ROCK Sex: JIM STERANKO, Agent of S.T.Y.L.E.! - His Inspirations and His Influence

JIM STERANKO is a powerhouse of graphics innovation whose legacy is continually reflected today.

One of his most iconic works is the cover to Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D #4 (September, 1968).

This has become a classic work of Pop Art. It came from varied inspirations, and continually inspires many tributes.

Today, we look at what had inspired him and what he has inspired.

Chapter quick links:
• INFLUENCES:
Pop Art, James Bond, Movie Posters, Bob Peak
• The AGENT OF SHIELD Cover,
and its disciples
• STERANKO At Marvel
• HIS INFLUENCE
• CAPTAIN AMERICA 2: THE WINTER SOLDIER

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- - - - - - - I N F L U E N C E S - - - - - - -



Steranko looked for inspiration in all other media to expand the comics palette.

He was responding to the latest advances made in the arts, film, magazines, and graphics.


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- - - POP ART - - -

From the fine arts scene he admired Pop Art, Op Art, and collage.

Robert Rauschenberg, "Retroactive I" (1964).

Eduardo Paolozzi.

Bridget Riley, "Britannia" (1961)

Op artist Bridget Riley>.

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- - - JAMES BOND - - -

One certain influence on his Nick Fury work -and the entire era- is the James Bond films, with their stylish Mod opening titles (Maurice Binder), gargantuan layered sets (Ken Adam), and male power fantasies.

Maurice Binder, GOLDFINGER main titles, 1964.

Maurice Binder, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE main titles, 1967.


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- - - MOVIE POSTERS - - -

He favored the bold modernist graphics of film posters.

Saul Bass, VERTIGO (1958).
VERTIGO Main Titles, by Saul Bass (1957)

if... (1968)

BARBARELLA (1968)

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- - - BOB PEAK - - -

All of these influences were also reflected in the magazine and poster art of the celebrated illustrator Bob Peak.

Bob Peak, Modesty Blaise illustration.

Bob Peak, MODESTY BLAISE poster (1966)

Bob Peak, "Save the Mark".

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The AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Cover
And Its Continuous Influence




Distill this Molotov cocktail, shaken not stirred, and you get a unique Pop Art masterpiece.

See bigger here

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- - - S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents - - -

Steranko's cover has been homaged many times by artists since.

1 - Dave Johnson (2000) / John Cassaday (2000)
2 - Danny Miki (2005) / Greg Horn (2007)
3 - Adi Granov (2007) / Obama support (2008)
4 - Tomm Coker (2009) / Mariano Laclaustra (2017)

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STERANKO at Marvel


The prime visual force that defined Marvel Comics in the 1960s was Jack Kirby. (And Steve Ditko, to less degree, with Spider-Man and Dr. Strange).

But the prime force who redefined Marvel Comics was Jim Steranko. He was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby combined and amplified.

Because his stylistic innovations are too numerous for anything outside of a coffee table book, here are some varied highlights.

More than any other comics artist in the '60s, Steranko thought like a cinematographer and a graphic designer at the same time.

With the smash success of the campy Batman TV series (1966), the media described the show as a visual expression of Pop Art. Both Marvel and DC Comics tried to cash in on this cache, but no one came close to combining the potential of graphic comics with fine arts like Steranko did.

In the '40s, Jack Kirby had created the first double-page spreads with his Captain America comics. Steranko pushed that to new extremes with a modernist design sense.

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His ambition was so boundless that he actually had a double-double page spread, opening to a vista of four pages!

See bigger here

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When Steranko stepped in for two issues of The X-Men, he redesigned their logo while he was at it, creating this iconic masthead.

His cover for a Hulk annual has also been homaged many times by later artists.

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Steranko is most known for his runs on Nick Fury and then Captain America. Because of him, these characters have become intertwined since the '60s.

During his issues, he created Madame Hydra.

There was a rule at Marvel Comics: "Bucky has died, and he can't come back." Steranko was the first to play with the idea of what if the 1940s sidekick did, in this celebrated hallucinatory sequence with Dali influence (1969). This planted the seed for The Winter Soldier three decades later.

Although he only worked in comics for a couple years, Steranko opened up wide possibilities that every creator has been exploring ever since.

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- - - MASTER - - -
The television Westerns of the '50s and '60s were deconstructed in the early '70s by the final Western, an Eastern called Kung Fu (1972-1975), which challenged manifest destiny and colonialist hegemony with the heterogenous outlooks of those marginalized by it, using the hybrid perspective of Kwai Chang Caine. The Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic, a product of the '60s spy boom, was likewise radically inverted and reconstructed by its direct heir, Master Of Kung Fu (1974).

The celebrated run of artists -Jim Starlin, Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck, and Gene Day- used Steranko's techniques of cineramic scope and intense graphic design, while Doug Moench's scripts replaced the gung-ho patriot (or imperialism avatar, depending) with the introspective and spiritually conflicted hero Shang Chi, who called into question the ties of violence, honor, tradition, loyalty, and dogma that bound his soul. At their best, Fury was an honorable soldier while Shang was an ethical philosopher.✱


Paul Gulacy's art synthesized Bob Peak, Hitchcock, and Steranko.

Paul Gulacy (#38, 1976)

Paul Gulacy (#48, 1977)
See bigger here.

Gene Day's art blended Will Eisner and Steranko.

His double-paged spreads were more ambitious and hyper-detailed than anyone, and he had a direct influence on Moore, Bissette, and Totleben's revolutionary revisal of Swamp Thing directly after. (The first Alan Moore issue of ST was illustrated by his similar brother, Dan Day.)

Gene Day (#116, 1982)
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Gene Day (#117, 1982)
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✭ Gene Day's criminally-overlooked art (MOKF #101-120) was finally reissued and remastered after three decades of legal stasis within the Shang-Chi: Master Of Kung Fu Omnibus, VOlume #4 (2017).


Without this chain of iconoclasts, J.H. Williams III's legendary art for Batwoman would have been impossible.

J.H. Williams III (2009)
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J.H. Williams III (2012)
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✱

[Nick Fury was further deconstructed and critiqued as The Comedian in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' WATCHMEN (1986).]

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- - - S.T.Y.L.E Agents - - -

Will Eisner created the CITIZEN KANE of comics with his series The Spirit (1940-1952). His use of noir lighting, skewed perspective, nuanced dramedy, and dramatic splash pages and much more set the standard for all mature innovations to follow.

In 1976, Steranko's hardboiled graphic novel CHANDLER: RED TIDE refined film noir into full-contrast black and white.

The combination of Eisner and Steranko's works is reflected in Frank Miller's SIN CITY series.

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- - - RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - - -
George Lucas called in Steranko for design art for his homage to 1930s movie serials, who then added George's bomber jacket into the mix.

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- - - OUTLAND - - -
Steranko adapted the SciFi movie OUTLAND (1981), now a cult classic, for Heavy Metal magazine by distilling it into a cutting-edge series of double-page panoramas.

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- - - THE ESCAPIST - - -
In his early years, Steranko was an escape artist in the mode of Houdini. This inspired Jack Kirby to create this New God for DC Comics.

Jack Kirby (1972)

For his book "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier And Clay", author Michael Chabon combined Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, and Jim Steranko into the protagonist artist and his character, The Escapist. The acclaimed novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001.

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- - - CAPTAIN AMERICA 2: THE WINTER SOLDIER - - -

When Captain America (literally) returned from deep freeze in the '60s, his acclimation to the modern world became irrevocably intertwined with Steranko's innovations and amplifications in the Nick Fury and Captain America books.

In the cinematic version of the same return, this is why Steranko is so strongly homaged by the iMax poster and the film's end credit design.

Watch the credits video here.



© Tym Stevens

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Waiting For Spider-Man

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"...YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN!"

There's a new SPIDER-MAN in town, and it's a wonderful thing.

'Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not a bad musical!'

Marvel Comics built their empire on the character of Spider-Man, as important to their survival as Superman is to their rival, DC Comics. It would be easy for them to play it safe with their breadwinner, but they have a second option to get bold with.

Marvel publishes a regular line of comic titles with all their classic heroes, but they also publish a separate line of Ultimate Comics. In this alternate universe, the characters have been re-imagined as their ultimate best selves for a modern era. The regular comic Spider-Man, that ever wisecracking Peter Parker, is alive and well. But over in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Peter Parker has just passed away and a young teen kid named Miles Morales will replace him in September. >

Your friendly neighbor's hood.

There seems to be some kind of flustered fuss about this.

Having an African-American and Hispanic kid as the new Spider-Man is a great thing in multiple ways. Most smart people understand why and said so. But a few fringe voices from the old hate had problems with it, which only reveals their sad flaws.


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"HEY, WAY TO MAKE A GUY FEEL WELCOME!" -Peter Parker
a.k.a., 'Who says only Stan The Man can have a soapbox?', dept.

Spider-Man's 1960s creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Well, let's get it out of the way, and point out the elephant irrelevant in the room.

ITEM: Here's the straight-up, pilgrims: there are no such things as races. There is only one race, the Human Race. This isn't idealism, it's simply a scientific fact. > >

When people speak of different races, they are mistaken. The flat scientific reality is... there is only one race, the Human Race, Homo sapiens ("wise man", "knowing man"). You can't divide people by minor physical quibbles, by religion, by map borders, or by cultural traditions and call them races. > It's ignorant and no better than superstition. So terms like 'bi-racial' are just (brace yourself) compounded dumbness. > > >

This may sound like idealism, but it is actually a smack-exact scientific fact, Jack.


"The Journey Of Man: A Genetic Odyssey";
How humanity is one race that branched from Africa



(Let's cut to the quick: a single African tribe seeded every person on Earth, we are all family, stop hitting your cousin and grow up or I'll turn this car around right now.) > >

Races don't exist, but racism does. Racism is the belief in races, and justifying acting badly to others because of it. The results of that mistaken belief are very real, even if it is as stupid as we could possibly be. > I would've skipped all this as a given, effendi, but all the articles -whether pro or con- about Miles prove that the bulk of us still haven't grasped this.

Repeat: When you say 'bi-racial' or 'mixed-race', you're being double-dumb. Like bubble gum.

"Hey, tigers, time to get with reality!" concurs Mary Jane, "Get wise, man; act like you know and let's go. Next."

Stan Lee's Soapbox column, 1968.

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"...SPIDER SENSE IS TINGLING!"

Some folks think this is a heavy subject for such light reading. They're judging covers on mags they've never read.

But you know the score, true believers!

Comic books are as advanced in story and craft as any book, film, or series, and have been for many decades. Four generations worth of hip folks have enjoyed this, while some hack journalists and their clueless readers still have their head up their comics code authority.> >

Regardless, the generation who grew up on graphic novels now writes the best blogs, mags, books, shows, and films, which is turning the tide of public awareness; these professionals know that comics at their best have the pulse of the times, and often accelerate it. > >

Marvel Comics (alias Jack Kirby) introduced the first Black superhero,
the African king, Black Panther, in 1966.
> > > > > > > >

There's ways to do a good thing right, and still ways to go wrong anyway.

When the character Batwoman was announced as a lesbian (2006), it was decried by some as a stunt.> But, in practice, the character's confident sexual identity only enhanced some of the most essential stories and art of the decade. By focusing on depth and strength of character, in strong stories with stunning art, the creators showed that quality of craft and humanity of heart are the best keys for progress.

Another good character move was the debut of an Asian Batgirl named Cassandra Cain (1999)>, but she was mishandled. The creators seemed to think the vague concept 'Asian' was enough and blurred her background in a hodgepodge of pan-Asian cultural cliches. In the major city I live in, where everyone comes from all the radically diverse cultures grouped under Asia, this was infuriating instead of empowering.

And you know writers are clueless when they descend to the whole 'hero/now villain/now hero' ricochet. The creators seemed equally tonedeaf to the resulting backlash; "Huh?", blink, blink. Newsflash: way to ruin a great character in no time flat, ya boneheads. (What was their solution? They just replaced her with a blond. Yeh. Nuff said.)

Batwoman; Batgirl

Good stories about good people are the whole point of superhero comics. They're fantasies of our inner spirit personified as its ultimate best.>>

Sadly, some bad people with their own problems slung a lot of abuse at Batwoman for having love in her life; and have so again at the casting of Perry White with a fine actor; and of course at our fledgling spider-kid, Miles for being... in a book they're unskilled to read anyway. So I was really impressed when the main man at Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada, responded to all the bigot blowhards by saying, "if people with racist tendencies disagree with the things we do, then I know we're doing the right thing."

Joe Quesada is hispanic, and extends the proud history of immigrant underdogs that made comics (and culture) great. Comic books were invented in the melting pot of 1930s Depression-era New York City, cranked out by idealistic young Italians, Jews, Poles, Irish, and more who yearned to empower themselves in a better world. > From the later waves of Filipino, French, and Spanish artists in the '70s, to the English and Scottish writers in the '80s, to the rise of African-American artists in the '90s, and Asian artists in the '00s, American comics are only improved by inclusion and empowerment.

"Sayyy, aren't you forgetting something there, buddy?" interjects Mary Jane.

Woman make up the majority of the human race, but they are the most neglected and marginalized part of the comics community.> > > > > So it's even better that the series is being drawn by a woman, which there can never be enough of in comics creation. Sara Pichelli has a keen eye for telling a story, particularly through the humanity imbued in clothes, expressions, and gestures. And what an excellent job with the costume! Totally new and yet totally identifiable as Spidey.

Hey, wake up over there, I'm on a roll. Wow, tough room. Did we run out of women-in-leather pics? Cue the film, Irving!


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"WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY." -Uncle Ben Parker

But what really put the passion in me was in seeing how much they were influenced by the documentary WAITING FOR SUPERMAN.

WAITING FOR SUPERMAN trailer (2010)


This indie film has clearheaded prescriptions for solving the education crisis in America, using the metaphor that we can't depend on any messianic agency when we should focus on saving ourselves. > >

The cruelest and most moving part of the film is seeing all of the bright kids from poor homes pinning all their hopes on a random lottery system that might let them into a school that can save them. The horror of seeing qualified kids thrown to the wind by sheer chance is almost too heartbreaking to take.

In a sequence in ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #1, it's clear that writer Brian Michael Bendis has adapted this exact scene from the film. At that point my empathy for Miles Morales was absolute, and I knew I was going to buy this book every month.

Waiting for hope


WAITING FOR SUPERMAN nails what's criminally wrong about our current education system. We strobe to kids that they can do anything with an education. But we don't provide them with the education which allows them to do anything. When we reduce their chances to a lottery, we tell them that all their hard work means nothing against fickle fate, and they should just give up.

I say, tell fate to go fickle itself.

Kids reading comics, 1939-1947. source

Comic books were first created to lift kids' dreams. Their sole purpose is to empower the hero within you.

In this new Depression, we need to believe that quality will win, that the inner spirit is stronger than evil or fate, that the dreams of our own youth weren't delusions, and that the dreams of the new youth can be given a fair chance. That we have humanity and decency in common, and that together we can make a better world.

We need a narrative of belief that we make happen ourselves. Miles Morales is the hero for our times because we are Miles Morales.

President Obama meets the kids from "Waiting For Superman".
Miles Morales was almost certainly inspired
by the two people shaking hands.

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If you haven't seen the film, I can't urge it enough. Then see how you feel about our friendly new neighbor....

ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #1 goes on sale at comic shops September 14, 2011.

(This is a variant cover.)


Excelsior!

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BONUS UPDATE:
"For only love can conquer hate." -Marvin Gaye

Spider-Man (Miles Morales)
and Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy), 2016.

Update II: Miles Morales and "Spider-Gwen" Stacy became famous in the mainstream with the smash success of the CG-animated film, SPIDER-MAN: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).


© Tym Stevens

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