Howard Chaykin interview on The Virtual Memories podcast

Howard Chaykin is stirring up a lot of controversy with this recent Image series, The Divided States of America.

He's been a fascinating creator that I've followed since the 1970s. The image above is from an adaption of The Stars My Destination, a Byron Preiss project that he did in the period before American Flagg. Chaykin is also an interesting figure to me because one of his mentors / friends was Gil Kane. The Virtual Memories Podcast has an epic (nearly 2 hour) long interview with Chaykin about his entire career and life. If you are a fan you will want to listen to this, it covers his early career to American Flagg, his period away from the industry (working in television), his life in California and sobriety of over 25 years.

Nuff Said.

Superman Unchained variant covers celebrating Silver / Bronze ages

I recently picked up the Superman Unchained: Deluxe Edition hardcover, featuring Scott Snyder and Jim Lee's epic 9 issue tale. I found the main storyline to be pretty good, the best I read yet in the New 52 incarnation of Superman. It cannot compare to the best Bronze Age / post-Bronze age stories, of course, but it raised some interesting thoughts about Superman and how the U.S. military would view his role on Earth.

The 180+ page story isn't the reason to buy this volume, no, the real motivation are the backup extras! Each issue of this series had at least 8 variant covers celebrating all eras of Superman: Golden Age, Silver Age, Modern Age, New 52, etc. I had a great time looking at all of these and taking a trip down memory lane. Here are a few of my favorites.

1930s Era Superman (Triangle-S chest emblem)

Francis Manapul: this is a glorious composition, with the bi-plane above Metropolis and Superman's wonderful pose as he takes it down.

Howard Chaykin: featuring the original version of Luthor with red hair!

Silver Age Superman

Brian Bolland: glad they corralled Bolland into doing a cover for the Silver Age, his sense of humor fits right in there.

Yanick Paquette: bringing out the best in the Lois Lane drama.

Frazier Irving: The classic version of Braniac looms large in this illustration.

Bronze Age Superman

Jim Starlin: who can forget that Starlin gave Superman another worthy foe to battle.

Superman Reborn

Jon Bogdanove: featuring his creation, Steel! Looking very much like a Simonson illustration here, ironic considering that he worked with Louise Simonson.

Tom Grummett: featuring the new version of Superboy with the leather jacket and sunglasses! I can't help but miss this version and even the one that Geoff Johns did with the t-shirt and jeans (which apparently now Superman will wear).

New 52 Superman

Jim Lee: a classic Superman pose as he sheds his Clark Kent clothes to reveal the Superman costume underneath. I think it looks brilliant in black and white, lucky guys who went to ComicCon that year could buy it. How does he hide that raised collar under his shirt? :-)  Nuff Said!

Amazing Heroes 29 cover by Howard Chaykin featuring American Flagg

Back in 1983, we all knew that Howard Chaykin was a great talent.  But at that time he hadn't had the opportunity to write and draw his own long running series. 



That all changed when First Comics published American Flagg in 1983.  The preview article by Peter Sanderson featured some insight into Chaykin's journey in creating the series:

...comics need more humor than they have.  I think one of the problems with comics today is that they're incredibly humorless.
...FOr the most part, comic book characters today are creeps.  They're really creepy characters.  They're whiners.  They're losers.

Wouldn't the same quotes be applicable today?  I think for some comics, yes.  Other comics, like Deadpool have a lot of humor.  Even Green Lantern manages to get some comedy in the action with Larfleeze.  Certain other comics go too far, such as the issue in Amazing Spider-Man where Billy Connors gets eaten by his father, The Lizard.

Back to American Flagg.  I was thinking before I re-read this quote from Chaykin, what do I remember from American Flagg?  I remember the humor and the sexiness of the characters most of all.  Raul the talking cat, the corrupt politics, Jaws, and tons of garter belts.  I have those issues in a longbox, now I have to dig them out.  Nuff Said!

Two Stunning Images from The Stars My Destination by Howard Chaykin

I found this great poster advertising an adaption of Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination in an old issue of Jim Steranko's MediaScene magazine.

The artwork is by Howard Chaykin and presents a tantalizing image of Gulliver Foyle, especially if you've already read the novel.  This was done around Chaykin's late 70s period, after he had drawn the Star Wars adaption and other star-spanning tales.

Chaykin worked with Byron Preiss on adapting Bester's classic into a graphically illustrated form.  The result was interesting,  It wasn't really a comic/graphic novel as the text was left on the side with the illustrations showing a bunch of scenes.  I was certainly entranced by the art and images like the above, where Foyle views the tattoos on his face for the first time.  Chaykin used a lot of new painting/color techniques that I had never seen before, the effect was unique.  Nuff Said!

Superman #400 Pin-Up Gallery: Bolland, Wrightson, Kirby, Byrne, Chaykin

On July 4th, I posted a Steranko page from Superman #400.  There were a number of great artists that editor Julie Schwartz snagged for drawing pin-ups in this landmark 1984 issue.  Here are just a few of them...

Howard Chaykin painted a wonderful cover with all the classic elements of Superman's origin.

Here's probably my favorite and most off-beat pinup, by Berni Wrightson.  I always wanted to see Wrightson tackle Superman.  I think he did a wonderful job by focusing on Kal-El's face here.

Jack Kirby provided a nice Superman illustration--inked by Terry Austin.

Brian Bolland's pinup freeze frame's another famous Superman motif--taking off his business man uniform to reveal the S emblem.

John Byrne, a Marvel creator, was even allowed to draw this pinup of his favorite character.  This was a portent of things to come--Byrne would take over Superman just two years later in 1986 with the Man of Steel limited series!

You can see a few more pinups on my Flickr Superman set.  You can also read the story behind Superman 400, plus a number of full story pages, at superman.nu.  I am amazed at how many websites/blogs actually repost full scans of every single page of comics.  Nuff said.