‘Whatever Happened To Scorpio? The Complete Jim Steranko At Marvel’ Advance Review

Sometimes, all it takes is an image to spark the flame of curiosity in a reader who, then, wants to discover more. The cover (seen above) for Nick Fury Agent of Shield by Jim Steranko is one of those images. Steranko is a unique artist and his work on Marvel characters like Captain America and Nick Fury highlight how groundbreaking his work was and continues to be.

Another iconic image (above) is a surreal hallucination sequence with Captain America that feels more at home within an abstract European comic than a mainstream superhero adventure. Years before comics “grew up” in terms of public perception, Steranko was combining pop art, surrealism, and cinematic pacing into the comic book medium during Marvel’s Silver Age.

Steranko is one of the few creators who was credited as both writer and artist on Nick Fury — and this creative control makes his Fury comics more akin to an indie or alternative comic while playing with superhero iconography.

The “spy-fi” genre is tricky to pull off, but brilliant when done well. Television series of the 1960s like The Avengers and The Prisoner dive even further into fantasy and arthouse sensibilities than the popular James Bond films. It’s this blend between weird science fiction, fashion, erotica, and pulpy espionage that gives spy-fi its unique flavor.

The Nick Fury comics are peak spy-fi and are packed to the gills with fantastic machines, colorful Kung Fu assassins, sultry femme fatales, and groovy gadgets. The Nick Fury adventures run the gamut across the genre spectrum — one day Fury is fighting on an island of dinosaurs and giant psychedelic butterflies, the next he is investigating a haunted castle with psychic ghost hunters.

The art is as flexible and dynamic as the storytelling. Characters are drawn with dynamism and a slightly warped perspectives. Steranko subtly incorporates collage into the backgrounds. Colorful villains and fantastic locations channel the principles of pop art and surrealism in equal measure. The action scenes and splash pages look like precursors to the gun-fu seen in John Woo films and the “Bullet Time” moments from The Matrix. Every other page has a visual that leaves a reader’s jaw on the floor.

The stories within the collection are varied and incredibly fun. The dialogue, thought bubbles, and narration are unapologetically Silver Age — and often times unintentionally hilarious. In addition to the Nick Fury, Captain America, and superhero stories, we’re treated to Steranko’s work within the horror and romance genres and a gallery of gorgeous covers.

Whatever Happed To Scorpio? The Complete Jim Steranko at Marvel is tailor-made for discerning readers with very specific taste. If you love spy-fi, Silver Age imagination, pop-surrealism, and unorthodox superhero tales, then this was made for you. Fantagraphics is giving readers a new way to rediscover Steranko’s timeless comics in a beautiful hardcover slipcase collection that’s sure to inspire artists for generations to come.

Whatever Happed To Scorpio? The Complete Jim Steranko at Marvel is now available for preorder from Fantagraphics.