June 11, 2023

From the first issue of Comixscene (1972), Jim Steranko’s news and history newspaper for comics art, come this Doc Savage centerfold and The Shadow splash page. The centerfold has Steranko’s Doc surrounded by images from other notable artists. The splash page is the image that netted Steranko’s work for The Shadow with DC. Both are awesome. Comixscene was very much like The Monster Times, although with less graphics and more text for each article. In his comics work, Steranko brought a new, adult intensity to his layouts, characters, and action sequences, melding pop art elements within the comic page that were mind-bending and ground-breaking for young guys like me reading his Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. My favorite memory of him is when I saw him during an early Phil Seuling-organized comic convention, behind his table, with two femme fatales at his sides. He was smartly dressed to the nines, and completely not conforming to the usual decorum for comic artists back then. I still don’t know if he was doing a put on or he was serious, but man, he could draw like no one else so why not act like it? As I recall, he was also around my height (that would be…not tall), and he dabbled in escapology (which I was also doing at the time), so he reminded me of Houdini. He had the that tough, secure attitude too.