Howard Chaykin, C/D?

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I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but he seems, in some ways, to be the proto-Frank Miller, only he never got to work his macho magic on the big guns in any meaningful way.

― Huk-L, Monday, 25 April 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

I have to think that the big guns were gunshy, as it were, about his emphasis on sex -- esp. tawdry encounters. American Flagg garnered him enough dap to get the Blackhawk miniseries, and what does he do? Controversial blowjob scene. As always in America -- violence yes, sex no.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Monday, 25 April 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Always with the lookalike protagonists, always with the blowjobs. But the first year of American Flagg! is unfuckwithable--not just ahead of its time but ahead of ours, I think. And Black Kiss is pretty solid in its way, though a little handicapped by the fact that EVERY character is totally unsympathetic.

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure how Chaykin is a proto-Frank Miller - they shared a studio together for a while, btw - in that Chaykin is, to my mind, all abt retro-glam, sexualised curves and smarthmouth dialogue, while Miller is much more chunky/gritty/macho (perhaps any smilarity arises from them both being major Gil Kane imitators during the early part of their career - Chaykin even worked as Kane's assistant). In fact Chaykin reminds me a little of Paul Schrader, looks-wise and career-wise

As Douglas suggests, Chaykin has been incredibly consistent throughout his career - I think he's drawing as well as he ever did - and things like Black Kiss or his very underrated Shadow miniseries have got a taste of sour sexual misanthropy that certainly stands out from the mainstream comib bk norm. But this consistency/professionalism has become a kind of straitjacket - Chaykin the writer never challenges Chaykin the artist

― Andrew J L, Monday, 25 April 2005 21:19 (twenty years ago)

i've been rereading AF and am just about up to where chaykin jumps ship - its pretty fucking great. i remember the time squared things being cool too. and the shadow rejig (which was before dark knight returns i think) i'd like to read american century - are there collections yet?

the main problem for me is the main character in his work always seems to be an idealised version of howie himself (and therefore always the same)

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

there were one or two American Century collections, but of the "we hope people start buying the series because of these, oh dear let's cancel it" variety, not the "here's the whole story to have in a handy bookshelf format!" variety

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:59 (twenty years ago)

so it was shit? or just didn't sell?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

I think it sold okay for a Vertigo ongoing at first, but eventually normal market attrition got it below the point they could be bothered to keep going with it. I bought the first issue and wasn't much inspired to get any more, though that was very much a prologue rather than an indication of where the story was going to go. (Unless every issue ended up with him ditching a cheating bitch wife, erasing his identity and heading off to start again in a brave new post-war world, which let's face it with Chaykin could be the case.)

(Does anyone remember Cyberella, his series for DC's short-lived sci-fi line Helix [that also spawned Transmetropolitan]? That took the intriguing narrative step of recapping the previous issues' events in-story with every issue, so that by the end there was a condensed version of the previous eleven chapters, then a denouement wedged tightly into one corner...)

― kit, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:42 (twenty years ago)

yes i have that. all the helix stuff is like a buck in cmic kngdom.

― sir koala taco gobblr (bulbs), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

yeah, I got the Matt Howarth alien-sex mini in there a few months ago (I only venture there once a year these days...). they didn't have much of the "good" stuff though, loads of odd issues of Pollack and whatnot

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 05:53 (twenty years ago)

me too. you can usually get a run of the crappier or older vertigo stuff for a buck but its always missing a crucial issue (usually issue one heh)

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 08:18 (twenty years ago)

I was going to start a Helix thread once and then realised I couldn't remember the name of a single title!

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

His Shadow series was gr8, IIRC. I think I read it in some UK repackaging with horrible cardboard covers. (There was DC Action!, which had Animal Man and Teen Titans, then a Vertigo-y one, with Shadow, I think. All good stuff.)

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

BRAINBANX
TIME SOMETHING
MICHAEL MOORCOCK'S WHATNOT
BLOODY MARY
VERMILLION
....erm

Chaykin's Shadow was great because it gave us the even better ongoing series by Helfer & Sienkiewicz, which turned into the enormously better run by Helfer & Kyle Baker! (plus their Justice Inc spin-off, which is about two bucks in cmc kngdm...)

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:39 (twenty years ago)

i have that kit! but the helfer baker shadow never finished...did it? i think it got cancelled around 19?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

yeah, they made the mistake of going from the moody painted covers to, for one issue, a ludicrous action cover showing the Shadow's decapitated head mounted on a giant robot body. up until then Conde Nast had not noticed what they were doing with the character: this made them look inside for the first time and they yanked the license immediately [or at least ordered Baker and Helfer off it, I think there was another DC series the next year that went back to "classic" style zzzzz]

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/73357794754.1.gif

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/73357794754.6.gif

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/73357794754.12.gif

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/73357794754.19.gif

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

What was going on inside?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 12:24 (twenty years ago)

Blow jobs.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 12:36 (twenty years ago)

and they had CUT THE SHADOW'S HEAD OFF AND STUCK IT ON A GIANT ROBOT

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

I want to read that so badly.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

Yeah and the best part is that his head was cut off by the blades of a crashing helicopter!

― robertw, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

Well, it's a good thing Conde Nast put the kibbosh on THAT before The Shadow movie came out - it really could've cut into the box office receipts!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

Guh!
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/3379/200/3379_2_18.jpg

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

The whole Shadow series was so awesome. The supporting cast was great.

I haven't seen those covers in years. Boy, it was all Uzis in the 80s, wasn't it?

― Sparkle Motion's Rising Force, Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

Uzis and Mac 10's, boyeeee!

Love love love the Helfer Shadow series. He sorta finished the story in his DC Judge Dredd book. Sorta.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

details plz

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

whhhhat?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 04:08 (twenty years ago)

In Helfer's run on Judge Dredd, Dredd managed to lose his head and it was subsequently grafted onto some kind of robot thing. Mayhem ensues.

At least that's what he told me once long long ago (like on the DC forums on AOL sometime in the early 90s.) No idea if the DC Judge Dredd books are available in the UK at all. I never read 'em, so I don't know for sure.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 13:05 (twenty years ago)

I think they *weren't* available in the UK actually, but they were here in Australia.

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 21:19 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Rumour has it that Chaykin is working on a Guy Gardner mini-series!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

Chaykin designed Guy's post-coma uniform, btw.

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/2327/200/2327_2_196.jpg

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

Was his Challengers of the Unknown series any good (or is it still going?)? I'm not familiar with the characters, but I did read vol. 1 of The New Frontier last night.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

Heh... my wife would say DUD. She chewed him out at DragonCon on Sunday for ignoring her (while chatting with a buddy and signing books for other people) and then being condescending to her when he finally did deign to notice her.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 6 September 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

But this consistency/professionalism has become a kind of straitjacket - Chaykin the writer never challenges Chaykin the artist

the main problem for me is the main character in his work always seems to be an idealised version of howie himself (and therefore always the same)

This dude's comic book output has sort of been a parody of itself ever since American Flagg!, no? I haven't cared for any of his Vertigo stuff that I've read. It all seems to be interchangably lame and uninspired, for the reasons enumerated above.

― Chris F. (servoret), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 05:05 (twenty years ago)

i pulled out ironwolf and cody starbuck last night. its the eyebrows! the chaykin eyebrows! "the themes in these early works represent continuing interests and obsessions"...the eyebrows! howie's eyebrows (or idealised versions of hehe) on every lead. and the girls in high heels. with the bust drawn as a V which never turns into the Y of cleavage.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 07:46 (twenty years ago)

I scored Batman: Thrillkiller last night!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

I have a Mighty Love paperback on queue...

― iodine (iodine), Thursday, 8 September 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

just seeing this thread for the first time...am a huge Chaykin fan. Always love his artwork, sometimes the stories. American Flagg was the best though, no doubt. I have some old Ironwolf and Star*Reach Cody Starbucks stuff, two issues of the StarReach anthology I think and one color Cody Starbucks issue that I imagine didn't go much further? I love how he always drew the same character...he was the artist on marvels Star Wars comic, so Han Solo got to stand in.

The American Flagg special where he introduces Times2 and the two Times2 graphic novels are GREAT fun.

Also, the 12 issue American Flagg series where they basically hired a bunch of people to emulate him, and he co-plotted, I thought was really good, very much in the spirit of the original series if a bit more comic and kitschy and a bit less dark. All the extra material, the fake ads, the appendixes etc were pretty funny. I've held on to that.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 9 September 2005 18:53 (twenty years ago)

The American Flagg special where he introduces Times2 and the two Times2 graphic novels are GREAT fun

this is true.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Saturday, 10 September 2005 05:17 (twenty years ago)

Anyone know the status of the much-delayed American Flagg hardcover?

― M. V. (M.V.), Sunday, 11 September 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

yes: it's delayed.

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 12 September 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

heh

― M. V. (M.V.), Monday, 12 September 2005 01:56 (twenty years ago)

i'm amazed that for a guy who was burned out - what? - 15 years ago he still turns in work (and a lot of it by the amount of things hes credited for that i haven't read). professional trooper, rejuvinated or just nowt else he can do?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 12 September 2005 08:14 (twenty years ago)

Somebody somewhere must be a fan, Christ knows why.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 12 September 2005 09:19 (twenty years ago)

I think a very big part of it was "rejuvenated by creative control after the idiocy of working in Hollywood for so long"

― kit brash (kit brash), Monday, 12 September 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Chaykin confirms Guy Gardner mini in the Hawkgirl interview on Newsarama! Cool beans!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 23 November 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

Also, on Sunday, at the used bookstore in the bad part of town (aka in town), I picked up 1,2 & 4 of Chaykin's The Shadow mini.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 24 November 2005 01:46 (twenty years ago)

that shadow was my first chaykin. still good.

kit and i went gn shopping and when i asked what howie had been up to he sneered and took a volume of the shelf and said "i think he even drew this one. its about...superheroes fucking.

i never bought it.

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Thursday, 24 November 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

today on Noosearama:

NRAMA: As you’ve said, you’ve never made any secret that Captain America is one of your favorite characters, but at the same time, it’s safe to say that revelation can still catch some people by surprise when they think of your work on American Flagg!, Blackhawk, American Century and other politically charged works or stories that comment directly on politics. You’ve got the reputation of being fairly liberal in your views…playing devil’s advocate, how can Cap, a symbol of the country and all it stands for, be your favorite?

HC: Bear in mind, I consider my politics very patriotic. I refuse to accept the idea that patriotism has been hijacked, and is now the sole property of a bunch of people whose politics I have nothing but loathing for. I consider myself a very patriotic American. I don’t have any love of affection for the people who are ruling us right now, but that doesn’t interfere with the fact that I am profoundly patriotic. I love this country. I live here because it’s the only great plural society that has ever existed, and I respect, to a certain extent, the others to have opinions, although I take this idea that everybody is entitled to an opinion is kind of ridiculous, because it’s not an entitlement that came down from any sermon on the mount. Should we respect Hitler for his opinions because they were so passionately held?

No, I don’t see any irony whatsoever in my love for Captain America. Captain America represented a profoundly patriotic idea in 1941, and just because the right wing has hijacked the concept of patriotism in its obsessive, insulting way, doesn’t deny me the right to define patriotism by the terms which I believe are truly American, which is to say, liberty and justice for all, and freedom of religion and from religion.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

Those pages look just great. I'm afraid I may end up buying a Bendis comic. Pray for me.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

Luke Cage has already called dibs on you, Matt.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

Not in my virgin behind! Noooooo!

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Chaykin socks it to Eisner!
http://www.aspiritedlife.com/blog/

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

Grate Stuff! We totally need a comic bk 'Easy Riders Raging Bulls' where embittered 70s comics pros dish the dirt on themselves, each other, their elders/betters

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Thursday, 15 June 2006 09:27 (nineteen years ago)

Chaykin OTM tho

― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 15 June 2006 10:53 (nineteen years ago)

seven months pass...

has Chaykin ever seen real b00bs?
ihttp://images.comicbookresources.com/solicits/dccomics/200704/dcu/HKG-Cv63_bw_solicit.jpg

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha.

What's up with Bats biting the Spidey moves again? Annoyed me in "Batman Begins", too.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 01:26 (nineteen years ago)

the boobs look like she's upside down, like you're meant to be able to look at it either way up. but the background isn't wrong way around. maybe they're in Australia.

― occasnional hawkgrel (kit brash), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

Nth Metal brassiere?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe they're hovering over a painting?

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

At least it'll probably be better than Mutant X

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 18 January 2007 01:08 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

got the American Flagg trade paperback the other day.

wow.

14 yo me missed a lot of stuff the first time I read this

― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 29 July 2009 23:52 (sixteen years ago)

er wait, 11 year old me

― girlish in the worst sense of that term (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 29 July 2009 23:53 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

http://i.imgur.com/KaP1C.jpg

hunh.

― http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i_qxQztHRI (Princess TamTam), Sunday, 24 July 2011 08:43 (fourteen years ago)

Quite

― 50,000 raspberries with the face of Peter Ndlovu (aldo), Sunday, 24 July 2011 13:18 (fourteen years ago)

showing Warren Ellis and Matt Fraction who's the daddy of the 16pp format

― Booger T. Jones (sic), Sunday, 24 July 2011 14:30 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

Howard Chaykin on his lewd, depraved, banned graphic novels

The trouble started with Diamond, America’s largest comic book distributor. Back in August, they wouldn’t ship Howard Chaykin’s six issues of Black Kiss II to retailers in Canada and the UK due to customs regulations concerns. Now ComiXology, comics’ leading digital distribution platform, won’t sell either that series or the book version of the original series to iPhones and iPads, due to concerns about Apple service guidelines.
Apple’s ongoing restrictive iOS policies are well documented; see my own report on a censored underground comix app here. And now, Chaykin’s work is among the 56 forbidden comics which include Guido Crepax’s boldly erotic 1979 graphic novelization of Pauline Reage’s S&M classic, The Story of O. O and Kiss are both in black and white, and both delve into “Shades of Grey” fetish territory.
But Chaykin is unfazed. In fact, when I contacted him almost two weeks after the banned app news was publicly announced, he knew nothing about it. He also also had no idea what ComiXology was. “Are they blogging shitheads with opinions? If so, I couldn’t care less. If not, I still don’t really give a shit, since this is the first time I’m hearing of this.”

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 1 July 2013 23:24 (twelve years ago)

I can't help but hear that in Chaykin's voice and be amused.

― Matt M., Monday, 8 July 2013 23:46 (twelve years ago)

lol

love this guy. even tho I have no use for his erotica S&M nonsense

― the Spanish Porky's (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 02:24 (twelve years ago)

one month passes...

duh last night I noticed the pun in tromplography

― what's up ugly girls? (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 30 August 2013 21:56 (twelve years ago)

one year passes...

nice early stuff:
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2014/12/black-and-white-wednesday-only-losers.html

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 17 December 2014 20:45 (eleven years ago)

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