Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts

Friday, January 23, 2009

S.H.I.E.L.D. Art by Steranko



The very first issue of Nick Fury's own title with psychedelic lettering and patterns.


The "S.H.I.E.L.D. Origin Issue", with some OP art designs.


A striking science fiction cover; too bad the story inside was not by Steranko and had nothing to do with the sleeve art.


A surrealist art-inspired cover also reminiscing the films of Alfred Hitchcock (who, in fact, collaborated with Salvador Dalí for Spellbound.)

Through Facebook, I recently got hooked up again with Canadian Tony Robertson, who maintains an excellent tribute site to American comic book artist and illustrator Jim Steranko. As a fan of the artist's work, I used to host my own Steranko tribute under pHinnWeb during the late-90s, but eventually gave up the site (partly because of worrying about the copyright issues) and let Tony "adopt" for his own site the Steranko-related material I had gathered together so far (including the 1983 Amazing Heroes and 1989 Betty Pages feature stories on Steranko).

James "Jim" Steranko (b. 1938), known in the industry only as Steranko, is best known for his take on the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury -- who started his life as a WWII hero Sgt. Fury, now promoted to the rank of Colonel as the head of a spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D., wearing a futuristic jumpsuit and also rejuvenated with a mystical youth serum -- which started in 1965 through Strange Tales magazine; the character receiving his own title, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, in 1968. S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) was inspired by other fictional spy organizations like U.N.C.L.E. (of the TV show Man from U.N.C.L.E.), when Marvel Comics decided to jump in to the secret agent craze popular in the mid-60s after the phenomenal success of James Bond movies.

For Nick Fury, Steranko developed a totally new flashy narrative style he called "Zap Art", based on the groundwork made by Marvel stalwart Jack Kirby and then further inspired by psychedelia, OP art and surrealism. Marvel Comics titles such as The Fantastic Four and Dr. Strange had already appealed to the hippie generation with their spectacular cosmic visions, and Steranko was consciously to apply to his own works the psychedelic visual style familiar from the rock posters and record covers of the era. Also Will Eisner's Spirit and Eisner's cinematic photomontage-like style of "consequential art" informed Steranko; furthermore, the influence of classic comic book illustrators like Hal Foster of Prince Valiant (large splash pages with long descriptive text captions) and Russ Manning's (Tarzan and Magnus, Robot Fighter) fantasy landscapes were there, also Wally Wood's striking style Wood used in his horror and sci-fi comics. As a writer Steranko ofter favoured elliptical narratives with theatrical pulp fiction style drawing inspiration from hard-boiled crime fiction, sci-fi and even Gothic horror style.

Steranko, who also had worked as a stage magician, was fascinated by all sorts of games and complicated labyrinth designs, so Nick Fury was seen adventuring in several intricate (and psychedelic) mazes the arch-villains like Hydra had set up for him. The dialogue, with Nick Fury's hard-nut war veteran/bar brawl "Brooklynese", with tough-guy expressions like "flapping one's gums" (= talking too much), sounds now often comically corny and contrived, but hey, isn't that the case, too, when reading also other Marvel titles of the era? Anyway, Steranko might be remembered as a great "postmodern" synthesist, who combined different existing styles to create his own visual narrative (and in his turn influenced other artists like French Philippe Druillet, who took Steranko's psychedelic OP art style and used it for his own byzanthine Lone Sloane in the 70s).

Steranko's hectic working schedule for Marvel took its toll and he finally left the company in 1969. After that he worked briefly for some horror and romance comics titles of other publishers, before establishing his own Supergraphics company, which published two volumes of The Steranko History of Comics in 1970 and 1972, also the magazine Comixscene, which then evolved into Mediascene and finally Prevue, lasting until 1994.

Steranko also provided illustrations for several pulp novels, some comics books and pin-ups. Chandler: Red Tide was a 1976 film noir-inspired "graphic novel" entirely created by Steranko. 1981 saw the comic book adaptation of Outland, a Peter Hyams sci-fi thriller based on the classic Western High Noon and apparently influenced by the bleak-corporate-future visual style of Ridley Scott's Alien. Steranko's Outland was serialised in the legendary Heavy Metal magazine.

Steranko also worked as a conceptual artist for the films Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola (1992). Marvel's attempts to lure Steranko back creating Nick Fury comics were unsuccessful, though he did create some revived S.H.I.E.L.D. title mini-series cover illustrations. These days Steranko is considered an elder statesman of comic book art, still doing occasional cover art and more "femme fatale" pin-ups.








For more on Steranko, check both Wikipedia and Tony's site for countless examples of Steranko's art.



The uncensored illustration of Nick Fury's girlfriend Countess Valentina. Marvel Comics, in their infinite wisdom, blackened out in the published version the curvy details of La Contessa's buttocks, perhaps thinking they would be too much for the imaginations of the boy readers who had just entered their puberty...

Thursday, December 25, 2008

"Christmas? Bah, Humbug!"




Scrooge McDuck is a Disney character created by American comic book artist Carl Barks (1901 - 2000) for the Donald Duck story Christmas on Bear Mountain in 1947. The wealthy, nasty and misanthropic old duck, scary to the point of being Gothic, was modelled after Ebeneezer Scrooge, the Christmas-hating rich curmudgeon in A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens. Mr. Scrooge's disapproving catchprase "Bah, humbug!" was something he used to describe the Yuletide in general.

Thus "Scrooge" has also became a common nickname for the people disliking Christmas for various reasons of their own.

Later on, for his Donald Duck comics Carl Barks softened the character of "Uncle Scrooge", who became a caricature (though one not portrayed with a too critical eye) of an extremely wealthy but overtly stingy venture capitalist, keen to literally take swims in the sea of coins he keeps in his Money Bin building. For those to whom Walt Disney's empire means American cultural imperialism at its worst, the association became all too poignant (for further studies, check out How To Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, 1971).

Politics aside, the late 1940s is my favourite Barks era when his visual style was at its sharpest; often capturing some hues of the noir-ish post-war angst even with occasional Gothic overtones, to his otherwise comical stories meant for children. This was especially obvious with his long storylines, usually displaying a more epic scale in exotic locations around the world, in comparison to his "shorties" that were based on different "screwball"-style gags around everyday hometown situations, and other classics such as The Ghost of the Grotto and The Old Castle's Secret were born.

  • Christmas on Bear Mountain synopsis and links @ Wikipedia
  • Sunday, September 28, 2008

    Läjä Äijälä 50 Years


    The Sultans - Läjä Äijälä on guitar

  • Läjä Äijälä search results @ YouTube

    Finnish underground legend Veli-Matti "Läjä" Äijälä celebrates his fiftieth birthday on Monday 29 September 2008. Originally hailing from Tornio in Finnish Lapland, near Swedish border, Läjä Äijälä has during his career of 30 years worked on such diverse musical areas as punkrock, avantgarde electronic music, rockabilly and the roots blues. pHinnWeb congratulates. Known from the hardcore punk act Terveet Kädet (enjoying a vast cult reputation around the world), the minimal electronic act Aavikon Kone ja Moottori (playing a British Wasp synth and paving way in the late 1970s for such later artists as Pan sonic), bands such as The Billy Boys, Leo Bugariloves and The Sultans, the prolific multitalent Läjä Äijälä is also a comic book artist, citing as his influences Elvis Presley, Suicide, Albrecht Dürer, S/M imagery, Urho Kekkonen and Egyptology. In 2004 Bad Vugum Records released a compilation album The Passions of Läjä Äijälä, getting together tracks from Äijälä's different musical projects throughout his whole career.


    A Billy Boys 7" single released in Poland, with Läjä Äijälä's characteristic sleeve art

  • Läjä Äijälä biography @ Avanto festival site
  • Läjä Äijälä @ Finnish Wikipedia
  • Läjä Äijälä interview @ Noise.Fi (in Finnish)
  • Some Läjä Äijälä-related record releases
  • Läjä Äijälä's sleeve art for Musti Laiton (March 2008)
  • Monday, November 05, 2007

    Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four





    The Jack Kirby-era Fantastic Four (1961-70) on Marvel Comics has been a big favourite of mine for a long time, though my efforts to collect these works have been somehow haphazard and mostly reliable on irregular Finnish translations. The latest of these is Ihmesarja 12 (reviving the title under which Marvel's comics were published in Finnish for the first time in the 60s) on Egmont, a compilation which features from 1969 and 1970 the last Fantastic Four adventures Kirby created for Marvel Comics before he left the company.

    Kirby's was an elegant and cinematic style of illustration (I especially love his beautiful female characters) owing a great attention to detail and vast cosmic visions, with a certain occasional touch of surrealist pop art too (some of his singular comic book panels could be works of art in their own right): Marvel Comics enjoyed a cult following among the members of the 60s psychedelic counter-culture; having a certain hipster appeal with characters like Silver Surfer (who had his first appearance in FF #48, March 1966) who was a philosophical galactic beatnik/hippie never ceasing to wonder humankind's war-like habits.

    The storylines themselves -- with pompous cosmic villains of over-theatrical lines and their universe-conquering delusions of grandeur combined with the silly comedy antics of our heroes' domestic lives -- seem quite childish these days when pop culture is inhabited with psycho serial killers and even Batman has become a dark right-wing vigilante à la Frank Miller, but obviously it's this old-fashioned naivety for which the vintage Fantastic Four holds a great appeal.

  • Comics @ pHinnWeb
  • Tuesday, September 11, 2007

    Flamongo Samoojat / Kapteeni Shiva Osa 1




    Various Artists
    Flamongo Samoojat (CD+booklet)
    FLAM - 0CDA
    limited edition of 500
    September 2007

    Tracks:

    1. Sammakko
    2. Bugari Osmond: Alisa 2007
    3. Elevators: Hesberia
    4. Bugari Ormond: Sähköjalat
    5. Past Masters: Honolulu Beat
    6. Jimi Python: Streetfighter
    7. Raisin Team: Arpeggio
    8. Polytron: New Beta
    9. Future Warriors: Bembe (Musa Basha-Mix)
    10. Mane Schimango: Mata-Intro
    11. Mane Schimango: Mutuykato Mata
    12. Tangon Taikaa: Lapin tango
    13. Muuntaja: Paha olla
    14. Välikukko
    15. Keijo Kessu: Shanghai Blues
    16. Kukka: Waiting A Jet-Plane
    17. Osmo Vallo: Pistolhot
    18. Jaakko Eino Kalevi: Pleasure Dub
    19. Frank Urban: Tramvaj
    20. Ukrets: Rake Over
    21. Elevators: Just Say Oh

    Flamongo Samoojat CD (limited edition of 500) is the latest release from Helsinki's Flamongo label.

    With a 80-page booklet, featuring underground art from Vilunki 3000 (Op:l Bastards, And The Lefthanded, Uusi Fantasia, etc.) and previously unpublished comics from the underground legend Timo Aarniala (known for his underground comics and record sleeves for such as Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940).

    The CD has 21 tracks, among all from: Elevators, Bugari Osmond, Raisin Team, Jimi Python, Polytron, Future Warriors, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Kukka, Muuntaja, Tangon Taikaa, Frank Urban, Osmo Vallo...



    Kapteeni Shiva Osa 1: Megatron Braineater (book + CD)
    Flamongo Sanomat erikoissarja osa 1

    232 pages, black & white.
    Flamongo Kustannus 2007
    FLAM2
    ISBN 978-952-92-2319-0

    Vilunki 3000 is also responsible for the layout and illustrations of Kapteeni Shiva Osa 1 ("Captain Shiva Part 1"), featuring a "soundtrack" CD. "The cult book" by Megatron Braineater is the first book release of Flamongo, a tale of 232 pages, starring the mystical Captain Shiva, and taking place in 2745 A.D. when "space travel is common everyday of energy economy and neo-postmodernism just dark history". There will be three more books of Captain Shiva's adventures, this first one having a look at Captain's childhood and his sexual awakening. According to NYT/Helsingin Sanomat #38/2007 behind the writer alias Megatron Braineater is one Maria Candia, age 30, who studies Comparative Literature, works as translator and has seen each episode of Star Wars for 60 times. The CD has ten tracks, featuring as its main architect DJ Candle In The WInd (a.k.a. Bob Luxor a.k.a. Zico a.k.a. Vilunki 3000), and also such artists as Ercola, Mesak, Kaukolampi-Nykänen-Puranen, Megatron, Neko Blaster and Jaakko Eino Kalevi. Originally based on Möytääng Shiva which will be out in 3474.

    *****

    There also the Flamongo Samoojat exhibition at Helsinki's Myymälä2:

    FLAMONGO SAMOOJAT 13. - 26.9.2007
    Flamongo Samoojat - Suomen musa-alamaailman moniottelijat Myymälä2:ssa 13. - 26.9.2007!

    Flamongo Samoojain merkillinen näyttely on esillä myymälä 2:ssa syyskuun aikana. Se koskettelee kesällä ilmestynyttä, suomalaisen musiikin kätkettyjä kulminaatiopisteitä ja sarjakuvan äärialueita yhdistävää kokoelmalevyä, Flamongo Samoojat. Näyttelyn huipentuma on Rosiksen legendaarisen Hohtisjengin pingispöytä, eli gallerian aukioloaikoina kaikille ilmainen hohtopingis ja ultraviolettivalon pimeys!

    Mukana myös kaikin puolin uutta science fictionia Flamongon erikoissarja Kapteeni Shivan kuvituksen käänteisfuturistisissa tunnelmissa.

    Avajaisjuhlallisuuksissa Flamongo tarjoaa musiikkia ja pingiksessä voittamisen iloa läsnäolijoille. Taiteesta vastaavat Flamongon Supersidor; voittamaton Herkules ja laittamaton Vilunilkki 3000.

  • Myymälä2 @ MySpace
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