The Art of Jim Steranko

In the following article, we’ll show you the art of Jim Steranko.

Steranko turned the comic book world upside down. An expert designer and quite adventurous, he knew how to conquer the world with his art.

We’ll go through his life and experiences. You can’t miss the article about one of the most recognized artists in the Comic world. Here’s Jim Steranko. Keep reading!

The industry’s stagnation at that time was beneficial for Jim

Around 1966, in the middle of the Silver Age, the American comic industry was going through a curious situation. Although it was in a state of full artistic boiling, driven by the resurgence of superheroes and the consolidation of the style of several masters like Jack Kirby or Joe Kubert, the impact of the panic of the 50’s was still felt.

Particularly in the age of creators, an entire generation of illustrators had completely dodged the discredited medium, and the vast majority of comic book artists had been traveling since the Golden Age, at least 10 years back.

This was reflected in a high level of technique and professionalism in the comics of the decade, but also in the undeniable stagnation that results from such a standardized and underestimated creative environment.

The need for fresh blood was evident wherever you looked. In this context, Steranko entered the scene like lightning and turned the comic book world upside down. An expert designer and born showman, adventurous both in front of the sheet and on the roads, Steranko injected the attitude of the 60s into Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., making waves throughout the mainstream.

His creative restlessness and pride in his work meant that his work was relatively brief (Only 29 comics for Marvel, and a few more pages for various magazines). Each page still hums with the energy of Zap Art.

Here’s the original rockstar of comics, Jim Steranko!

Jim’s life is as colorful and eccentric as the comics he would become famous for. He was born on November 5, 1938 in Reading, Pennsylvania, into a poor family, in the last years of the Great Depression.

Having had a brush with tuberculosis in his childhood, and being younger and smaller than his peers, he soon became the target of all kinds of bullying, and his early years were marked by gang fights and family abuse.

Despite these circumstances, young Steranko’s artistic impulse was present from a very young age, opening and flattening envelopes and wrappers to have paper to draw on.

His love for comics began with the newspaper strips of Milton Caniff, Chester Gould and Frank Robbins, and then was cemented forever with the comic boxes his uncle gave him. He also went to the movies constantly and learned some magic tricks with his father’s paraphernalia, who worked as a magician and musician in nightclubs.

Soon Jim left home and worked in circuses and sideshows around the country, doing magic acts, punctuated by acts of vandalism and juvenile delinquency that generated more than a brush with the law.

As a responsible adult, Steranko worked by day in a printing shop in his native Reading, where he intimately learned all facets of the graphic design and printing process, knowledge that would be vitally useful for the rest of his career.

During the nights, he cultivated a parallel career as a magician in nightclubs, specializing in the art of escapism (Legend has it that Jack Kirby was inspired by this colorful career to create Mr. Miracle).

He was able to develop a talent for the incipient Rock & Roll music and had a long career as a guitarist for different bands. Steranko claims for himself the idea of having beautiful girls dance on stage while he played, which would later become the fashion of Go-Go dancers.

This story of his youth shows, on one hand, his sharp sense for publicity, and his incessant ability to tell interesting stories, both of his characters and of himself.

In the 60’s, he moved to New York with his girlfriend and quickly got a job for an advertising agency, further honing his skill for design in advertisements for the most diverse products.

Always following the same passion for comics that had accompanied him since childhood, and despite his drawing still being somewhat crude, he longed for the opportunity to demonstrate what he could do.

How was his first contact with the industry?

His first brush with the industry was a brief period as an inker in Vince Coletta’s studio in 1956, fresh out of high school, but it led to nothing. It wasn’t until 1965 when he had a serious chance at the hands of Joe Simon, Jack Kirby’s former business partner.

Simon was editing the Harvey comic line, famous for its Casper and Richie Rich comics, and wanted to try to ride the wave of Silver Age superheroes, so he commissioned Steranko to develop characters and concepts.

Although Jim’s first published work came out of this offer, the script and a couple of drawings in Spyman, the collaboration with Simon turned out to be frustrating for the combative and confident Steranko, a warning of things to come, and Harvey’s super line did not prosper.

A next attempt to enter the industry, producing a comic book for the Tower Comics line, also collapsed due to a fight with his potential editor Samm Schwartz.

Presentation sheet of Spyman, 1965

Hurt in his pride by that failure, but confident in his abilities, he toured all the comic publishers in New York, unsuccessfully seeking the possibility of creating his own, finally arriving at the Madison Avenue offices of Magazine Management Co., Inc., home of the Marvel Comics Group, a relatively small editorial operation that, at the hands of artists/writers Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and editor/writer Stan Lee, had set the comic book world on fire, becoming the creative dynamo of the fledgling Silver Age.

Steranko’s charisma, his essence

Making use of his inexhaustible charisma, Steranko managed to bypass receptionists and editorial staff to put his art in front of Lee himself, who knew how to recognize that he had someone with potential in front of him.

In a completely unexpected way, Lee pointed to the wall of his office, covered with all the comics the publisher was producing at that time, and simply said “Choose one”. Steranko, completely surprised by the situation, thought for a bit and chose the title that would make him famous.

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, was Marvel’s attempt to capitalize on the spy craze of the 60s, with James Bond and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. at the forefront, with the added value of deepening the thriving Marvel universe. The character of Fury was the protagonist of a war comic, set in World War II, and the new series brought that character to the modern era, connecting his work in the Army to an eventual career as a secret agent.

Although Kirby’s monstrous imagination was well suited to the stylized technology and secret organizations typical of the genre, for some reason, the title didn’t generate much impact on the public.

In his first adventures, he shared the Strange Tales magazine with Steve Ditko’s Dr. Strange, but after Ditko left Marvel, Strange Tales became one of the lowest circulation magazines.

Jim knew how to see the potential of the series, not only to offer the action and spectacle of spy cinema of the time but to serve as a basis for the ideas he was eager to apply to the page.

Cover of Steranko’s first published work, Strange Tales #151, December 1966

SHIELD and his first works

Steranko’s first works on SHIELD were as an illustrator, over Kirby’s layouts, so he had no influence on the story or how it was told, but already in these first pages, Steranko stood out for his skill and particular style. He skillfully handled the deformation of the human figure, essential to the dynamism of Kirby’s style, and his inking was detailed and well-balanced.

His study of the greats of comics, like Wally Wood or Will Eisner, was evident, and gave him the foundation to add a personal touch to his pages, even before his narrative ambitions were unleashed.

Page from “Overkill!”, Strange Tales #151. Steranko over Kirby. Note the background of the last panel.

But starting from Strange Tales #154 (March 1967) Steranko takes charge of the graphic/narrative aspect of SHIELD, and the following month, in a very unusual move for Marvel at that time, he became not only the writer of SHIELD, but also the colorist, putting his personal touch on all elements of the series (Although he still counts on Sam Rosen’s lettering).

Quickly, SHIELD became a roller coaster of graphic experimentation, daring compositions, constant and frantic spy action in Kirby style, but passed through a filter of sophistication and modernity that made it the coolest comic at newsstands.

Central splash of “Who is Scorpio?” Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #1, June 1968

To begin with, he “remixed” the aesthetic concept of the series. Kirby’s Nick Fury, with his permanent beard shadow since 1941 and his cheap cigars, changed his look from Madison Avenue suits to a glossy black jumpsuit, ideal for infiltration missions, and his arsenal of gadgets and vehicles, in the best James Bond style, but multiplied to superhero level.

(He gave him a luxurious apartment in a Manhattan penthouse, with modern furniture and art on the walls, based on his own apartment) Kirby’s famous and imaginative technology was still present, but stylized in new directions, sometimes hyper-detailed, other times more curved and organic, in tune with the design of the time.

Page from Project: Blackout, Strange Tales #160, September 1967. Steranko uses different lines to separate the telecommunicator from the wall, generating the impression that the base overflows with cutting-edge technology even through its pores.

Fury

Fury’s makeover was far from being the most changed thing about SHIELD. Steranko immediately imprinted his personal stamp on the very composition of the comic, reflecting his refined instinct for design.

Breaking away from Kirby’s classic grid, he employed panels of the most varied shapes and sizes, from cinematic horizontal panels to multi-panel sequences of subtle movements, reminiscent of Harvey Kurtzman’s work for EC Comics.

Page from Death Trap!, Strange Tales #155, April 1967. The influence of EC is noticeable not only in the use of Kurtzman’s techniques but also in the inking, reminiscent of Wally Wood and Johnny Craig.

He played with the very shape of the panels to communicate narrative elements with great effectiveness, but despite these daring decisions for the conservative American comic industry, his talent for graphic design shines through his compositions, keeping the pages readable and understandable.

Page from Beware… The Deadly Dreadnought!”, Strange Tales #154, March 1967. The symmetrical composition of the first two panels, combined with the radio emission effect of the gutter, produces the impression of simultaneity in an elegant way.

The action continued following the Kirby mold of explosive dynamism, with figures of obvious inspiration, but taking the stylization of anatomy in new directions. Steranko knew well from his days as an advertiser that, while his personal goal was to express himself artistically, his objective was to sell magazines, and he maintained Marvel’s basic line.

Sticking to Kirby’s epic battles and rhythm (And Lee’s irreverent verbosity) He added a whole new range of graphic options that elevated him above mere imitation.

Spectacular action-packed page from The Second Doom!, Strange Tales #161, October 1967

He took inspiration from all kinds of influences, both modern and ancient, that fascinated him: psychedelia, optical art, Film Noir, Jack Cole’s comics, Andy Warhol’s Pop Art, Salvador Dali’s surrealism, and an infinity of other things, and combined it in an approach he called “zap art”, an exploration of the potential of comics as Pop art.

Taking important references and inspirations

For this, he used all kinds of techniques to achieve the most varied visual effects, from the creative use of patterns and zip-a-tone, to collages and photomontages, similar to what Kirby had been doing for a couple of years.

Splash page from Project: Blackout. Steranko combines here ink drawing, photography, a copy of a Duoshade drawing, different typefaces, and more.

As the issues passed, Steranko pushed the visual possibilities of superhero comics to their limits, with increasingly daring compositions. His enormous figures, charged with energy, escaped from the edges of the panel to walk over the entire page, and the spectacular splash pages, and even double spreads, became more common and spectacular, culminating in the unheard-of quadruple spread, an explosion of action worthy of a cinerama screen.

The famous quadruple splash from Armageddon!, Strange Tales #168, April 1968. Stan Lee strongly opposed publishing it, until Steranko pointed out that readers would have to buy two issues to fully appreciate it.

His pages were brimming with ideas to involve the reader as much as possible in the story, bringing out his intimate knowledge of printing techniques and layout concepts.

In this risky page from If death be my destiny!, Strange Tales #166, March 1968, Steranko forces the reader to modify their reading pattern to reproduce Nick Fury’s disorientation in the labyrinth

SHIELD GETS ITS OWN MAGAZINE

In 1968, SHIELD got its own magazine, and immediately Steranko took advantage of the extra space to deepen his aesthetic and narrative approach, which he would later continue to deepen in 3 issues of Captain America, representing the apex of his intentions with the superhero genre.

New ways of representing cosmic energy based on optical art in Who Is Scorpio?

His surrealist influence and obsession with cinema reached unheard-of limits, filling his stories with psychedelic compositions unimaginable in another mass medium at the time.

Nightmarish and hallucinated sequence from Tomorrow You Live, Tonight I Die!, Captain America #111, March 1969

Although his experimental enthusiasm remained undiminished, his patience with the industry was rapidly running out. On one hand, he was not only still working at the advertising agency, but also playing 3 or 4 nights a week with his rock band, and drawing his pages in the early morning hours.

Despite the effort he put into his pages, comics were by far the lowest-paying job.

The splash page of Tomorrow you live, tonight I die!. Steranko used all the colors available in the four-color process, applied to a frantic montage of scenarios. The result is another fantastic page without precedent until its publication.

He grew tired of having to submit to the censorship of the Comics Code Authority, which constantly resisted his drawings of beautiful women and his more seductive pages.

Attractive page from Today Earth Died!, Strange Tales #168, May 1968. When originally published, the CCA ordered this page to be corrected, covering up the careful outline of Contessa Valentina’s figure, particularly the buttocks. Modern editions reproduce it in its original splendor.

His gifts and abilities were not rewarded or taken into account

The biggest headaches were definitely with his own editor, Stan Lee, who constantly resisted Steranko’s ideas, begging him to make pages more similar to Kirby’s layouts, which he had copied in his early days.

There came a point when Jim began to feel that his effort to elevate superhero comics to a new graphic level was not only poorly rewarded, but even actively resisted by a company that at the end of the day only cared about selling cheap reading material to America’s children.

This fantastic page from The strange death of Captain America, Captain America #113, May 1969, reflects Steranko at his peak, using limited color palettes to create mood, large-scale scenarios with a modern look, and an effective montage of super close-ups to add emotion and drama to an intentionally cold scene. Steranko had taken the Marvel style to an unrecognizable limit.

Finally, after Captain America, a couple of issues of X-Men (in which he redesigned their famous logo) and a handful of covers, Steranko grew tired of this treatment and had a tempestuous fight with Lee over At the stroke of midnight, a short horror story for the new Tower of Shadows magazine.

Again he reinvented his style, with strong inspiration from classic horror cinema and H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, but Lee resisted the style of the art, the script, the cover that Steranko had originally designed, and even the title of the story.

After this incident, he became convinced that if they weren’t going to pay him well, the least they could do was give him the dignity of accepting his work as he presented it to them. Although he soon reconciled with Stan, he decided after only 3 years that his stage as a comic artist had gone as far as the industry would allow him.

All kinds of unsettling panel transitions, always in constant motion, give a hypnotic and chilling rhythm to this page from At the stroke of midnight!, Tower of Shadows #1, September 1969.

The restless Jim Steranko didn’t spend much time licking his wounds after leaving Marvel. According to his own words, on the same day, he went to visit an illustrator friend to find out how that field was handled, who in an hour gave him an intensive course in acrylic painting.

Soon, armed with a portfolio of 6 pieces (And again his unbreakable charisma) He entered the offices of Lancer Books, a mass literature publisher, and came out with a new career as an illustrator of paperback novel covers of all genres, standing out for his series of covers for the reprint of The Shadow pulp novels.

Steranko’s covers for The Shadow. At one point Steranko was considered by DC Comics to draw the comic book revival of the character, but the job finally went to young Mike Kaluta.

At the same time, he founded his own self-managed publishing house, Supergraphics, through which he published various projects, such as the magazine Comixscene (Later Mediascene, and finally Prevue) In which he covered news and interviews with figures from the world of comics, art, music, film, and whatever interested Steranko that issue.

One of his most notable publications was the two volumes (Of an original plan of 6 that did not materialize) Of The Steranko History of Comics, a review of the evolution of the medium during the Golden Age.

This was one of the first histories of comics written in the United States, accompanied by original art by Steranko and others, numerous cover reproductions, some complete stories, and interviews with creators of the time, quite a rarity in those days.

Double cover of The Steranko History of Comics, in its second edition of 1972.

Parallel to these projects, he kept aiming for new ways of telling stories that would stimulate him creatively. Thus, in 1976 he created Chandler: Red Tide, a precursor to the graphic novel, for his friend Byron Preisse’s Fiction Illustrated series.

Moving away from comic conventions like speech bubbles and the elaborate layouts he helped popularize, he put together a novel in the best neo-noir style of the time, with fixed panels but without text above, creating a reading rhythm that combined image and word in a novel way, always supported by his exquisite sense of design and narrative.

Chandler didn’t make much impact in sales, but its influence on later police comics, such as Frank Miller’s Sin City, is obvious.

A page from Chandler showing its peculiar narrative. Steranko’s instinct for all things pulp and noir jumps out in every drawing.

Steranko’s work as a comic artist didn’t advance much after Chandler, adding some pieces since then, such as a 10-page contribution to Superman #400, a personal favor to his friend Julie Schwartz, and a masterful adaptation of the movie Outland, with Sean Connery, for Heavy Metal magazine in 1981.

In both works, he used large panoramic double-page panels, always exploring the limits of the medium.

In this page from Outland, as in all the others, Steranko’s ability to compose scenarios of colossal scale and impeccable narrative is the order of the day.

During this time, he worked on various projects in Hollywood, and his fame as a comic artist earned him the call from a confessed fan of the medium, George Lucas, fresh from the success of Star Wars. Lucas began developing the concept of the Indiana Jones character with his friend Stephen Spielberg, and asked Steranko to illustrate some conceptual scenes of the story, to consolidate the character’s design and sell the concept to the studios.

Jim expertly captured the pulp vibes that Lucas and Spielberg were looking for, and his paintings defined not only Harrison Ford’s look and costume, but the entire atmosphere of the film.

With just a handful of pages, he not only fulfilled his dream of drawing comics, but he gave colossal dimensions to the dreams of hundreds of thousands of young people who immersed themselves in the world of super-espionage, 12¢ at a time.

Conclusion

As we could see throughout the article, this artist gave the comic world a before and after, a distinct individual, someone with an incredible capacity for drawing and design and with an unbreakable attitude.

This led him to travel different paths, good, bad, and not so bad, but always learning and leaving his legacy on every page of art we see.

At 83 years old, he still has multiple projects in the pipeline, while touring conventions around the world, receiving the adulation of generations of fans.

Steranko’s restless, astute, arrogant spirit, but with a lot of talent to back it up, continues to this day, shining in all the projects he contributed to, and the American comic’s debt to his ingenuity and daring deepens every day.

Remember, you can always go back to the beginning of the post to reread it. Until next time!