Superhero Media: Nick Fury by Jim Steranko

Probably my favorite comic book artist of all time would be Jim Steranko. Naturally, I admire the foundational work of Jack Kirby, but for me, Steranko is the master of Silver-Age Pop Art comic madness and really needs to be lauded far more than he is. Steranko actually didn't make Marvel comics for all that long a period, but his impact can be felt today, his being the deciding hand behind much of the SHIELD mythos, characters and look that has followed through to the MCU. Whist the classic Lee/Kirby team birthed Nick Fury, originally through the Howling Commandos line, the iconic elements of the character are pure Steranko, including a great many SHIELD agents, like Valenta Allegra de Fontaine and Clay Quartermain, make their first appearances in these issues. If you consider yourself a serious comics collector, you really should have these trades in your collection. 

All the above praise still being genuine, there are a few flaws to Nick Fury that bear mention. The villain, "The Yellow Claw" is an unfortunate racist take on the "evil oriental", which really ruins an otherwise excellent story. If you have a low tolerance for Camp, Steranko's style may not do much for you either, though I love it and would like to see more of the same in contemporary comics. As well as combining a Silver Age Kirbyesque style with Pop Art, Steranko also employs cut-and-paste techniques, with one memorable splash-page of a SHIELD gadget being comprised of a bricolage of anything vaguely mechanical found in a catalog of some sort. I should probably mention that Silver Age comics tend to be more "wordy" than modern ones, but, suck it up? Unless you have difficulty reading for whatever reason, stick with the classics and you'll find them rewarding, despite the increased word count.

Since his heyday of comics, Jim Steranko has gone on to do art work in Hollywood, including being a production designer on Bram Stoker's Dracula and writer for Justice League Unlimited, X-Men: The Animated Series and more. He appears as a guest voice in the Lego Marvel Superheroes games and Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. For a guy mostly famous for drawing some fun but weird comics in the 1960s, that's a hell of a resume. The crews behind Agents of SHIELD and James Bond could really learn some lessons by reading these comics. One of my favouite Marvel series ever, from my favourite comic book artist of all time, grab yourself a copy of the trade or at least some scans to check out this utterly unique voice and see the contribution he made to the medium. Vintage stuff, right here.