Happy Fourth of July!

We got flag-waving pin-ups of a slightly different sort for this year's Independence Day celebration!

  
 

The Secret Life of Brigitte Bardot

From early 1964 until the end of 1965, Brigitte Bardot adopted the role of Captain America and prevented the re-emergence of the ancient secret society, Hydra. Here's a rare photo of Bardot in action as Captain America with her sidekick, Becky.

Picture Perfect Special: Jim Steranko

Artist/writer/comics historian/magician Jim Steranko turns 80 years old today! While his body of work in comics is slight and mostly took place in the mid-1960s, it had a huge impact and continues to do so to the present. (Anyone who wants to be a comics artist MUST study Steranko's work on "Captain America", "Strange Tales", and "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD." It is some of the best comic book art every created.)

In celebration of Steranko's birthday, here's a sampling of his art.

Picture Perfect Wednesday: Steranko

How did I get this far without featuring Jim Steranko here at Shades of Gray? While it's true that there is a bottomless pool of pictures for me to post, and movies and graphic novels for me to review, I'm a bit surprised at myself for not having at least gotten around to SOMETHING he'd done.

But, thanks to the prodding of loyal visitor (a Steranko fan who has designed this excellent, content rich site dedicated to his work), I'm rectifying that oversight now with a small Picture Perfect Wednesday gallery. (And I really must get around to writing a review of "Essential Captain America" one of these days, as it features some of Steranko's finest comic book work, outside of his "Nick Fury, Agen of SHIELD" issues.)

And speaking of Nick Fury...