Radio programs, Saturday movie matinées andserials, and other popular culture also influenced him.[10][11]
Steranko in 1978 described some influences and their impact on his creative philosophy:
Early influences were Chester Gould's [comic strip]Dick Tracy (not particularly in my drawing style but in subject matter and an approach to drama), Hal Foster, andFrank Robbins' [comic strip]Johnny Hazard. I still think Robbins is one of the greatest storytellers of all time. Fans seem to have a lot less [of an] opinion of Robbins for some reason, just because they're more enamored of lines. Fans seem to think that the more lines that go into a drawing the better it is. Actually, the opposite is generally true. The fewer lines you can put into a drawing the quicker it reads, and the simpler it is.[Alex] Toth is one of the few guys who can simplify an illustration to a minimum of lines with a maximum of impact.[12]
By his account, Steranko learnedstage magic using paraphernalia from his father'sstage magician act, and in his teens spent several summers working withcircuses andcarnivals, working his way up tosideshow performer as afire-eater and in acts involving abed of nails andsleight-of-hand. At school, he competed on the gymnastics team, on therings andparallel bars, and later took upboxing and, underswordmaster Dan Phillips in New York City, fencing.[13] At 17, Steranko and another teenage boy were arrested for a string of burglaries and car thefts in Pennsylvania.[14]
Up through his early 20s, Steranko performed as anillusionist,escape artist, close-up magician innightclubs, and musician, having played indrum and bugle corps in his teens before forming his own bands during the early days ofrock and roll.[15] Steranko, whose first band, in 1956, was called The Lancers, did not perform under his own name, claiming he usedpseudonyms to help protect himself from enemies.[16] He also claims to have put the firstgo-go girls onstage.[17] The seminal rock and roll groupBill Haley and his Comets was based in nearby Philadelphia and Steranko, who played aJazzmaster guitar, often performed in the same local venues, sometimes on the same bill, and became friendly with Haley guitaristFrank Beecher, who became a musical influence.[18] By the late 1960s, Steranko was a member of a New York City magicians' group, the Witchdoctor's Club.[4]
Comics historianMark Evanier notes that the influential comic-book creatorJack Kirby, who "based some of his characters ... on people in his life or in the news", was "inspired" to create theescape artist characterMister Miracle "by an earlier career of writer-artist Jim Steranko".[19]
During the day, Steranko made his living as an artist for a printing company in his hometown of Reading, designing and drawingpamphlets andflyers for local dance clubs and the like. He moved on after five years to join anadvertising agency, where he designed ads and drew products ranging from "baby carriages to beer cans".[11] Interested in writing and drawing for comic books, he visitedDC Comics as a fan and was treated to a tour of the office by editorJulius Schwartz, who gave Steranko a copy of a script featuring the science-fiction adventurerAdam Strange. Steranko recalled in 2003, "It was the first full script I'd ever seen, complete with panel descriptions and dialogue. I learned a lot from it and eventually went on to create a few comics of my own."[20]
He initially entered the comics industry in 1957,[21] not long out of high school, working for a short time inking pencil art byVince Colletta andMatt Baker in Colletta's New York City studio before returning to Reading.[22] In 1966, he landed assignments atHarvey Comics under editorJoe Simon, who as one writer described was "trying to create a line of super heroes within a publishing company that had specialized inanthropomorphic animals."[11] Here Steranko created and wrote the charactersSpyman,Magicmaster and theGladiator for the company's short-lived superhero line,Harvey Thriller. His first published comics art came inSpyman #1 (Sept. 1966), for which he wrote the 20-page story "The Birth of a Hero" andpenciled the first page, which included a diagram of a robotic hand that was reprinted as an inset on artistGeorge Tuska's cover.[23][24]
Steranko also approached Marvel Comics in 1966.[25] He met with editorStan Lee, who had Steranko ink a two-pageJack Kirby sample of typical art for thesuperspy feature "Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." Steranko self-published it in 1970 in the limited-edition "Steranko Portfolio One"; it appeared again 30 years later in slightly altered form in the 2000 trade-paperback collectionNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. This led to Lee's assigning him the Nick Fury feature inStrange Tales, a "split book" that shared each issue with another feature. Future Marvel editor-in-chiefRoy Thomas, then a staff writer, recalled,
[H]e came up to the office ... and I was sent out bySol [Brodsky] 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, ... 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.[26][27]
Lee and Kirby had initiated the 12-page "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." feature inStrange Tales #135 (Aug. 1965), with Kirby supplying such inventive and enduring gadgets and hardware as theHelicarrier – an airborneaircraft carrier – as well as LMDs (Life Model Decoys) and even automobileairbags. Marvel's all-purpose terrorist organizationHydra was introduced here as well.
Steranko began his stint on the feature bypenciling andinking "finishes" over Kirby layouts inStrange Tales #151 (Dec. 1966),[28] just as many fellow new Marvel artists did at the time.[29] Two issues later, Steranko took over full penciling and also began drawing the every-other-issue "Nick Fury" cover art. Then, in a rarity for comics artists of the era, he took over the series' writing with #155 (April 1967), followingRoy Thomas, who had succeeded Lee.[23] In another break with custom, he himself, rather than a Marvel staff artist, had become the series' uncreditedcolorist by that issue.[23]
"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. WroteLes Daniels, in hisComix: A History of Comic Books in America, "[E]ven the dullest of readers could sense that something new was happening. ... With each passing issue Steranko's efforts became more and more innovative. Entire pages would be devoted tophotocollages 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 Franciscorock concertposter of the period".[30]
His peers took note of his experimentation. Writer-artistLarry Hama, in an introduction to Nick Fury collection, said Steranko "combined the figurative dynamism of Jack Kirby with modern design concepts", and recostumed Fury from suits and ties to "a form-fitting bodysuit with numerous zippers and pockets, like aWally Wood spacesuit revamped byPierre Cardin. The women were clad in form-fitting black leather a laEmma Peel in theAvengers TV show. Thegraphic influences ofPeter Max, Op Art andAndy 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."[31]
Steranko introduced or popularized in comics such art movements of the day aspsychedelia andop art, drawing specifically on the "aesthetic of[Salvador] Dalí," with inspiration fromRichard M. Powers, ultimately synthesizing a style he termed "Zap Art."[11][29] A.M. Viturtia notes Steranko drew on theJames Bond novels, and claims that the influence went both ways: "Although Steranko was primarily influenced by spy movies, after Nick Fury came on the comics scene, the directors of those same movies began to borrow heavily from Steranko himself!" He absorbed, adapted and built upon the groundbreaking work of Jack Kirby, both in the use ofphotomontage (particularly for cityscapes), and in the use of full- and double-page-spreads. Indeed, inStrange Tales #167 (Jan. 1968), Steranko created comics' first four-page spread, upon which panorama he or editor Lee bombastically noted, "to get the full effect, of course, requires a second ish [copy of the issue] placed side-by-side, but we think you'll find it to be well worth the price to have the wildest action sceneever in the history of comics!"[32] All the while, Steranko spun outlandishly action-filled plots of intrigue, barely sublimated sensuality, and a cool-jazz hi-fi hipness.
Writer Steven Ringgenberg assessed that
Steranko's Marvel work became a benchmark of '60s pop culture, combining the traditional comic book art styles ofWally Wood andJack Kirby with the surrealism of Richard Powers and Salvador Dalí. Steeped in cinematic techniques picked up from that medium's masters, Jim synthesized ... an approach different from anything being done in mainstream comics, though it did include one standard attraction: lots of females in skintight, sexy costumes.Countess Valentina (Val) Allegro De Fontaine [sic; "Valentina Allegra di Fontaine"] made her debut inStrange Tales #159 (Aug. 1967) by flooring Nick Fury during a training session, proving that she could take care of herself! She looked like a character who had just stepped out of a James Bond poster.[33]
She and Steranko's other skintight leather-clad version ofBond girls pushed what was allowable under theComics Code at the time.[4] One example is a silent, one-page seduction sequence with the Countess inNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, described by Robin Green inRolling Stone:
So one panel had the stereo in Fury's apartment to show there was music playing, cigarettes in the ash tray in one, there was a sequence of intercut shots where she moved closer to him, much more intimately, there was a kiss, there was a rose, and then there was one panel with the telephone off the hook, which the comic book code [sic; "Comics Code"] made him put back on. ... [T]he last panel on that page had Nick and his old lady kneeling, with their arms around each other, and that was entirely too much for the Code, so the panel was replaced with a picture of a gun in its holster.[34]
When reprinted inNick 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 withscreentone shading, the couple is beginning to embrace, with Fury standing and the Countess on one knee, getting up. Another reprinting, inMarvel Masterworks: Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Volume 2 (Marvel Publishing, 2009;ISBN 978-0-7851-3503-6), used the published final panel, although the appendix included the original art, showing the page as initially drawn. Each instance uses Steranko's original telephone panel, not the redrawn published version.
Fury's adventures continued in his own series, for which Steranko contributed four 20-page stories: "Who isScorpio?" (issue #1); "So Shall Ye Reap ... Death" (#2), inspired byShakespeare'sThe Tempest; "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill" (#3), aHound of the Baskervilles homage, replete with aPeter Cushingmanqué; 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 produced merely a handful of additional covers, 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.
Steranko also had short runs onX-Men (#50–51, Nov.–Dec. 1968), for which he designed a new cover logo,[35] andCaptain America (#110–111, 113, Feb.–March, May 1969).[23] Steranko introduced theMadame Hydra character inhis briefCaptain America run.[36] With no new work immediately forthcoming, a "MarvelBullpen Bulletins" fan page in spring 1969 announced that, "In case you've been wondering what happened to Jaunty Jim Steranko, ... [he] is working on a brand-new feature, which will shortly be spotlighted inMarvel Super-Heroes. And talk about a secret – he hasn't even toldus what it is!"[37] The referred-to project never appeared.
Steranko went on to write and draw ahorror story that precipitated a breakup with Marvel. Though that seven-page tale, "At the Stroke of Midnight", published inTower of Shadows #1 (Sept. 1969),[38] would win a 1969Alley 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[35] and elsewhere, Lee disliked or did not understand the homage to horror authorH. 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.[35]
In a contemporaneous interview, conducted November 14, 1969, Steranko reflected on the tiff:
The reason I had a little altercation with them is because they edited some of my work. They changed certain things that I didn't feel should be changed. And I insisted that we couldn't continue on that basis. ... For example, my horror story "At the Stroke of Midnight" had a line of dialogue added. The meek husband said, "I'm nervous because it's closer to midnight" or something like that; simply a gratuitous line. It wasn't my title and it didn't have that line in it. Stan originally wanted that story to be called "Let Them Eat Cake," which I didn't approve of. We had disagreements about the way I told stories. ... If you're a publisher and you want my work, you get it my way or you don't get it at all. ... Anyway, I have an agreement now, a working agreement with them, and everything's cool.[39]
Summing up this initial stint in comics, Steranko said in 1979,
I was getting the top pay at Marvel, along with Kirby and John Buscema, and I felt privileged to be considered in their class. Both of them were better comic artists. But working at Marvel was also a serious cut in pay compared to my advertising work. My life was hectic then. I worked as the art director for an ad agency in the afternoon, played in a rock band at night, and worked on my comic book pages early in the morning. It's a peculiar thing, but the more I learned about storytelling, the slower I became. Eventually I had to stop playing in the band; later I left the agency. There were plenty of hassles with Stan Lee, of course. I felt that if I was good enough to work for them, then they should accept my work without a lot of maddening editorial changes. But now, I think I may have been wrong. After all, Marvel was paying the tab. Stan is a great editor. He stresses storytelling and really knows the comics business, probably better than anyone else.[40]
Steranko returned briefly to Marvel, contributing aromance story ("My Heart Broke in Hollywood",Our Love Story #5, Feb. 1970)[41] and becoming the cover artist for 15 comics beginning withDoc Savage #2–3,Shanna the She-Devil #1–2, andSupernatural Thrillers #1–2 (each successively cover-dated Dec. 1972 and Feb. 1973), and ending with the reprint comicNick Fury and his Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 (April 1973).[11][23]
In 1973, Steranko became founding editor of Marvel's official fan magazine,FOOM,[42] which superseded the two previous official fan clubs, theMerry Marvel Marching Society andMarvelmania. Steranko served as editor and also produced the covers for the magazine's inaugural four issues before being succeeded editorially byTony Isabella.[43] He had previously been associated with Marvelmania, producing two of the club's 12 posters.
Steranko then branched into other areas of publishing, including most notably book-cover illustration. Lacking any experience as a painter, his decision to effectively quit comics in 1969 led him to "an artist friend who earned his living as a painter", from whom Steranko obtained an "hour-long lecture", and the suggestion that he work inacrylics rather thanoils, for the sake of speed.[11] From these inauspicious beginnings, he compiled a portfolio of half a dozen paintings ("twoWesterns, twopin-up girls, twogothic horror and onesword-and-sorcery"[11]) and met withLancer Books'art director Howard Winters, to whom he immediately sold hisfantasy piece. This led to a career illustrating dozens ofpaperback covers, popularly including those ofPyramid Books' reissues of the 1930spulp novels ofThe Shadow.[44] When DC Comics gained the comic book publishing rights to The Shadow, they contacted Steranko to work on the new series but ultimately choseDennis O'Neil andMichael Kaluta to produce the title instead.[45]
Steranko also formed his own publishing company, Supergraphics, in 1969, and the following year worked with writer-entrepreneurByron Preiss on an anti-drug comic book,The Block, distributed to elementary schools nationwide.[46] In 1970 and 1972, Supergraphics published twotabloid-sized volumes entitledThe Steranko History of Comics, a planned six-volume history of theAmerican comics industry, though no subsequent volumes have appeared. Written by Steranko, with hundreds of black-and-white cover reproductions as well as a complete reprint of oneThe Spirit story byWill Eisner, it included some of the first and in some cases only interviews with numerous creators from the 1930s and 1940sGolden Age of Comic Books.
Supergraphics projects included the proposedTalon the Timeless, illustrations of which appeared in aportfolio published inwitzend magazine #5,[47] and apinup girl calendar, "The Supergirls", consisting of 12 illustrations of sexysuperheroines in costumes recalling such superheroes asCaptain America andGreen Lantern.[11] Through Supergraphics he also published the magazineComixscene, which premiered with a December 1972cover date as a folded-tabloid periodical on stiff, non-glossy paper, reporting on the comics field. It evolved in stages intoMediascene (beginning with issue #7, Dec. 1973) and ultimately intoPrevue (beginning with #41, Aug. 1980), a general-interest, standard format, popular culture magazine, running through 1994.[48][49]Fantagraphics publisherGary Groth recounts his time living with and working for Sterkano andPrevue in Reading, PA during aCartoonist Kayfabe YouTube interview in May 2020.[50]
Steranko wrote, drew, and produced the illustrated novelChandler: Red Tide in 1976, forByron Preiss Visual Publications / Pyramid Books. Aside from occasional covers and pinup illustrations, he has rarely worked in comics since, although he did illustrate a serialized comics adaptation of thePeter Hyams 1981 sci-fi thrillerOutland forHeavy Metal magazine. His only major work forDC Comics appeared inSuperman #400 (Oct. 1984), the 10-page story "The Exile at the Edge of Eternity," which he wrote, drew, colored and lettered.[23][51][52] A 1997 attempt to negotiate Steranko's return to S.H.I.E.L.D. did not bear fruit.[11] In 2008, he worked withRadical Comics, doing covers, character and logo designs for itsHercules: The Thracian Wars title[53] andRyder on the Storm.[54] In 2012, he did poster art for RZG Comics[55] and a variant cover for DC'sBefore Watchmen: Rorschach #1.[56] Steranko drew the 1970s variant cover forAction Comics #1000 (June 2018).[57]
For the film industry, Steranko has done sketches and preliminary paintings for movie posters,[58] including for the 1977Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and was a conceptual artist onSteven Spielberg'sRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981), doing production designs for the film and designing the character ofIndiana Jones.[58][59] He also served in a similar capacity as "project conceptualist" onFrancis Ford Coppola'sBram Stoker's Dracula (1992),[60] and wrote the episode "The Ties That Bind" of theDC Comics animated TV seriesJustice League Unlimited (2004-2006).[61]
In 2003, Steranko was interviewed by theHistory Channel for the documentary titledComic Book Superheroes Unmasked.[62]
He has "amassed an enormous portfolio of more than sixty projects (which he called the 'Theater of Concepts') designed to be seen in multimedia form".[11]
In a joint venture withMarvel Comics andDiamond Comic Distributors, Vanguard Productions in 2002 sponsored Steranko's "The Spirit of America" benefit print,[63] created to fund an art scholarship "for victims of anti-American terrorism".[64]
Steranko has won awards in fields as varied as magic, comics and graphic design. A partial list includes:
Steranko's work has been exhibited internationally in more than 160 shows.[11] Among others, his work has been shown in the following locations:
indicia reads, "Next issue due out June 20""Ink Stains 23: Fantastic Fanzine 11". ComicAttack.net. October 1, 2010.Archived from the original on March 1, 2011.
Writer/artist Jim Steranko had begun to draw the 'Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD' [feature] inStrange Tales #151 and started writing it four issues later.
The Man of Steel celebrated his 400th issue in star-studded fashion with the help of some of the comic industry's best and brightest ... the issue also featured a visionary tale written and drawn by Jim Steranko.
Hine is also writingRyder on the Storm, for which Jim Steranko also designed the world.
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