Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.13: Jim Steranko

No.13: Jim Steranko

Jim Steranko’s ascent in the comics’ industry of the late ‘60s happened almost without trace. One minute he was a novice with a somewhat unusual background who had made the pilgrimage to Marvel’s offices, the next he was the first branded superstar artist at the publisher, or indeed the industry in general. The timing couldn’t have been better in terms of pop culture, which at this juncture had come into its own – here was a man brimming with ideas who had the ability to put them on the page, his nous and understanding of comics, cinema, psychedelic rock and other facets of showbiz imbuing him with immense confidence, and whose impact had a permanent effect on the medium. He also knew that he could borrow from other sources, aware that pop culture and comics specifically were now being taken seriously. Words: Andrew Colman…

Jim Steranko accepting lifetime achievement award
photo courtesy of Robert Poole

Steranko’s itinerant and eccentric formative years in the 1950s encompassed a great deal, mostly involving survival. Despite having little connection to his father, he learnt how to play music due to him, as well as becoming a stage magician and Houdini-style circus performer and escape artist (which led to Jack Kirby basing his Mister Miracle character on him) not to mention boxer and fencer. Everything the young Steranko took up he succeeded in, including being in rock bands, as well as (and this is the important bit) working as an artist and graphic designer.

By his early twenties, Steranko’s ambition was to be a comic artist. Upon visiting DC’s offices in the late 50s, editor Julius Schwartz gave him the script for an Adam Strange story, and like a sponge, he immediately took it on board. By 1966 he was at Harvey, working for comics’ legend Joe Simon on his abortive attempt to reintroduce super-heroes to the company. And from there, there was Marvel. After applying for work at the publisher Steranko was offered a two-page assignment inking Jack Kirby’s Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. – and once again he completely adapted the King’s style and methods in mercurial fashion.

In fact, he went one stage further. Steranko’s genius was essentially his uncanny ability to mimic styles and seamlessly enhance and develop them, turning them into something else. Jack Kirby’s dynamic, widescreen mid-60s peak was perhaps the benchmark for Silver Age art, but somehow Steranko took his tropes and by extension the medium one stage further, and by adding cinematic and op art and surrealist elements made comics contemporary and cutting edge, which of course was exactly what Marvel editor Stan Lee wanted. Beginning his tenure on the spy series Nick Fury, his most celebrated work, in issue 151, by issue 155 he was more or less running the show.

Steranko’s time on Nick Fury lasted about 24 issues, the character moving from the split title Strange Tales to his own book. During this run Steranko relentlessly pushed the envelope, discarding convention and adding his sense of design to page structure and panels, all the while adding a sensual, outré James Bond-style tone that would sometimes be too much for the inflexible Comics Code. Despite his iconoclastic tendencies, Steranko was respectful of the medium and his forebears such as Kirby, Ditko, Krigstein and Wood. Throughout his tenure on Nick Fury Steranko proved that comics didn’t have to hang by the coattails of other media, his work even influencing cinema. His most iconic moment in the series would be the cover of Nick Fury 7, his homage to Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory.

Steranko went on to write and illustrate equally distinguished work on two issues of X-Men and three of Captain America, which was also inflected with a similar espionage style to Nick Fury. Apart from one controversial (as it turned out) story in Tower of Shadows 1, Steranko’s key period at Marvel ended, but he did cement his place in comics’ fandom with the two volume The Steranko History of Comics. Despite the somewhat self-aggrandizing title, this was an essential, authoritative and passionate work, the two tabloid sized issues featuring reproductions of numerous Golden Age art pages as well as interviews with artists from that era. In many respects it dovetailed with the then recent development of comics’ fandom, with the arrival of dedicated conventions, fanzines and Overstreet’s guide.

Steranko moved away from the medium after the early 70s, occasionally working as a movie concept artist as well as producing the occasional graphic novel. Nevertheless, the relatively small amount of books he contributed to Marvel in the late 60s will always be considered a high point for comics, and mandatory reading for fans.

Here’s links through to the other entries in our 101 Greatest so far as well

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.14: Alex Raymond

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.15: Harvey Kurtzman

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.16: Walter Simonson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.17: Russ Heath

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.18: Bill Sienkiewicz

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.19: Jack Cole

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.20: Bernie Krigstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.21: Graham Ingels

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.22: Al Williamson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.23: Barry Windsor-Smith

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.24: Alex Ross

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.25: John Byrne

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.26: Mike Mignola

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.27: Basil Wolverton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.28: Howard Chaykin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.29: Moebius

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.30: Dave Gibbons

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.31: Creig Flessel

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.32: Milt Caniff

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.34: Burne Hogarth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.35: LB Cole

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.37: Bill Everett

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.38: Robert Crumb

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.39: Mac Raboy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.41: Jim Starlin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.42: Mike Zeck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.43: Adam Hughes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.44: Daniel Clowes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.45: Gene Colan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.46: George Perez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.47: Michael William Kaluta

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.48: Cary Nord

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.49: Frank Quitely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.50: Mike Ploog

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.51: Johnny Craig

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

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