Comic book artist James Dean Jim Steranko was born on this day in 1938. The son of a stage magician, he did that himself for a while, but it's the feats of magic performed on the drawing board that's made him a legend in his field. At least it was his field, as his stint in comic books was mostly in the latter half of the 1960s. Since 1970 or so, he's run his own publishing company and done much work in Hollywood as a production designer, most notably working with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg on Raiders of the Lost Ark, helping them come up with the Indiana Jones "look" (though he didn't design Harrison Ford; that was God's doing.) The still-debonair Steranko hasn't completely abandoned the comics field, returning every now and then for a limited run on some book. And he can often be found at the many comic-cons, i.e., conventions, which is where we find him in this clip:
Steranko mentioned Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division--even Stan Lee in his 1975 book Son of Origins of MarvelComics couldn't tell you what it was a division of), who is his intelligence agency's own best agent, and seems to assign most of the missions to himself! Fury wasn't always a secret agent. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, he made his debut in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos as an Army noncom fighting the Nazis during World War II. Two years later, inspired by the success of the James Bond movies and TV shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Lee and Kirby turned Fury, now a WWII vet with an eyepatch, into a spy, and assigned his cloak-and-dagger (and often laser beam) missions to the comic book Strange Tales, where he shared space with Doctor Strange. Kirby left the feature at the end of 1966, and that's when Steranko took over, eventually getting a book all to himself to play with. Kirby had already revolutionized comic book art by giving it a touch of the avant-garde. Steranko went further, and farther out. He took his inspiration not so much from Milt Caniff and Alex Raymond but the latest Jimi Hendrix album cover and Grateful Dead concert flyer. These were tie-died spies, op art operatives. It was counterculture counterintelligence, espionage for acidheads. As much Peter Max as Maxwell Smart. Intrigued? I can't tell you anything more until you've given me your password...What's that? You're already logged into your computer? Well, yeah, I guess to do that you would have had to use a pass--OK, just draw down the shades and turn on the lava lamp. Here are some intriguing and arresting examples of Jim Steranko's national security state psychedelia:
When you're a spy, they'll send you anywhere. You don't even have to know Jeff Bezos.
I admit I always get carried away with myself with these comic book posts, but it all looks so purty on a computer screen, don't you think? Speaking of comic books, you'll notice on the above cover in the upper right hand corner, this bit of censorship:
Andrew, one of the goals of this blog is to show you the individual, sometimes the idiosyncratic, talents who can be found in pop culture and tend to be underappreciated. Partly they're underappreciated because pop culture's most popular means of expression--television, Top-40 radio, comics, Hollywood movies--are looked down upon by the intelligentsia. Why are those things looked down upon? Well, I hate to say it, but the snobs have some pretty good arguments going for them. Chief among them is that all those means of expression have historically existed to make a buck, art being a secondary concern or not a concern at all. The other thing is, we live in an era where we're BOMBARDED with pop culture--it's not like the 19th century where you had to wait a year for the circus to come to town--and there can be, or at least seem to be, an overwhelming sameness to it all that can be easy to criticize.
Nevertheless, I do believe art pops up in pop culture from time to time. And besides, it's the culture I know best. So I try to separate the wheat from the chaff, which is admittedly a lot easier to do with pop culture past then pop culture present.
Happy 83rd birthday to comic book artist and writer Jim Steranko. I see that Jim was born in Reading, PA, a city within the coverage area of the TV station where I worked throughout the 70s until the mid 80s. Jim gives a great interview there at the comic-con. He is friendly, down to earth, articulate, interesting, and does not indulge in false modesty. As a fan of the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., having hired two of its characters as regular presenters at Shady's Place, namely Daisy Johnson and AIDA, its exciting to learn how Jim's first break came about leading to a long and successful carer in which he developed an iconic character and revolutionized comic book art. I appreciate the assortment of colorful, edgy, action-packed covers and story pages you posted. I admire the body language of Nick Fury and other characters. They are depicted in violent motion and mind-blowing danger in spectacular settings. As The Chambers Brothers wrote and sang, "my soul has been psychedelicized" thanks to Jim Steranko.
I read that Jim also created conceptual art and character designs for Bram Stoker's Dracula, the film we were just discussing in connection with birthday girl Winona Ryder.
Thank you, good buddy Kirk, for paying tribute to this talented and deserving artist as he celebrates another birthday in a stellar and highly accomplished life.
Shady, even though Daisy Johnson and AIDA didn't make their debuts until long after Jim Steranko left S.H.I.E.L.D behind him, it can be argued that they're part of his legacy, so it's nice that you have them as presenters on your fine blog.
That's some wild 'n crazy art! I really like the MCU version of Nick Fury, complete with his switch from white to black. And giving his Howling Commandoes to Captain America.
Debra, I'm white, but in the HIGHLY UNLIKELY event they ever make a movie of my life, Samuel L. Jackson is welcome to play me. We'll just call it artistic license.
Getting back to Nick Fury, you know, in the 1960s, the Marvel Universe more or less moved in real time (Peter Parker is in high school in the first half of the decade, and college in the second half.) This meant Nick Fury could have fought in World War II and still be young enough to do battle with Hydra agents during the Johnson Administration. However, at some point in the 1970s it was decided to freeze everybody's ages, so that Peter Parker and Johnny Storm never reach 30 (I'm not altogether sure they've reached 25!) Fury was the one character you couldn't do that with, since his World War II exploits were too well-established (like, he had his own comic book), so, as I'm sure you know, Debra, they came up with the anti-aging formula. When it came time to put Fury in the movies, it was no surprise they just threw out the 1940s stuff, since he can be a secret agent without it. It IS a surprise that they put the Howling Commandos in a movie, since I'm not sure that, apart from Fury, they had that much of a following. But it's a pleasant and, by hooking them up with Captain America (who has his own ways of bypassing the aging process), an ingenious surprise, a way of incorporating as many of comic book elements in the MCU as possible.
Wasn't Nick Fury in outer space the last time he was in one of those movies? Maybe he'll meet the Watcher next.
In order to keep the hucksters, humbugs, scoundrels, psychos, morons, and last but not least, artificial intelligentsia at bay, I have decided to turn on comment moderation. On the plus side, I've gotten rid of the word verification.
When young I never appreciated the artwork in comics. I do now. I suppose they are only historical now.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, one of the goals of this blog is to show you the individual, sometimes the idiosyncratic, talents who can be found in pop culture and tend to be underappreciated. Partly they're underappreciated because pop culture's most popular means of expression--television, Top-40 radio, comics, Hollywood movies--are looked down upon by the intelligentsia. Why are those things looked down upon? Well, I hate to say it, but the snobs have some pretty good arguments going for them. Chief among them is that all those means of expression have historically existed to make a buck, art being a secondary concern or not a concern at all. The other thing is, we live in an era where we're BOMBARDED with pop culture--it's not like the 19th century where you had to wait a year for the circus to come to town--and there can be, or at least seem to be, an overwhelming sameness to it all that can be easy to criticize.
DeleteNevertheless, I do believe art pops up in pop culture from time to time. And besides, it's the culture I know best. So I try to separate the wheat from the chaff, which is admittedly a lot easier to do with pop culture past then pop culture present.
Hi, Kirk!
ReplyDeleteHappy 83rd birthday to comic book artist and writer Jim Steranko. I see that Jim was born in Reading, PA, a city within the coverage area of the TV station where I worked throughout the 70s until the mid 80s. Jim gives a great interview there at the comic-con. He is friendly, down to earth, articulate, interesting, and does not indulge in false modesty. As a fan of the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., having hired two of its characters as regular presenters at Shady's Place, namely Daisy Johnson and AIDA, its exciting to learn how Jim's first break came about leading to a long and successful carer in which he developed an iconic character and revolutionized comic book art. I appreciate the assortment of colorful, edgy, action-packed covers and story pages you posted. I admire the body language of Nick Fury and other characters. They are depicted in violent motion and mind-blowing danger in spectacular settings. As The Chambers Brothers wrote and sang, "my soul has been psychedelicized" thanks to Jim Steranko.
I read that Jim also created conceptual art and character designs for Bram Stoker's Dracula, the film we were just discussing in connection with birthday girl Winona Ryder.
Thank you, good buddy Kirk, for paying tribute to this talented and deserving artist as he celebrates another birthday in a stellar and highly accomplished life.
Shady, even though Daisy Johnson and AIDA didn't make their debuts until long after Jim Steranko left S.H.I.E.L.D behind him, it can be argued that they're part of his legacy, so it's nice that you have them as presenters on your fine blog.
DeleteThat's some wild 'n crazy art! I really like the MCU version of Nick Fury, complete with his switch from white to black. And giving his Howling Commandoes to Captain America.
ReplyDeleteDebra, I'm white, but in the HIGHLY UNLIKELY event they ever make a movie of my life, Samuel L. Jackson is welcome to play me. We'll just call it artistic license.
DeleteGetting back to Nick Fury, you know, in the 1960s, the Marvel Universe more or less moved in real time (Peter Parker is in high school in the first half of the decade, and college in the second half.) This meant Nick Fury could have fought in World War II and still be young enough to do battle with Hydra agents during the Johnson Administration. However, at some point in the 1970s it was decided to freeze everybody's ages, so that Peter Parker and Johnny Storm never reach 30 (I'm not altogether sure they've reached 25!) Fury was the one character you couldn't do that with, since his World War II exploits were too well-established (like, he had his own comic book), so, as I'm sure you know, Debra, they came up with the anti-aging formula. When it came time to put Fury in the movies, it was no surprise they just threw out the 1940s stuff, since he can be a secret agent without it. It IS a surprise that they put the Howling Commandos in a movie, since I'm not sure that, apart from Fury, they had that much of a following. But it's a pleasant and, by hooking them up with Captain America (who has his own ways of bypassing the aging process), an ingenious surprise, a way of incorporating as many of comic book elements in the MCU as possible.
Wasn't Nick Fury in outer space the last time he was in one of those movies? Maybe he'll meet the Watcher next.
Hi Kirk, This is a great tribute to Mr. Steranko. I don't usually see comics, so I was impressed with all the colorful art you displayed.
ReplyDelete--Jim
I'm glad you liked it, Jim. Superheroes are drawings first, and CGI second, in my opinion.
DeleteAwesome blog
ReplyDelete