Steranko had a history as a notorious hard worker who earned a lot of opportunities with his capable efforts. He built from Kirby's style (long after it was expected of him), and appears to have inspired Kirby himself to push some of his work into more experimental places. Healthy competition, IOW.
The artwork in this collection represents a new age of expectations for the artwork in comics - and there would be no going back (if artists knew what was good for them).

Sadly, it's really not well written - to the point of being unpleasant to read. There's a lot of timely racism, too - something to accept in historical context, but still cringe worthy when it presents as enthusiastically disparaging.

Some people celebrate Steranko as the best comic artist of all time. I don't think he holds a torch to Kirby (whom he never stopped emulating, and in a less dynamic or consistent way), and I guess the personality quirks show through in ways that make his work end up rubbing me the wrong way sometimes. If he'd been paired with a capable writer on this project it would have been soo much better.

The genre-spanning that closes the book (international, gothic, etc.) feels like flailing - and I never really got to find many redeeming qualities in Nick Fury - which is a problem, in a book about Nick Fury. ( )