Steranko: The Greatest Comic Book Artist of the Late Silver Age?

[bronze johnny]

Hello Fellow Forumites!

 

No one can ever underestimate the incredible impact Jim Steranko had on the comic book world. From the patriotic "Flag Cover" of Strange Tales #167 to the great covers of Nick Fury #'s 4, 5, and 6; and onto Captain America #'s 111 and 113, no artist had so many "great covers" in such the short period of time that Steranko was with us in ComicBookDom.

 

Is Steranko the greatest comic book artist of the Late Silver Age?

 

Let's see what everyone has to say about this...

[The Brain]

OH HELL YES!!

 

 

STERANKO

[blowout]

Graphically he was certainly up there.

 

His compositional work was incredible and certainly groundbreaking for the time. He was one of the first artists that I can recall that brought elements of fine art into the comic book world.

 

Covers were his real strength and he really got to flex his graphical muscles over those larger areas. For me he seemed to be far more restricted by page panels and I don't find much of his interior work all that impressive.

 

I also think that his body of work in comics is too small to consider him to be 'the greatest'. Guys like John Romita turned out much more work at a consistently high level.

[Moondog]

Yes.

[deathlok]

Today I picked up Marvel Visionaries: Steranko TPB.

 

For those not familiar it reprints X-Men 50 & 51, Captain America 110, 111, & 113, Tower of Shadows #1, Our Love Story #5, as well as some additional cover art to other books Steranko did.

 

I have been a fan of his covers for a long time, but not to be forgotten, some of his interior work was simply awesome as well. For those that have it, check out the splash page to X-men #51

 

[rjpb]

He is definetly one of the greatest - and his late 60s covers are without a doubt the best of the era. I prefer him to Neal Adams for late silver covers.

[BillyBatson4360]

Nobody had a greater impact on comic books in fewer pages than Jim Steranko.

 

He influenced a whole bunch of the artists who came after (Paul Gulacy being the most obvious). Anybody remember that Barry Smith broke in trying to imitate Steranko? (And doing it badly!)

 

I feel Steranko brought in elements, not from fine art, but from the world of graphic design and advertising. Layout was always one of his real strong suits.

 

He was a brilliant cover artist and an amazing storyteller. In an era when Ditko & Kirby were fighting to get writing credits out of Stan, Steranko got those credits almost from the beginning.

 

His take on SHIELD is still the definitive one. His 3-issue run on Captain America was easily the best of the Silver Age. His lone horror story ("At the Stroke of Midnight") was the best since the days of Ditko's stories in Amazing Fantasy and his one love story was simply the only love story I read during that era.

 

Romita was a very good artist who cranked out a lot of pages for Marvel, but he was no innovator. Steranko was both a good artist and a brilliant innovator.

 

Steranko is unquestionably the best of the late Silver Age.

[ft88]

Better than Adams

Better than Infantino

Better than Kirby Romita and Buscema (Surfer 4 is comparible)

Better than Smith

Better than Ploog

Better than Starlin

Was he better than Wrightson.....I'll call that a draw (get it?)

 

Start a Wrightson vs Steranko thread, I'm sure the big guns will come out.

 

Ed

[Norrin_Radd]

Q: Steranko: The Greatest Comic Book Artist of the Late Silver Age?

A: No.

[Silver Surfer]

Better than Kirby Romita and Buscema (Surfer 4 is comparible)

Ed

 

Are you kidding me. Sorry he couldn't carry Buscema's jock strap, seriously.

[ft88]

Here are typical works by both. These first two are average for each artist Buscema is classic coimc book art, Steranko is just incredible graphically.

 

Kind of a dumb argument as art is a matter of taste and that only fits each individual but I'll still stick the idea that from an artisitic point of view Steranko is "better".

 

 

Classic covers for both artists. Steranko's is mind boggling in quality. Buscema is just plain great.

 

[Silver Surfer]

You are correct there is no point arguing this back and forth but if anything the issues you picked really show just how good Buscema was, especially the SS#3 which is one of the great classics of that era. Both Steranko examples you used kid of highlights bad character posture which seems to be a trademark of a lot of his work while John was a master at it and a better pure artist to boot. The X-men look like they are doing the funky chicken. I don't want to soil this thread by postig others people's work and I will delete it if you wish but here is a few Jr. Jr covers that I don't think Steranko could hold a candle to.

 

[ft88]

A healthy artistic argument is always fun. If you don't like Steranko's style with the human form then he is always gong to be on the outs. The angle I'm coming from is that art has generally been praised first for originality and then quality.

 

The Iron man cover is actually kind of boring artistically (meaning not very original) as its been done time and time again before. While rendered extremely well, and better than most covers it doesn't have any staying power with me. The Spidey cover is probably one of the all time greats but in comic book land, putting the costume in interesting poses has been a common tool (and very effective one) used by Ditko (Spiderman) and Infantino (Flash) especially well. The classic costume in the garbage can image comes to mind and was even carried over into the first Spider-man movie.

 

As mentioned before, the Fury covers and Cap covers were never done in like style before in comics and have an originality all there own. To me, Surfer 4 is such a masterpiece, that even without pure originality it carries an aura all its own.

[ft88]

Steranko critique:

 

X-men 49: what I have always disliked about it is that the bottom head makes the cover look like scenery rather than an action shot. And the curve of the head with the curve of icemans ice runner combined with Angels wing carries my eye of the page so I never really look at Cyclops or Marvel Girl. Again, average Steranko - not his best work but still more fun then a Trimpe Hulk.

[namisgr]

Comparing artists? Apples, oranges, peaches and pears.

 

For exquisite detail, I'll take Barry Smith.

 

For capturing emotion and doing away with rectangular panel structure, I'll take Neal Adams.

 

For capturing horror, I'll take Bernie Wrightson.

 

For graphic design, I'll take Jim Steranko.

 

For cosmic creations, I'll take Jim Starlin

 

For cinematic storytelling and creativity with villains and machines, I'll take Jack Kirby.

 

For humor and stretching the envelope, I'll take R Crumb.

[ft88]

Boooooo.. Thats like ending an argument with "we can agree to disagree"

 

Go kiss your cousin

[BillyBatson4360]

Okay, let me see if I can get the argument going again.

 

First off, I thought both the Iron Man & Spider-Man covers were pretty pedestrian. Steranko's SHIELD "Flag Cover," his angry "Hulk Holding His Own Logo" cover, or any of his Captain America covers blow them both away.

 

I have always found John Romita and John Buscema to be good, solid artists, but not in the same tier as the real innovators who took the graphic story form to new places. Ditko and Kirby may not have looked as "pretty," but they carried comics into new territory.

 

You can be a great "illustrator" and still be a lousy graphic storyteller. Indeed, many of today's so-called "hot" artists fall into this category. Great pin-up style pages, but they don't tell a story or invest their drawings with elments that define character or mood.

 

Conversely, you can be a mediocre to poor illustrator and still be a great storyteller. The immediate example that comes to mind is my favorite comics creator: Harvey Kurtzman. Harvey's sketchy, loose, cartoony style is not that well liked nor is it equisite illustration, but his ability to lay out comic book stories and create a visual vocabulary is unchallenged. When, in the case of Mad, you team Kurtzman's layouts with polished finishes by Jack Davis, Wally Wood, and Bill Elder, you get absolutely great comics.

 

Romita and Buscema both adopted the Jack Kirby way of telling comics stories, but added no new "vocabulary." Steranko started with Jack's style but contributed innovations in panel size, page layout, use of color, and other printing techniques that broke new ground.

 

It is true that art is subjective. You may like Buscema better than Steranko. But I think if we're talking about innovative and influential, the nod clearly goes to Steranko. The only other contender from that era is Neal Adams.

 

(Don't misunderstand here. I think Romita & Buscema ARE good storytellers, just not as good as Kirby, Ditko, Steranko, Kurtzman, Eisner, etc. because they were not innovators.)

[Zonker]

I realize John Buscema is well-loved on these boards, but I think "journeyman" is the accurate appraisal of his work. Not intended as a slam at his memory, and I'd put someone like Gil Kane in the same category.

 

So I'd have to say Steranko in a walk.

 

Neal Adams might get the nod for the volume of great work spanning 1968-1974 (with some sweet covers extending into the late 1970s), but Steranko really broke the boundaries of what a commercial comic book could look like, and did so within the final couple of years of the generally-accepted Silver Age period.

[Norrin_Radd]

I realize John Buscema is well-loved on these boards, but I think "journeyman" is the accurate appraisal of his work. Not intended as a slam at his memory, and I'd put someone like Gil Kane in the same category.

 

Did you learn nothing from the last time someone called Buscema a journeyman?

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=750868&page=&fpart=1&vc=1

[awe4one]

Personally...I think Steranko's a bit overrated. Don't get me wrong...he's a very competant artist. But I would much rather look at Smith's Conan or Severin's Dr Strange than a typical Steranko page. Steranko could come up with great set pieces but panel to panel story flow wasn't his strong point. And because of that I'd have to put him way down the ladder of greatest late Silver artist...

 

Jim