Steeltown Rockers
Encyclopedia
Steeltown Rockers was a comic book
limited series
published from April to September 1990 by Marvel Comics
. It followed a group of teenagers and young adults during the formation of a rock band.
town that had become economically depressed since the shuttering of the mill. The series depicted the perseverance of the musicians as they not only put together the band, sought bookings, and dealt with intragroup personality conflicts but also faced such obstacles as alcoholism, poverty, racial and socioeconomic tension, and drug abuse. Uncommonly for a Marvel comic at that time, the comic featured no superheroes, no super-villains, and no extraordinary powers of any kind, focusing solely on the lives of ordinary people. The series presented this material more realistically than was then common, while also showing its characters as neither categorically "good" nor "bad."
Playwright
, actress, and comics colorist
Elaine Lee
wrote the series, which was pencilled and frequently inked by Steve Leialoha
.
, the shared setting for most of the company's output. The band performs one original song, Teen Mutant, which appears to reference events in the Marvel Universe in a general way. However, the lyrics could simply mean that the songwriters in the band were fans of Marvel Comics. Similarly, the cover for the final issue depicts flyers for an X-Men
look-a-like contest which would be possible in either the real world or the Marvel Universe.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
published from April to September 1990 by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. It followed a group of teenagers and young adults during the formation of a rock band.
Overview
The six-issue limited series Steeltown Rockers showcased the efforts of guitarist Johnny Degaestano and his friends to form and maintain a band in a former steel millSteel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
town that had become economically depressed since the shuttering of the mill. The series depicted the perseverance of the musicians as they not only put together the band, sought bookings, and dealt with intragroup personality conflicts but also faced such obstacles as alcoholism, poverty, racial and socioeconomic tension, and drug abuse. Uncommonly for a Marvel comic at that time, the comic featured no superheroes, no super-villains, and no extraordinary powers of any kind, focusing solely on the lives of ordinary people. The series presented this material more realistically than was then common, while also showing its characters as neither categorically "good" nor "bad."
Playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, actress, and comics colorist
Colorist
In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates...
Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee
Elaine Lee is an American actor, playwright, comic book colorist and comic book writer.-Theatre:She received a 1980 Daytime EMMY nomination for her role on NBC-TV’s The Doctors and was a founding member and artistic director of Manhattan-based theatre company, Wild Hair Productions.Wild Hair began...
wrote the series, which was pencilled and frequently inked by Steve Leialoha
Steve Leialoha
Steve Leialoha is an American comic book artist whose work first came to prominence in the 1970s. He has worked primarily as an inker, though occasionally as a penciller, for several publishers, including Marvel Comics and later DC Comics.-Biography:Leialoha's professional career began in 1975...
.
Connection to Marvel Universe
It is not clear whether Steeltown Rockers takes place in the Marvel UniverseMarvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
, the shared setting for most of the company's output. The band performs one original song, Teen Mutant, which appears to reference events in the Marvel Universe in a general way. However, the lyrics could simply mean that the songwriters in the band were fans of Marvel Comics. Similarly, the cover for the final issue depicts flyers for an X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
look-a-like contest which would be possible in either the real world or the Marvel Universe.