You thought the Kirby posters were good? The Steranko posters have thrown down the gauntlet.

To say that Jim Steranko is an underappreciated artist isn’t true. He’s rightly venerated for his contributions both in the field of illustration and comics history. But then you see an old offer like the one above, you look at you at the lineup of images that flowed from his pencil and pen, and you think that, yes, maybe he is undervalued after all. Because how could you ever fully appreciate designs so utterly marvelous? (No pun intended — oh what the hell, pun intended.) Though the “black and white for coloring” motif is an odd “Go ahead and mutilate them, kids!” invitation, they’re all magnificent even when partially obscured, with wonderful uses of shadow and perspective. Marvelmania indeed.

The Hulk poster may be the showstopper. I, a reasonably sane grown man, would proudly hang it on a domicile wall. All four for a dollar seems like an incredible bargain, too, even factoring in close to a half-century of inflation.

You start to wonder if Jack Kirby, with his own dazzling assemblage, had reason to fear for his King crown.