THE SHADOW -- Hypothetical Fantasy Dept...

[pulphero]

Holy crap, my heart almost stopped when I saw this headline on Bleeding Cool...!
Will Steranko Return To The Shadow?

Love to see it. Doubt it will happen though...

[Guest]

Does anybody know when the last time he did any artwork for comic books was?

Would his current style still be any good?

[Ghornet2]

Would love to see him back on the Shadow! I doubt it will happen but i've got my fingers, toes, eyes and a few other things crossed.

[pulphero]

Steranko did a cover for Batman Black and White last year, and supposedly has another Batman cover upcoming for the 75th Anniversary. The year before that, he did a limited variant cover for Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1. He's been doing the odd cover (or limited variant) here and there right down through the years, but the last actual story that I can recall him doing was a 10-pager for the Superman #400 Anniversary issue ("The Exile At The Edge Of Eternity"), and it was indeed a thing of beauty, like his more recent covers, but that was 30 years ago.

Looking at his more recent covers, I can't believe the man doesn't still have the chops, but it seems like getting a story out of the guy now is like pulling teeth. If there was ONE thing that might temp him, it's The Shadow. The Shadow is The One That Got Away -- Steranko was in talks with DC to do it originally, before the O'Neil/Kaluta series materialized. In fact, after Steranko declined (DC didn't want to grant him total control in 1972), it was supposed to be O'Neil and Alex Toth, but Toth being Toth, he torpedoed the project by revising the script himself without asking, and he was off the book (he supposedly carried the pages around in the trunk of his car for years, before destroying them in a fit of rage, but that's another story). Next, Bernie Wrightson was supposed to be tapped for The Shadow, but just as it was about to happen, Wrightson and Len Wein got the green light to launch a Swamp Thing ongoing series out of their one-shot story from House of Secrets #92, and that was Bernie's baby.

But the thing is, with Steranko, it's His Way, or the highway. If Steranko's going to do a story, he writes it, he pencils it, he inks it, he letters it, he colors it -- accepted as is, and printed as is, no editorial changes. God only knows what kind of cash he'd want to do it. I doubt Dynamite could swing that kind of lucre, but getting a new story out of Steranko would be the event of the decade, nay, of the last three decades. It would sure generate a huge amount of publicity for DE, but whether that would translate back into cash profits is highly debatable. Hell, if I were a comic book publisher I'd take the money out of my own pocket, and write it off as a loss (never expecting any return profit) as That One Crazy Thing I Always Wanted To Do, just for the bragging rights.

[bluedevil2002]

If Steranko's going to do a story, he writes it, he pencils it, he inks it, he letters it, he colors it -- accepted as is, and printed as is, no editorial changes.

At least with a property like the Shadow, and a company like Dynamite, the only real editorial issues would be ratings considerations. It wouldn't have to fit into any continuity, and it doesn't have to tie into any other comic.