At the stroke of midnight steranko marshall
Steranko introduced or popularized in comics such art movements of the day as psychedelia and op art, drawing specifically on the "aesthetic of Dali," with inspiration from Richard Powers, ultimately synthesizing a style he termed "Zap Art."
AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT STERANKO MARSHALL SERIES
The graphic influences of Peter Max, Op Art and Andy Warhol were embedded into the design of the pages - and the pages were designed as a whole, not just as a series of panels. Steranko "combined the figurative dynamism of Jack Kirby with modern design concepts", wrote Larry Hama. I think Jim's legacy to Marvel was demonstrating that there were ways in which the Kirby style could be mutated, and many artists went off increasingly in their own directions after that." Toth is one of the few guys who can simplify an illustration to a minimum of lines with a maximum of impact."įuture Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, then a staff writer, recalled Steranko at Marvel: The fewer lines you can put into a drawing the quicker it reads, and the simpler it is.
Actually, the opposite is generally true. Fans seem to think that the more lines that go into a drawing the better it is. Fan seems to have a lot less opinion of Robbins for some reason, just because they're more enamored of lines. I still think Robbins is one of the greatest storytellers of all time. "Early influences were Chester Gould's Tracy (not particularly in my drawing style but in subject matter and an approach to drama), Hal Foster, and Frank Robbins' Johnny Hazard. Steranko in 1978 described some influences and their impact on his creative philosophy: 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. I felt I was just skimming quite blankly through loads of very, very well-executed and impressive poster images - inventive covers, splash pages, widescreen panels - but for me, as storytelling, a lot of this material just didn't work.Įxcerpts from Steranko's Wikipedia article I found the later issues, especially those with Steranko scripts, quite dull and uninvolving, very poorly paced compared to the Lee / Kirby material. I found the Lee / Kirby stories very fast-paced and involving, but I thought that once Steranko had progressively greater input the run would just keep getting better and better. I purchased the Strange Tales Masterworks and looked forward enthusiastically to re-reading the Nick Fury run, a bit more attentively this time around. Did I hate it? No.īut it wasn`t the highly acclaimed masterpiece that people have told me it was.Īs a teenager, Steranko's art made quite an impression on me, when it was reprinted in UK Marvels back in the 70s, but I didn't really recall much about the stories.
Now if you like Steranko`s work on SHIELD that is just fine, but I didn`t. At least Gilligan's Island makes me laugh, and doesn`t bore me like that highly acclaimed run by Steranko just did. I find that old re-runs of Gilligan's Island to be more enjoyable then sitting thru a read of Steranko`s run on Nick Fury. They were gods to us kids back in the 60`s and 70`s, but go reread that stuff now. This was the proposed cover to the book that Stan Lee rejected. Steranko packed in a variety of storytelling techniques in only 5 pages, intended for the active, perceptive reader. Look at these pages from Tower of Shadows #1 (At The Stroke of Midnight). Steranko was the next major step in the evolution of visual storytelling in comics after Eisner and Toth (with Frazetta and Krigstein involved as well). My point of contention was his Nick Fury interiors were lacking, and were not the acclaimed masterpieces I had been led to believe. I do like his covers and I find them amazing. Great covers but when you actually go and open up the comics you find that nostalgia can only take you so far.ītw Please don`t take this personal. It`s the insides of a comicbook were he falls below the Carl Barks,Frank Millers and Jack Kirbys of the world. Steranko can draw a cover with the best of them. The key word here is story and not cover. I would take a story writtenĪnd drawn by Barks over Steranko any day. The greatest storytelling example would be Carl Barks.