Barry Windsor-Smith - Captain America Tryout Story Page 3

When dealing with Barry Windsor's Smith early years, I suspect you cannot go much further than that in terms of archaeological discoveries...

In 1968, the young (19!) aspiring British artist sent samples across the Atlantic to the Marvel offices and received a (kind of) encouraging answer that prompted him (and friend Steve Parkhouse) to embark on a plane to New York and, as they say, the rest is history!

And, now, 50+ years later, one of these career-defining pages ends up in my collection...

A large art page with pulse-pounding action and pure Marvel dynamite storytelling depicting Captain America fighting his way against some sort of Super-Adaptoid, while Sharon Carter looks away. In the meantime, lo and behold, another ominous looking character (perhaps a more evolved version of said Adaptoid?) shows up at the doorstep, much to the dismay of, presumably, SHIELD agents...

Hey, that's definitely my kind of story! I do not know how many pages did Barry draw for that one, but I'm sure it would have been all fun and joy to read...

Then again, since these were samples, supposed to represent all the aspects and versatility of the artist, there may not be any other page of that particular story... Except, except... that I DID see one page printed somewhere (I can't remember precisely where...). And, after all, this very one is numbered Page 3, so...

But, let's give the final say on this matter to no other than Stan Lee (he would have loved this, right?) who, in his February 1969 Bullpen Bulletins column, he introduced the then-latest Marvel artist with these words:

"Everyone's talking about Bashful Barry Smith, the surprising new staffer we just imported from merrie old England! Barry's artwork is just not to be believed! This young, long-haired, titanically talented Britisher has a style which combines the pulse-pounding power of Jack (King) Kirby with the off-beat improvisations of Jaunty Jim Steranko! You've gotta see it to believe it! And see it you will..."

I have absolutely no doubt that, when Stan was writing these words, he had these very sample pages in front of him! And, if you want further proof of young Barry's influences, just take a look at Strange Tales 151-153 where Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko join forces for high-octane adventures of Nick Fury and his Agents of SHIELD.

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko... Talk about an endorsement!...