It's 1966 and superheroes and super-spies are all the rage in popular culture. You have the task of creating for an established publisher a new line-up of heroes who will hopefully cash in on this fad. But it is a fad, and you realize after long years of experience that striking while the iron is hot is critical. What do you do? If you're longtime pro Joe Simon, you wisely seek out fresh talent which is more in tune with the vibe of the times. In Joe's case when he needed some heroes and such for Harvey, he found a young chap who had some dandy ideas. He found Jim Steranko.
The result was Spyman. Simon then took the concept created by Steranko and handed it off to seasoned veteran artist George Tuska. Steranko probably wrote the debut issue, having been told by Simon that his art wasn't up to task.
By the second issue Steranko is perhaps gone, it's murky, and the art has been given over to reliable Dick Ayers. Simon is likely rewriting at this point. Joe Simon does the cover. Steranko will be credited as his creation of the Electro-Robot Hand is used.
By the third and final issue Joe Simon does the cover, but the interior art is crafted by writer Ed Herron and artist Bill Draut. The Steranko hand makes its final appearance.
But who is Spyman? He's Johnny Chance, an agent who works for the secret group LIBERTY which operates out of the Statue of Liberty no less. This cadre of loyal spies confronts the menace of MIRAGE, led by the Whisperer. Later they battle the threat of the Evil Society and then the ominous ID Machine. Johnny is helped by the use of the ultra-powerful Electro-Robot Hand which offers an astonishing array of capabilities for its user.
Steranko created more heroes for Harvey, and two of them found publication. Both Magicmaster and the Glowing Gladiator found brief fame. To enjoy these creations with others not picked up by Harvey in their nascent Steranko form, check out this link.
And then like that it was over. The superhero fad of the middle 60's burned white-hot and nearly all publishers put in an offering. Likewise, the spy craze was hugely popular, lasting long enough to generate TV shows like I SPY, Mission IMPOSSIBLE, and The Man from UNCLE, among others. In comics it gave us The THUNDER Agents, The Man from RIVERDALE, and for a very brief time -- the Top-Secret Adventures of Spyman.
But I wonder what happened to that Steranko fellow?
Oh, yeah! That's right.
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