Jim Steranko - Talon

Steranko unleashed!

Towards the end of the 60's, it does look like Steranko was firing in all directions, throwing concepts that would or would not ultimately be published.

Among them, Talon the barbarian was apparently pitched to Stan Lee who passed on it but kept bouncing with the idea for a while until he and Roy Thomas decided to have a shot at Conan (And, as they say, the rest is history...).

Consequently, we're now left with a handful of mouth-watering illustrations, giving us only a gorgeous glimpse of what might have been...

Among the lesser known of these is a couple of concept designs Jim Steranko did that were published in Fantastic Fanzine 11 among which, this very one. While obviously less polished than his finished work, this is pure dynamite!

The dynamic stop-motion pose complete with a grin, the flaming sword, the sketched background: all the familiar Steranko design elements are in place, but the added value comes with the rough pencils that links this illo to the great heroic-fantasy paperback cover providers of the day.