Description
rom Wikipedia:James F. “Jim” Steranko [1] (born November 5, 1938) [2] is an American graphic artist , comic book writer/artist , historian, magician , publisher and film production illustrator.His most famous comic book work was with the 1960s superspy feature ” Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. ” in Marvel Comics ‘ Strange Tales and in the subsequent eponymous series. Steranko earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in sequential art during the Silver Age of Comic Books , particularly his infusion of surrealism , op art , and graphic design into the medium. His work has been published in many countries and his influence on the field has remained strong since his comics heyday. He went on to create book covers, become a comics historian who published a pioneering two-volume history of the birth and early years of comic books, and to create conceptual art and character designs for films including Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bram Stoker’s Dracula .He was inducted into the comic-book industry’s Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.Contents [ hide ] 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Illusionist and musician 2.2 Early art career 2.3 Silver Age Steranko 2.4 Publisher and paperback artist 2.5 Film and television work 2.6 Philanthropy 3 Bibliography 4 Awards and recognition 5 Exhibitions 6 References 7 External linksEarly life [ edit ]Steranko was born in Reading, Pennsylvania . According to Steranko’s authorized biography, his grandparents emigrated from Ukraine to settle in the anthracite coal-mining region of eastern Pennsylvania. Steranko’s father, one of nine siblings, began working in the mines at age 10, and as an adult became a tinsmith . [3] Steranko later said his father and uncles “would bootleg coal – they would go up into a mountain and open up a shaft.” [4] One of three children, all boys, [5] Steranko spent his early childhood during the American Great Depression living in a three-room house with a tar-paper roof and outhouse toilet facilities. He slept on a couch in the nominal living room until he was more than 10 years old. [3] Steranko’s father and five uncles showed musical inclination, performing in a band that played on Reading radio in the 1930s, Steranko has said. [6]Steranko recalled beginning school at age 4. [7] Later, “Because my father had tuberculosis (and I tested positive), I began third grade at what was called an ‘open-window’ school, a facility across the city that had a healthy program for kids with special problems. I was bused to school for four years, then dropped into standard junior high.” [7] There, being smaller and younger than his classmates, he found himself a target for bullies and young gang-members [7] until he studied boxing and self-defense at the local YMCA and began to successfully fight back. [8] His youngest brother was born when Steranko was 14, “severing even the minimal interaction between me and my parents.” [9]Steranko had begun drawing while very young, opening and flattening envelopes from the mail to use as sketch paper. Despite his father’s denigration of Steranko’s artistic talent, and the boy’s ambition to become an architect, Steranko paid for his art supplies by collecting discarded soda bottles for the bottle deposit and bundled old newspapers to sell to scrap-paper dealers. He studied the Sunday comic strip art of Milton Caniff , Alex Raymond , Hal Foster , and Chester Gould , as well as the characters of Walt Disney and Superman , provided in “boxes of comics” brought to him by an uncle.
