Okay, I can’t really say enough about the works of Jim Steranko, I think anyone from my generation and a generation of artists just before me are influenced by Steranko’s work.
The year must have been around 1972, I clearly remember discovering a comic of his work, it was in a friends basement, a pile of old books his Brother had left to go mouldy and rot in a corner.
I looked through them, lots of Batman etc, but then BOOM!
Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. number 5, it instantly burned itself into my brain, at that moment I became obsessed with collecting any Steranko books I could find, not an easy task in the early 70′s for a kid. hunting flea markets, begging friends older brothers to dig through old stacks of long abandoned comics, it was rough.
I remember going into a junk/used building materials shop with my dad, and the owner had a big bin full of old comics, so I dug through them, this was around 1978 or 1979, and what did I find, an absolute MINT COPY of Captain America number 111, the white was still bright on the cover, I dug through the pile, but alas no other gems, so the bigger shock was when I paid for it, 10 cents, 2 cents below cover price.
I began to look at just why his art had such an appeal to me, then this lead me to other artists of the era (See my Bob Peak post).
I could go on for days about the technical design aspects of Mr. Steranko’s work, but it’s best to look at the process, a great site The Drawings of Steranko, has some works from pencil to finish, it shows you one thing, Steranko is ALWAYS thinking, you see the pencils, planned out everything tight and there, then the finished, even better, changed, altered, adjusted, but always thought about, each line and colour choice a decision for a reason.
Please look at his work and enjoy it.
Rono64
P.S. If anyone has a copy of Hypertype by Steranko they want to part with, I have been searching for a copy for years.
