Tag: Jim Steranko

With Further Ado #205: Summertime Highlights

With Further Ado #205: Summertime Highlights

Hey, I know you’re rushing off to the beach, or trying to get out of work a little early today. So, this week is just a highlight reel of some cool things:

I also just received the 2022 Steve Rude Sketchbook. WOW!  It was part of his most recent Kickstarter. I miss the days of seeing Steve and his wife at San Diego Comic-Con and buying a sketchbook during the annual pilgrimage. But you know what, getting anything from Steve Rude in the mail is always cause for rejoicing! He’s got all sorts of things on his website and his next Kickstarter starts on July 14th .

Shelly Bond (did you know she’s a proud Ithaca College graduate?) has a fabulous new book out called Filth and Grammar: The Comic Book Editor’s Secret Handbook.

It’s kind of a how-to-edit comics, but I think it’s a “new must” for every creator looking to break in. The Kickstarter was looking to raise $20,000 and it overdelivered with over $85,000. Pretty impressive, right?  You can still purchase this one on her site here.

I rescued a few paperbacks from my friends at Wonderland Comics in Rochester. It’s a great little comic shop that always seems to have some lost treasures out for sale.  This loot was just great:

I found four Flash Gordon paperbacks. These tell the prose version from Alex Raymond’s wonderful strip. You might think that Flash Gordon without the art is kind of pointless, but ever since I read the Avon paperback version of The Lion Men of Mongo (when I was a sixth grader), I’ve been hooked. Most of the adaptations were written by Ron Goulart and with wonderful George Wilson covers. Continue reading “With Further Ado #205: Summertime Highlights”

With Further Ado #002: Steranko & Vanguard: 25 Projects in 25 Years

With Further Ado #002: Steranko & Vanguard: 25 Projects in 25 Years

My love for Jim Steranko’s work started a little differently than for most Steranko fans. 

When I was a kid, my super-supportive dad fielded my passion for comic book by finding the things he liked so we could share them.  The Phantom and Prince Valiant were longtime favorites of his, but he’d soon come to really enjoy series like Jonah Hex and Master of Kung Fu.

We both liked Steranko’s artwork.  One day he surprised me by ordering Steranko’s History of Comics. I immediately devoured it.  Then he subscribed to Steranko’s Comixscene (which soon become Mediascene). But when I read it, I was perplexed by the peculiar cutouts.  Turns out, my mom had intercepted it from the mailbox, and took her scissors to essentially censor all the sexy pictures from it.

Soon after, Steranko’s The Supergirls arrived – which were gorgeous Steranko pinups, mostly topless, of women in superhero costumes. That one was hidden from me for about 25 years.

So it’s particularly fascinating to me the J. David Spurlock explained to me that he’s done 25 projects with Jim Steranko over the past 25 years.  Continue reading “With Further Ado #002: Steranko & Vanguard: 25 Projects in 25 Years”