{"id":34167,"date":"2025-11-05T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34167"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:23:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:23:44","slug":"chandler-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/11\/05\/chandler-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Chandler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Steranko<\/strong> (Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc\/Pyramid Books)
\nISBN: 978-0-515-04241-2 (Pyramid Books)<\/p>\n

This book contains Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced during less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jim Steranko was born today in 1938. Can you guess what time it is?<\/p>\n

Steranko is an artist with many strings to his bow. Whether as publisher, typographer, graphic designer, artist, writer, storyteller, historian, or musical performer he has always excelled. As magician & escapologist he found celebrity, inspiring new friend Jack Kirby to create Super Escape Artist Mister Miracle<\/strong>, but it\u2019s as a comics creator the man of many talents has most memorably succeeded.<\/p>\n

At the peak of Marvel\u2019s first creative flowering he revolutionised the telling of graphic stories with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.<\/strong> His retro-revisionist take on Captain America<\/strong> is reverently remembered, as is his brief meddling with mutant outriders The X-Men<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Decades after his experimental forays in Marvel\u2019s horror and romance titles, the results are remembered – and now finally in print – as high-points in style and cinematic design.<\/p>\n

Steranko left Marvel to pursue other interests and began publication of pop culture mainstay Mediascene Prevue<\/strong>, only rarely returning to the comics medium. If you\u2019ve never seen his strip work you\u2019ll know him by his film production concept art for blockbusters like Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/strong> and Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/strong>. In the mid-1970s he linked up with comics Svengali Byron Preiss to create this fabulous experimental precursor of the graphic novel: a dynamic and vivid tribute to the hard-boiled detective and film noir genres, and something which perhaps not altogether to the tastes of fans at the time is certainly now very much in the bailiwick of contemporary comics consumers.<\/p>\n

Alternatively entitled FICTION ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 3<\/strong> in its pocket digest sized paperback iteration (as well as proper full-sized graphic novel Chandler: Red Tide<\/strong>), it still packs a potent visual and narrative punch.<\/p>\n

Chandler<\/em> is a private eye, in the iconic myth-country of 1940\u2019s New York City. One night a desperate man comes looking for someone to track down his inescapable killer. Bramson Todd<\/em> witnessed a mob hit and has somehow been poisoned because of it. With 72 hours to live, the walking corpse wants proactive revenge, and as well as a vast amount of money, he offers Chandler the chance to save three other witnesses from the same fate or worse…<\/p>\n

The familiar iconography of a seedy, noble gumshoe is augmented by two-fisted action, flying bullets, sundry thugs and scoundrels, memorable, glamorous women and a ticking clock, all working to make this loving and effective pastiche a minor masterpiece…
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Back then, however, a major stumbling block for many readers was the unconventional format of the book. Each folio is divided into two columns – in the manner of classic pulp prose page layouts – with each column comprising an illustration above a block of accompanying text.<\/p>\n

Despite Steranko\u2019s superb draughtsmanship and design skill (some spreads form extended visual continuities with 4-single frames becoming one large illustration), there is an element of separation between prose & picture that can take a little adapting to. But you should try. It\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n

This is still a powerful tale, well told and worth any extra effort necessary to enjoy it. Another contender for immediate reissue, I think…
\n\"\"
\n\u00a9 1976 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. The character Chandler \u00a9 1976 James Steranko.<\/p>\n

Today in 1977 Ren\u00e9 Goscinny<\/strong> died. You must by now know where to look for him. Two years later Li\u2019l Abner\u2019s Al Capp<\/strong> passed on too, in 2007 unsung star Paul Norris<\/strong> died. He\u2019s most renowned for co-creating DC\u2019s Sea King as most recently seen in Aquaman: 80 Years of the King of the Seven Seas – the Deluxe Edition<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Steranko (Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc\/Pyramid Books) ISBN: 978-0-515-04241-2 (Pyramid Books) This book contains Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times. Jim Steranko was born today in 1938. Can you guess what time it is? Steranko is an artist with many strings to his bow. Whether as publisher, typographer, graphic designer, artist, writer, storyteller, … <\/p>\n

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