![\"Chandler\"](\"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/chandler.jpg\")
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(aka FICTION ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 3<\/em><\/strong>) Steranko is an artist with many strings to his bow. Whether as publisher, typographer, graphic designer, artist, storyteller, historian, or musical performer he has excelled. As a magician and escapologist he found celebrity and even inspired Jack Kirby to create the Super Escape Artist Mister Miracle, but it’s as a comics creator that he has most memorably succeeded.<\/p>\n With Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.<\/em> he revolutionised the telling of graphic stories. His retro-revisionist take on Captain America<\/em> is reverently remembered nearly forty years later and his experimental forays in Marvel’s horror and romance titles were high-points in style, and cinematic design.<\/p>\n He left Marvel to pursue his other interests and began the publication Mediascene Prevue<\/strong><\/em> but has returned occasionally to the comic medium. In partnership with Byron Preiss he created this experimental form of the graphic novel that is a vivid tribute to the hard-boiled detective and film noir genres, if not altogether to the tastes of the contemporary comics consumer.<\/p>\n Chandler is a private eye, in the iconic myth-country of 1940’s New York City, where one night a desperate man comes looking for someone to find his killer. Bramson Todd saw a mob hit and has somehow been poisoned because of it. With seventy-two hours to live he wants proactive revenge, and as well as a vast amount of money he offers Chandler the chance to save the other three witnesses from the same fate or worse.<\/p>\n The familiar iconography of the seedy, noble gumshoe is augmented by two-fisted action, flying bullets, sundry thugs and scoundrels, memorable, glamorous women and a ticking clock in this loving and effective pastiche, but the stumbling block for many readers will be the unconventional format of this book.<\/p>\n Each page is divided into two columns – in the manner of the classic pulps – with each column comprising an illustration above a block of accompanying text. Despite Steranko’s superb draughtsmanship and design skill (some spreads form extended visual continuities with four single pictures becoming one large illustration) there is an element of separation between prose and picture that can take a little adapting to. Nevertheless even after three decades this is still a powerful tale, well told and worth any extra effort necessary to enjoy it. Another contender for immediate reissue, I think\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n This book was released in both full-sized graphic novel and pocket digest editions.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a9 1976 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. \u00c2\u00a0 (aka FICTION ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 3) By Steranko (Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc\/Pyramid Books) ISBN: 0-515-04241-2 Steranko is an artist with many strings to his bow. Whether as publisher, typographer, graphic designer, artist, storyteller, historian, or musical performer he has excelled. As a magician and escapologist he found celebrity and even inspired Jack Kirby to … <\/p>\n
\nBy Steranko<\/strong> (Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc\/Pyramid Books)
\nISBN: 0-515-04241-2<\/p>\n
\nThe character Chandler \u00c2\u00a9 1976 James Steranko.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"