If adventure has a name, it's Jim Steranko...
Like many boys who grew up in the 1980s, I was obsessed with Indiana Jones. Practically rabid, I devoured ANYTHING I could get my hands on regarding the whip-cracking adventurer. Unlike a lot of my friends and other kids, what really captured my imagination were concepts mentioned, but never shown onscreen. This was the world partially created by Raiders of the Lost Ark concept artist (and comics legend) Jim Steranko.
Steranko's art perfectly captured the Saturday morning serial/pulp adventure style-- he helped create the language of the Indiana Jones universe. Before any actors had been approached (including Tom Selleck and Burt Reynolds!), it was Steranko's square-jawed bad-ass that sold the character and, essentially, created "The Look" of "The Man With the Hat."
This custom was a long time coming; I had been wanting to make a Concept Indy literally for years, specifically based on Steranko's design, as well as the design from the Raiders storyboards. For whatever reason, I've always been fascinated by incarnations of Indy not played by Harrison Ford. I'm guessing that's why I had, like, zero issue with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles growing up...
Concept Indy originally began as a Logan figure from the terrible Wolverine movie that came out years ago. At first I intended it to be my legit Indy figure for the collection, but when I saw how stylized it was, that project sat on the back burner... until I saw it on my bench a few weeks ago and said, "Steranko Indy's been sitting here the whole time..." and immediately got to work.
The figure is a borderline LBC (lazy bastard custom); primarily that Logan, with a bunch of Indiana Jones pieces swiped from the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indy figures. The 40s-style web belt is from a BBI WWII soldier I had in the fodder bin. The head is from a random Duke I found.
Fortune & glory in The Far East...
Up in the rafters, avoiding a Nazi search party...
Knocking out a Ratzi bastard!
"Feel like I'm being watched..."
"What sort of experiments were performed here?"
"...It's right behind me. I can smell it..."
What I love about Steranko's concept art is the action and adventure-- you're right in the moment and feel it. Steranko's Indiana Jones is so pure. The quiet, bookish Professor Jones is gone, replaced with a two-fisted adventurer who's as good with his guns as he is with his wits. His Indiana Jones is a distilled bad-ass.
I'm so happy with my Steranko Indy that I might not even make the Indiana Jones from the storyboards. As far as Concept Indy goes, this guy's my definitive statement. What I really like about him is that, since he exists in a conceptual universe, I can go crazy with villains for him, ranging from cyborg Nazis to supernatural creatures.
The adventures are limitless...
