Stringer comic hero

HERO WORSHIP: While we can't promise anything of substance in the written portion of our recently published 28th Anniversary Issue, we do take pride in the comic-book-style portraits of industry leaders by our own Van Arno. Van may well recall the time he spent rendering these heroic caricatures (mostly while chained to the radiator in the HITS basement) with mixed emotions. But we take undiluted pleasure in rolling them out. Here's Columbia chief Rob Stringer, whose adamantium talons now wield the top single and album on iTunes (both by One Direction, streeting 11/17), and the latest album-chart champ (Barbra Streisand, set for a boffo second week), not to mention a share in another contender for next week's #1 (the Tony Bennett side of the Tony-Gaga duets set). Meanwhile, he has one of the season's true buzz acts in Hozier. Click the image for a hero-sized view. (9/29p)