Jim Steranko's Captain America
Saturday, 26. May 2007, 19:16:52
JIM STERANKO'S CAPTAIN AMERICA
Here are some excellent samples of some of Jim Sternako’s Captain America work. While in some of the design of course there are the obvious Kirby influences that were all but inescapable in the super hero work of the time there is also some design departures as well that are classic Sternako signatures. The top page with Lady Hydra giving a rousing speech to the Hydra gang shows an all over page design that at the time was not very common, with the open spaces and camera work style close ups of facial parts divided by a couple scenes, one with a guy in bondage. Pretty cool, huh? It is hardly anything special at all in today’s comics to see this borderless type design, but prior to a few guys like Steranko the page design was usually completely made of square or rectangular panels containing only drawings and word balloons.
Even more patently Sterankoesque is the Salvador Dali looking dream sequence with Bucky Redborn running through some psychedelic 60’s looking “wavy things” towards an unsupported door in the middle of a dream world. There are no panels at all on this page. This was breakthrough work and later imitators went hog-wild on the freaky visual aspect with little regard to the story itself. But like all great and enduring comic book artists Steranko was a top-notch storyteller and the "gimmicks" were there to enhance the story and not stand alone as snazzy, mindblowing graphics.
Lastly worth an extra look is the second page from the top. Here the story is all contained in panels, but there are no word balloons or narrative boxes. The scene is told as pure visual narrative. The colors in these first three pages are so bright and vivid, almost florescent in ways. I believe the inker on the first three pages is the talented Joe Sinnott and Steranko inked the bottom hallucination page himself. Sinnott turned the mundane pencil work of John Buscema into some of the finest Fantastic Four comics ever produced. The inker (the unsung hero or unhung villian of comic book design) is often the person who can turn a mediorce penciller into a great artist or ruin the layout of a skilled penciller. Sternako eventually would do most of his own inking though Sinnott did not hurt his pencils at all here.
Steranko was a master designer, storyteller and artist. His legacy lasts to this day despite an absence of contemporary work in the field he helped to pioneer during his brief career in it. Before working in comics the dashing looking Steranko was a stage magician and escape artist and has written some books on that subject as well. His web site is:
http://www.steranko.com
Also for your enjoyment is this fantastic site that contains every cover Sternako did for Marvel Comics. The thumbnails open up into large scans of high quality. This site is a real find!
http://www.steranko.comics.org/comics/marvel/steranko.htm
Finally, if you're interested in a really long and exhaustive outline of the career of Madame Hydra (and who the hell wouldn't be) then click on the link below and see that some people have way too much free time on their hands.
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/madame_hydra_viper.htm
Here are some excellent samples of some of Jim Sternako’s Captain America work. While in some of the design of course there are the obvious Kirby influences that were all but inescapable in the super hero work of the time there is also some design departures as well that are classic Sternako signatures. The top page with Lady Hydra giving a rousing speech to the Hydra gang shows an all over page design that at the time was not very common, with the open spaces and camera work style close ups of facial parts divided by a couple scenes, one with a guy in bondage. Pretty cool, huh? It is hardly anything special at all in today’s comics to see this borderless type design, but prior to a few guys like Steranko the page design was usually completely made of square or rectangular panels containing only drawings and word balloons.
Even more patently Sterankoesque is the Salvador Dali looking dream sequence with Bucky Redborn running through some psychedelic 60’s looking “wavy things” towards an unsupported door in the middle of a dream world. There are no panels at all on this page. This was breakthrough work and later imitators went hog-wild on the freaky visual aspect with little regard to the story itself. But like all great and enduring comic book artists Steranko was a top-notch storyteller and the "gimmicks" were there to enhance the story and not stand alone as snazzy, mindblowing graphics.
Lastly worth an extra look is the second page from the top. Here the story is all contained in panels, but there are no word balloons or narrative boxes. The scene is told as pure visual narrative. The colors in these first three pages are so bright and vivid, almost florescent in ways. I believe the inker on the first three pages is the talented Joe Sinnott and Steranko inked the bottom hallucination page himself. Sinnott turned the mundane pencil work of John Buscema into some of the finest Fantastic Four comics ever produced. The inker (the unsung hero or unhung villian of comic book design) is often the person who can turn a mediorce penciller into a great artist or ruin the layout of a skilled penciller. Sternako eventually would do most of his own inking though Sinnott did not hurt his pencils at all here.
Steranko was a master designer, storyteller and artist. His legacy lasts to this day despite an absence of contemporary work in the field he helped to pioneer during his brief career in it. Before working in comics the dashing looking Steranko was a stage magician and escape artist and has written some books on that subject as well. His web site is:
http://www.steranko.com
Also for your enjoyment is this fantastic site that contains every cover Sternako did for Marvel Comics. The thumbnails open up into large scans of high quality. This site is a real find!
http://www.steranko.comics.org/comics/marvel/steranko.htm
Finally, if you're interested in a really long and exhaustive outline of the career of Madame Hydra (and who the hell wouldn't be) then click on the link below and see that some people have way too much free time on their hands.
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/madame_hydra_viper.htm
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 26. May 2007, 20:40
Hey Bill, checking out your blog and see you're online! Later.
Anonymous # 26. May 2007, 21:10
"Pride that Hydra with her seven heads
The severing which of any one
The several more than that one breeds..."
From the Epic of Hercules 1st Century
(Translated from the Latin)
Bill Courtney # 27. May 2007, 05:44
I read that the Murder City Devils were a Seattle band... do you know about this? I am trying to find some bittorrents of there albums online but no luck yet.
Please say hi when you can. I struggle with uupdating the blog as the Opera site is banned in China (along with many others) and I use a proxy based browser called TORPARK ot create an IP number outside China to update the blog, but is touch and go most of the time. I hope you see my Sherlock Holmes entry but I ahve yet to add the text. I add and adjust the graphics first. The tweking can take a couple days then write a small essay when my mind is clear.
See you... I will send you a mail soon...
Bill
Anonymous # 29. May 2007, 18:22
Those colors are like.....intense. I like the way Captain America's body bends at the bottom of the hulk sequence page...an "S" shape...distorted by some strange lens...It recalls post-Renaissance mannerism....The composition of that Hydra woman page is striking and the writing seems effective.
Bill Courtney # 30. May 2007, 07:56
Yea. Those colors look simple in some ways, but you understand that using such loud colors is bold and daring, as usally it fails. But here it does not in my opinion. They acheive a good effect. The S design as you call it was common in the superhero poses at Marvel during their Silver Age in the 60's. It is one of many styles developed by Jack Kirby. Some would become cliches and some would become more like tributes to the old master from a new generation of artists like Steranko and Barry Smith. I used to not like that pose as a kid but now see it as a cool design and how it enhances the page as a whole.