Creating Comics!

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:140

(RAY)

120-176_19413.indd 140 5/26/10 8:59:52 AM

(Text)

Creative Process

In 1974 the Marvel Age of Comics had refocused cultural

spotlights on the four-color medium, which was appropriately

identified as an authentic American art form, existing somewhere

to the left of jazz. I’d made a limited, but somewhat resonant,

contribution to their chronology and decided to explore other

areas, some of which were natural extensions of the comic

book phenomenon.

One of those was the graphic novel, the roots of which extend

back to the turn of the century, when comics were in their em-

bryonic stages of development. Numerous variations—from Lynd

Ward’s wondrous, wordless, woodcut novels to the charming,

half-picture, half-text Big Little books—materialized, but no defin-

ing format emerged to dominate the field. Many recent attempts

were nothing more than fat comics: typical panel-and-balloon

arrangements (borrowed from comic strips), but with more pages

than the standard booklets.

To legitimately qualify as a graphic novel—I coined the term

visual novel for a subsequent marketing campaign—the require-

ments of a novel should be honored: a fictional prose narrative

of considerable length, intricate characters and plot, and chapter

breaks. Take notice there is no mention of balloons, captions,

sequential panels in color, black holding lines defining each

element depicted, or a booklet format—all of which define the

comic book. Quite simply, comic books are not graphic novels,

any more than big bicycles are automobiles. My solution to the

problem posited a functional, golden-sectioned relationship

between text and imagery in a 1:2 proportion on each page, with

a length exceeding 100 pages. The result seemed to satisfy both

terms: graphic and novel. It was titled Red Tide, a hard-boiled

crime thriller in the tradition of the films The Maltese Falcon and

Chinatown. Long out of print (both newsstand and bookstore

editions were published), a revised, uncensored, and heavily

expanded edition will soon be offered by Dark Horse. This is the

new cover.

Title: Cover of Red Tide, Tempest on Tenth Avenue

Client: Dark Horse Comics, 2007

Media: Pencil on paper, Photoshop

© 2007 Jim Steranko

140

J

im Steranko is a visionary engaging a multitude of

mediums, including films, graphic novels, inter-

active games, comic books, animated series, and

electronic formats.

His History of Comics volumes have sold more than

100,000 copies each. As an escape artist, his death-

defying performances inspired the character Mister

Miracle. His mastery of visual storytelling made a friend

of Federico Fellini and led to major cinematic collabora-

tions with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis

Ford Coppola.

As writer-illustrator of Marvel’s Nick Fury, Captain Amer-

ica, Hulk, and X-Men (for which he created the classic title

logo), he created hundreds of graphic innovations that

changed the direction of the form. His paintings, ranging

from Luke Skywalker to The Shadow, have appeared as

book covers, movie posters, record albums, and maga-

zine illustrations. He helmed the entertainment magazine

Prevue for its impressive twenty-five-year run.

Steranko has exhibited his work at more than 250

international exhibitions, including the Louvre in Paris; was

inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame; and was given the

prestigious Julie Award for his Lifetime Contribution to the

Fantastic Arts.

Jim Steranko

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:140

(RAY)

120-176_19413.indd 140 5/26/10 8:56:43 AM

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:141

(RAY)

120-176_19413.indd 141 5/26/10 8:59:56 AM

(Text)

141

Jim Steranko

Jim Steranko

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:141

(RAY)

120-176_19413.indd 141 5/26/10 8:56:43 AM