Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
As we get ready to tuck ourselves away for the night and wait for the return visit of Jolly Ole Saint Nick, I want to join Steranko in his wish for each of you: Peace Mister!
Click on the link to see the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrrier-sized full detail of Steranko’s message of Peace.
Fans of Captain America and Steranko will get a kick out of John DiBello’s post Jim Steranko: Three Issues and the Truth.
Diversions of the Groovy Kind recently posted Stunned by Steranko — In Black and White. There are some very cool Steranko pieces there so click over and enjoy!
Yesterday’s Steranko paperback cover was such a hit that I thought we’d follow up today with one of Steranko’s Shadow covers.
Back in the early 80’s when I was collecting original art, Steranko sold off the detailed pencil drawings he used in creating the Shadow covers. Steranko called them pencil paintings. They were beautiful.
I was still in college and $225 was a ton of money, but I purchased one. It was the pencil painting to cover #8 shown above. Sadly, I don’t have a copy of the pencils to share, but looking at the cover, you can imagine Steranko’s beautiful art.
When I was heading into my college senior internship, I decided to sell off my art collection. I was going to be teaching full time (but with no pay – internship, remember) and the money from the art sale would make things more manageable.
The Steranko piece is one of those that I have missed most over the years.
Steranko is known for his groundbreaking work in comics. We shouldn’t forget the stellar paperback covers he also created.
Isn’t that Steranko Batman piece sweet? Steranko did this cover for Detective Comics #33, the 75th Anniversary of Batman.
You can see more of Steranko’s art at his Facebook page.
This morning’s post is for all the Steranko fans out there. (Of course that should be everyone.)
There’s a very cool fan site dedicated to the art of Steranko. It’s called The Drawings of Steranko. Click over and get happy.
The picture above is the latest in a series of set photos that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has shared from location filming of Hercules: The Thracian Wars. If you’d like to see the other photos, Coming Soon has them.
Set for a July 14, 2014 release, Hercules: The Thracian Wars is directed by Brett Ratner and based on Radical Comics series of the same name.
If Johnson’s photo as Hercules seems familiar, you probably remember seeing this version of Steranko’s cover prelim for Radical Comics or this Steranko prelim or perhaps Steranko’s finished cover.
The big news for Steranko fans (and fans of classic comics) is that two Artist Editions featuring the work of the legendary Jim Steranko are planned.
The first Steranko Artist Edition will be Steranko Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the first twelve Steranko stories that appeared in Strange Tales (#151 – 162).
The second Steranko Artist Edition will be Steranko Nick Fury and Captain America, and will package the remaining Steranko Nick Fury stories from Strange Tales (#163-168), Nick Fury: Agent of S..H.I.E.L.D. (#1, 3, and 5) and Steranko’s three issues of Captain America (#110, #111, and #113).
Thanks to Sequential Highway
That’s the cover to Dark Horse Presents #3 and yep, that’s Steranko’s classic private eye, Chandler. If you’re a fan of crime comics and haven’t read Steranko’s Chandler, you’re missing out. The great news is that Dark Horse Presents #3 will feature a 13 page preview of the soon to be re-released graphic novel plus a new interview with Steranko. The preview and interview alone are worth the price of admission.
[Via CBR.com]
Want to see some rare Raiders of the Lost Ark preproduction art by Jim Steranko? You’d be crazy not to and you can thanks to the nice folks at Slashfilm. It’s interesting to note that at this point in the production, they major storyline was in place, but Indy was visualized as more of a rough and tumble guy who smoked.
It’s no secret that Steranko’s classic noir illustrated novel Chandler: Red Tide is being reprinted in a hardcover edition. Although I’ve got an original copy, I’ve put in an order for the updated version. You’ll get a better feeling for why I’m so excited if you click here.
This month’s Previews featured a full page ad for a new printing of Steranko’s classic Chandler: Red Tide. Originally published in 1976, Chandler: Red Tide is sometimes referred to as the first graphic novel. At the time it was published, Steranko called it an illustrated novel. I think a more accurate description is the one used by Dark Horse in the press release:
After emerging as Marvel Comics most controversial superstar, Jim Steranko tackled his greatest artistic challenge: creating an entirely new medium, the visual novel -not an illustrated novel or novel-length comic book, but a seamless fusion of interdependent graphic and prose narratives forming a powerful and original new method of telling stories.
But why stop there? Let’s go on… Chandler: Red Tide is an…
… artistic tour-de-force, Red Tide is hard-boiled detective fiction in the bare-knuckle tradition of Hammett, Cain, and Chandler, as well as the dark, atmospheric milieu of film noir.
Although I own an original printing that’s been in my collection since it was first published, I will be picking up the Dark Horse edition since it…
has been remastered with state-of-the-art digital colors by Eisner Award-winner Dave Stewart, in a collector’s quality hardcover edition.
Jim Steranko [or simply Steranko as most folks know him] is quite a character. In addition to being a groundbreaking artist, a writer, editor, and publisher, Steranko was also a singer in a rock band, a magician and escape artist.
Oh, the stories Steranko could tell. Thankfully, he does [at least a few] in this nice little Q & A over at CBR.com.
Bill Black, who I was just talking about the other day, popped in with some info about this Steranko Nick Fury sketch. Bill also provided a jpg of the Steranko Hercules cover above. It’s obviously a homage to Steranko’s own classic Hulk cover.
Ever wonder how many other homages to that cover there have been? Wonder no more.
