Boston Comic Con
Sunday, October 21, 10am-5pm
Back Bay Events Center (180 Berkeley Street), $8
The comics industry is known for its oddballs, and Jim Steranko is a case in point. He is best known for his late sixties work at Marvel Comics, where he brought a designer's eye to drawing Nick Fury for Strange Tales. He drew across the whole page, defying panel boundaries, to a surreal effect. But comics may have been the least colorful of his pursuits.
Born in Pennsylvania to Ukrainian immigrants during the Depression, Steranko's first vocation was magic. He was an illusionist and an escape artist (Jack Kirby would base his existential escapologist Mister Miracle on Steranko), and he published a book in the early sixties on card magic. He claims to have been in the rock band -- under an alias and packing heat -- that hired the first go-go dancers. He reportedly ran an erotica retail. He designed the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. And, in 1970, he self-published a two volume History of Comics.
A newsprint tabloid with a wraparound cover, History of Comics introduced many nerds to comics' "Golden Age." And it came complete with a cryptic forward by Federico Fellini. (An excerpt: "Not satisfied being heroes, but becoming more heroic, the characters in the group Marvel know how to laugh at themselves.") Steranko's books established the basic narrative for comics history (a straight line from the caves of Lascaux to Little Nemo in Slumberland, through the pulps, ending at The Amazing Spider-Man) and a precedent, followed by Will Eisner, Gerard Jones, Art Spiegelman, and Scott McCloud, of comics creators writing the history of comics.
Bostonians will have a chance to meet Steranko tomorrow at the Boston Comic Con, advertised as New England's largest. Bostonist will be on hand and promises to report back -- especially if Steranko starts ranting.
Artist's photo from Boston Comic Con's promotional announcement.
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