Acclaimed comic book artist and writer , James Steranko was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006. His innovative use of surrealism, op art and graphic innovation helped make him a celebrated artist in the Silver Age of comics.
“Nick Fury, Agent of the S.H.I.E.L.D.” is probably Jim Steranko’s most famous work . Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of Marvel Comics in the beginning created “Nick Fury”. “Nick Fury” was a feature in the “Strange Tales” comic book series.
Steranko worked for an ad agency and briefly for Harvey Comics creating superheroes before joining Marvel Comics. These included Spyman, Magicmaster and the Gladiator. One day in 1966 Steranko entered Stan Lee’s Marvel office and walked out of the office with the “Nick Fury” assignment.
Jim’s first project was on “Strange Tales” issue #151, December 1966. He penciled and inked ‘finishes’ over Jack Kirby’s layouts. Then for the next issue Stan Lee promoted Steranko to artist. A couple of issues later he began drawing “Nick Fury” covers and by issue #155 he took over the written material of the series.
“Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” was to become one of the most groundbreaking, acclaimed features of the Silver Age of comics. Ron Goulart wrote in Comix: A History of Comic Books in America: “… the dullest of readers could sense that something new was happening. … With each passing issue Steranko’s efforts became more and more innovative. Entire pages would be devoted to photocollages of drawings that ignored panel boundaries and instead worked together on planes of depth. The first pages … became incredible Production numbers similar in design to the San Francisco rock concert poster of the period”
Steranko’s working knowledge of graphic design allowed him a singular approach to sequential art. His use of special effects and marketing tactics on the cover art had never been seen by comic book readers before. As well, he created comics’ first panoramic four-page spread and wrote intriguing, outrageously action-filled plots.
Three of the most beloved issues of “Captain America” and their covers were drawn by Jim Steranko, issues (110, 111, 113) He was to do a fourth, but missed the deadline. As a result Jack had to draw the issue over a weekend .
Later, James Steranko decided to ventured into new territory doing original set design for Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. He also configured the character of Indiana Jones for Spielberg.
