STERANKO FANTASTIC PAPERBACK BOOK COVERS !!!

I thought I'd do something a little different than I have before in my posts. Paperback covers! Jim Steranko is my all-time favorite comic book artist, which is not hard to image for most of you out there. His work on Captain America, Nick Fury, Tower of Shadows and Our Love Story were groundbreaking in comic books. He opened up a new way to cinematically illustrate and enjoy viewing comic books in a new vision.

Haven't seen so much of Steranko's foray into the western genre, but I loved his Wildcat covers, even though I didn't read many westerns I just had to have them.

I loved his gritty western covers, but then came his Why Isn't A Nice Girl Like You Married? which was a simpler, humorous stroke of genius.

Here's some of the first sci-fi covers of his I purchased. These are my favorite sci-fi paperback covers of his because they were the first I came across, introducing me to the elevation of him from striking comic books to magnificent painting!

Steranko also broke into young reader books with a couple of covers in the popular Time Machine series. I hadn't seen the Guillotine cover before, wow, but the cover for the Pancho Villa paperback was also used on one the great Argosy magazines he did many years earlier.

I thought I would go over a period of time in his career he ventured into paperback book covers. He did many covers for genres you'd expect to see him illustrate, pulp and science fiction. But he also did a few you may or may not have seen. What was great to me, was seeing him do painted covers! Gave me shivers of delight!

I didn't miss the first The Shadow cover, but somehow I did miss the second #1 he did. Damn it Jim! Magnificent! Steranko also did a cover for another Maxwell Grant book I acquired as a hardcover, Norgil the Magician. I'll find a pic and use it in another post of further Steranko paperback covers.

Here's a couple of the original The Shadow covers he did. He managed to blend the pulp, as well as his own style, so well into many great covers.

Some of the striking, redesigned The Shadow covers he did. So captivating!

Not long ago, Steranko painted a couple of The Spider covers, used on the trade & mass market paperbacks and even the Kindle editions! This one I haven't seen in trade paperback, just a MMPB, unlike the first one published in both  formats. Both books had multiple Norvell Page stories under one volume.

I believe I may do a complete post on his The Shadow covers by themselves, since he completed so many in that wonderful reprint series. Then again, there are a few more mystery novel covers of his I need to find or scan as they come to mind, Norgil the Magician by Maxwell Grand and Tomorrow I Die by Mickey Spillane.

His magnificent covers, and trend setting interior graphic work grabbed me right away in the new concept Weird Heroes series (eight gripping volumes total)! The fantastic first volume of new pulp stories was reprinted a few years back as an anniversary edition and you can still find it on Kindle. 

I missing The Shores of Tomorrow somehow, but The Bat Staffel is a great introduction to the fantastic G-8 and his Battle Aces series, reprinted from the pulp books.

The first three G-8 and his Battle Aces reprints from the marvelous pulps, were some of Steranko's best and my favorite paperback covers! If you haven't read any, you need to, don't miss them!

Here's a couple newer covers of his. Unfortunately all I have is a picture of the Rear Window cover, but here's the first The Spider (another pulp entry) cover Steranko did that was gloriously published in Trade & Mass Market paperback formats (and even on Kindle to my satisfaction).

So, without further ado, enjoy a gallery of Jim Steranko paperback book covers. Additionally, I'd like to thank Tony Robertson and his Drawings of Steranko web site for pics I've used in this post. Thanks Tony!

I thoroughly enjoyed Steranko's delving into the sword and sorcery & barbarian hero collections. Marvelous anthologies incorporating some of the best authors in this genre like Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter & Fritz Leiber.

Somewhere along the line, I think someone ripped off the Ginger Star cover for a book I saw on an eBook cover. What a shame if it's so.

He also did the striking covers for the three Eric John Stark paperbacks. Striking! These are powerful books you do not want to miss!

Another powerful entry in the sword and sorcery covers were for the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser reprints. Here are some in the lighter side of fantasy!

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!

One of the few I missed was Police Your Planet, drat, but not Return to the Stars. Believe you me, anything by Edmond Hamilton is tops in my book.

Kelwin was and unfortunately, still is new to me. This Michael Moorcock (of Elric fame) paperback was part of a trilogy he did in conjunction with Edgar Rice Burroughs series of "Mars" books, under the pen name of Edward Bradbury. 

Dave Van Arnam also wrote a great Lost in Space tie-in book back in the sixties. Bestselling historical fiction writer John Jakes was a master pulp author back in the day, in the sci-fi and thriller genres.

Some more fine sci-fi covers from the master painter. I mean, how can you not go wrong with the selection of writers, Ron Goulart (Weird Heroes: Gypsy), James Gunn (The Immortals), Arthur C. Clark (2001) and William F. Nolan (Space for Hire), in both of these volumes.

DOUBLE DANGER FOR OUR HERO, CAPTAIN ATOM !!!

This was a great time to be into the legend of Charlton Comics' Captain Atom. For me, this was some of my all-time favorite Steve Ditko comic book artwork. I loved his cover on this issue, powerful! Rocke Mastroserio provided some of his best inks over Ditko's art in this story.

This issue also brought us a fine David A. Kaler and Jim Aparo Nightshade back-up story, revealing the origin of Nightshade. There was some fantastic Aparo artwork here, I loved the way he brought in the color with the flashback sequences instead of a common black and white.

Captain Atom #87  Double Danger with the Fiery-Icer!
"The Menace of the Fiery-Icer"
Plot & pencils by Steve Ditko (Beware the Creeper), script by David A. Kaler (The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves), inks by Rocke Mastroserio (Fightin' 5).
In the Carribean, Captain Atom encounters an enemy who wields the incredible combined powers of heat and cold.  

With DC Comics The Action Heroes Archives Volume 2, the Captain Atom figure taken from the story (page 11) in Captain Atom #87.

Steve Ditko also showed up for one issue in Dell Comics' Nukla (#4) series. Joe Gill provided the script while Sal Trapani inked the issue. 

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!

My all-time favorite illustration of Captain Atom by Ditko!

Nice to see a Charlton Ditko reprint in this reproduction of an old 80 Page Giant DC Comic!

The new Captain Atom was included in this AC Comic, just before DC got their hands on the Charlton Action Heroes!

SARGE STEEL, WE HAVE YOUR SECRETARY !!!

So sad, so very sad, the end of another Charlton comic book series. What a great looking cover to go out with though! I love dinosaur covers and this is, by far, one of my favorites!

"Another story I wrote was a stand-alone Sarge Steel story in the last issue of Judomaster. I found out after I’d finished (drawing) part one of a two-part Steel story that the issue part one came out in was going to be the last issue. I didn’t think it was a good idea to put out a two-part story that nobody could read a conclusion to, so I wrote and drew a new story over the weekend to get it in on time. If you can find the last issue of Judomaster that had a Sarge Steel back-up in it. That one was done by me."
From an interview with Dick Giordano by John Lustig (Last Kiss).

Judomaster #98
"File 115 Case of the Key West Caper"
"Mr. Steel, we have your secretary. She'll be alive for the next 48 hours...no longer!" An X on a map marks a small island in the Florida Keys. Steel was going to find Bess, no matter what!!
Written & illustrated by legendary Dick Giordano (The L.A.W.).

This Sarge Steel story has only been reprinted in the Modern Comic Judomaster #98. It was an exact reprint of the Charlton issue #98, except for newer ads with different cover copy (Modern Comics logo and a 35c cover price). The text article ("The Power of the Bow") was omitted.

Sarge Steel also showed up in the Sentinel's back-up series in Thunderbolt #58.

Since it's been hard to find these in the back issue bins, it would be great to see these reprinted!

Unfortunately, Sarge has never had his own series at DC and doesn't seem likely to have one in the future. At the same time, it would be great to see a reprinting of his exploits in further volumes of DC Comics Action Heroes Archives, along with Judomaster and Peacemaker. 

This issue of Judomaster also advertised an issue of Blue Beetle left unpublished, until many years later!

Live Large My Friends!

Thank You!

Needless to say, Giordano was my favorite artist on Sarge Steel.

One of the appearances in DC Comics for Sarge Steel was in The L.A.W. mini-series.