In a future post I’m going to write about my own “Mount Rushmore” of comic creators, among the ones I’m certain about are Jack Kirby, Will Eisner and Jim Steranko. I had personal relationships with Kirby and Eisner, but until this past weekend I only had a casual nod and gesture relationship with Steranko. My connection to Steranko runs deep, and and I both were raised in tough neighborhoods and turned to boxing to overcome bullying. We share sentiments on a lot of things most notably the importance of the Second Amendment. I liked his work so much I made my own hardcover edition of his best work because I found fault with every collected edition of his I owned.
The oversized hardcover edition I made complete with dust jacket.
I made a decision to seek him out at the next show we did together but things went screwy quick. Shows shut down for two years. Steranko had arranged to make an appearance at my local comic shop for their 40th Anniversary (congratulations That’s Entertainment— now 42 years in business and soon the subject of another post) but thanks to the pandemic that too got cancelled. He was announced for a couple of other shows nearby but those fell through for various reasons. The Little Giant Show in Concord New Hampshire had him as a headliner so it was on a Saturday afternoon I made the 90 minute trip north to meet him and get the book signed.
His stylized signature now in the book!
I made it in good time, and thanks to son’s #2 and #3 who were doing the show for SUPERWORLD COMICS I was inside and talking to Jim like an old friend. We talked growing up poor, learning how to fight, the 2nd amendment, our aversion to tyrannical mask mandates, old movies, who the best James Bond is (hint: it’s Connery) and more over the course of 40 minutes. We even made plans to get together for dinner.
Most fun was when he invited me into his inner circle, Steranko’s Henchmen, and he gave me the secret password which comes with it along with a T-Shirt.
A great guy, and I’ll post more about his work in the future.