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James Steranko (born 5 November , 1938 , Reading, Pennsylvania , United States ) is an American Graphic Artist , Comic Book Writer - Artist - Historian , Publisher , and Movie - Storyboard 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 and Op Art into the medium. His work has been published in many countries and his influence on the field has remained strong since his comics heyday. Marvel has published several Trade Paperback editions of his work, including ''Marvel Visionaries: Jim Steranko'' (2002; ISBN 0785109447). EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Up through his early 20s, Steranko made a living as an Illusionist , Escape Artist , Magician , and Musician (including a stint with Bill Haley And His Comets ). He entered the comics industry through Editor Joe Simon at Harvey Comics , where Steranko created the characters Spyman , Magicmaster and the Gladiator for the company's short-lived superhero line. 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 Comics editor Stan Lee . Lee, impressed with Steranko's work, assigned him the "Nick Fury" feature in '' Strange Tales '', a "split book" shared each issue with another feature. SILVER AGE STERANKO Future Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas , then a staff writer, recalled Steranko's arrival at Marvel:
: Splash panel, '' 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. Initially Penciling "finishes" over Kirby's layouts, Steranko soon took over full penciling and in short order was writing and Coloring the feature as well. "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." soon became one of the creative zeniths of the Silver Age. Streranko introduced or popularized in comics such art movements of the day as Psychedelia and Op Art ; built on Kirby's longstanding work in Photo Montage ; and in ''Strange Tales'' #167 (Jan. 1968), created comics' first four-page spread — again inspired by Kirby, who in the Golden Age had pioneered the first full-page and double-page spreads. 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 , essentially, dressed in skintight leather or green hair with matching eyeshadow and accessory whip — well pushing what was allowable under the Comics Code at the time. 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, repleat 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 dropped the book. Decades afterward, however, their images are among comics' best known, and homages to his art have abounded — from recreations of classic covers with different heroes in place of Fury, to the Krusty The Klown parody "Krusty, Agent Of K.L.O.W.N." in '' Simpsons Comics '' #3 (March 1994 ). 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 ''. Steranko also dabbled with a Horror story and a Romance story before ending regular work in the comics industry. During the early 1970s he returned as a regular cover artist for Marvel, and has from time to time contributed individual pages or covers to various comics projects. PUBLISHER AND PAPERBACK-ARTIST Steranko was unable to produce comics work that met his own standards at a pace sufficient to sustain himself economically. As well, he felt constrained by the Comics Code Authority , which frequently ordered changes to tone down the sensuality of his work. Seeking work illustrating book covers, he compiled a porfolio 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 Novel s of '' The Shadow ''. 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 '', distritubted to Elementary Schools nationwide. In 1970 and 1972, Supergraphics published two popular, tabloid-sized volumes entitled "The Steranko History of Comics", a planned multivolume history of the American Comics industry, though no further editions have appeared. Through Supergraphics he also published the Magazine ''Comixscene'' (retitled ''Mediascene'' and finally ''Prevue''), which began as an oversized newsprint periodical reporting on the comics field, and 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 . Occasionally returning to narrative forms, Steranko wrote, drew, and produced the '' (1976), published by Byron Preiss Visual Publications /Pyramid Books as part of its "Fiction Illustrated" series. Steranko also drew a comic-book adaptation of the 1981 film '' Outland '', serialized in '' Heavy Metal '' magazine. 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 directed 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 ''. Steranko's youthful career as an Escape Artist was an inspiration for the Jack Kirby character Mister Miracle (see Quotes, below), as well as for Joe Kavalier in the Michael Chabon novel '' The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay ''. The lighthearted spy movie ''If Looks Could Kill'' (1991) features Roger Rees as the villain, Augustus Steranko. QUOTES would use similar patterned shading in '' Sin City ''.]] Steven Ringgenberg, ''Betty Pages Magazine'' #4 (Spring 1989) {Link without Title} : "Steranko's Marvel work became a benchmark of '60s pop culture, combining the traditional comic book art styles of '' #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." ''''s roots are not in doubt. The visual came about shortly after songstress Lainie Kazan posed for Playboy ...and the characterization between Scott ' Mr. Miracle ' Free and Barda was based largely — though with tongue in cheek — on the interplay betwixt Jack and his wife Roz. Of course, the whole ' Escape Artist ' theme was inspired by an earlier career of writer-artist Jim Steranko." Michael Chabon (Author, Pulitzer Prize -winning novel about the early days of comics, '' The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay '' - Reviews/Dec Reviews/steranko_one.htm : "I would never have written Kavalier and Clay without Steranko's ''History of Comics''. It is the standard history. When I first read it in 1970 was when I discovered that comics had a history...I was mind-blown by [Steranko's] body of work. The October 1995 ''Comic Book Marketplace'' issue has a detailed account of Steranko as a performing escape artist. Up until I read that, I had heard it but never knew how seriously to take that." BIBLIOGRAPHY: COMIC BOOKS ''Chronological order. Artwork for Marvel Comics unless otherwise noted.''
::Serialized '' Outland '' movie adaptation
COMIC-BOOK COVER GALLERY ''Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' |
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