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I met Mr. Steranko in Kansas City at Planet Comicon this past April. Before I get going, let preface the story with this: I apparently have some of the absolute worst luck in meeting creators. I first met Mr. Steranko at SDCC in 2006. I thought he was arrogant and stand-offish as he (supposedly) would only come forward and speak if you bought an item from the Vanguard Publishing table. I seem to be the only person ever to have been told this or to have had this experience. I had the same experience with Jim Lee at KC a few years later and was the only one to have a negative experience there as well. By all accounts, both are fun an friendly guys, meaning that I either exude some negative vibe or managed to catch both at the worst second of their day. I prefer the second option but whatever.
So, in KC it was a three day show and I only made the second two. I got there early Saturday but didn't get in early and he already had a significant line. I just kept an eye on things and went about my business but his line never seemed to shorten. He even took lunch (or went to a panel, I don't recall any panels with him but who knows?) and the line actually grew while he was gone. Sunday, I made him my #1 priority and got in early and made a bee line to his table. I was about sixth in line and had to wait more than an hour to get my turn with him.
My time came and I approached slowly and with great reverence. I had a couple of books for him to sign, both the recent SHIELD books with the Kirby/Steranko covers, one in color one in black and white. We spoke briefly, he asked about what color to sign in and I told him that he was the artist so I trusted his judgement. We had a little banter about it and he signed them then asked if I knew the story behind the covers. I told him that I did (I honestly thought that I did), that the cover had been one of a few pages from an unused story. He just beamed and said, "No, that's not it." He proceeded to tell me how he had approached Stan Lee at Marvel Comics in the 60s and he had sat in a waiting area with a few other artists, all of who had "fancy $400 leather portfolios." He said that he had arrived with his art wrapped in newspapers because he "didn't need to spend that kind of money to show that I knew what I was doing." He said that he got his turn with Stan and that Stan immediately loved it but expressed concern about accountability. He recalled that Stan spun in his chair and rifled through some original art pages, finally snagging what would become this cover and another page, both penciled by Jack Kirby. He told Mr. Steranko to ink them and bring them back next Thursday at 2:00. Mr. Steranko kind of scoffed at this point, grinning and saying, "I didn't need a week for that, I could have had them done that night but I wanted to show that I could follow orders." He said he returned with the pages the next Thursday at 2 and Stan was blown away, and offered him work on any book he wanted. He took Strange Tales and the rest his history.
This all reads like it only took a minute or two but this was close to a 20 minute story with all kinds of flourishes and embellishments. Mr. Steranko was clearly holding court and it was truly a sight to behold.
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Title: | S.H.I.E.L.D. #9 Kirby Variant |
Label Desc: | CGC - Signature Series (Yellow) |
Degree of Restoration: |
Unrestored |
Grade: | 9.8 |
Pg Quality: | White |
Pedigree: | |
Grading Comments: |
SIGNED BY JIM STERANKO ON 4/30/17 |
Signatures: | Jim Steranko |
For Sale: | NFS |
Views: | 469 |
Comments: | 0 |
Posted: | 6/21/2017 |
Assigned To Archive: |
Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.
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