Howard Chaykin: Conversations

Front Cover
Univ. Press of Mississippi, Jan 1, 2011 - Art - 301 pages

One of the most distinctive voices in mainstream comics since the 1970s, Howard Chaykin (b. 1950) has earned a reputation as a visionary formal innovator and a compelling storyteller whose comics offer both pulp-adventure thrills and thoughtful engagement with real-world politics and culture. His body of work is defined by the belief that comics can be a vehicle for sophisticated adult entertainment and for narratives that utilize the medium's unique properties to explore serious themes with intelligence and wit.

Beginning with early interviews in fanzines and concluding with a new interview conducted in 2010 with the volume's editor, Howard Chaykin: Conversations collects widely ranging discussions from Chaykin's earliest days as an assistant for such legends as Gil Kane and Wallace Wood to his recent work on titles including Dominic Fortune, Challengers of the Unknown, and American Century. The book includes 35 line illustrations selected from Chaykin, as well. As a writer/artist for outlets such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Heavy Metal, he has participated in and influenced many of the major developments in mainstream comics over the past four decades. He was an early pioneer in the graphic novel format in the 1970s, and his groundbreaking sci-fi satire American Flagg! was an essential contribution to the maturation of the comic book as a vehicle for social commentary in the 1980s.

 

Contents

Howie Chaykin Unmasked
3
The Chaykin Tapes
14
The Howard Chaykin Interview
26
Howard Chaykin
39
Heading for Timesup2
57
Howard Chaykin Puts It All Back Together Again
79
Home on the Plexus Range
109
RRRRRREDsup2
116
Howard Chaykin
130
Real World Bravado
164
An Interview with Howard Chaykin
172
Sting of the Scorpion
181
A Life in American Comics
188
My Lunch with Howard Chaykin
242
An Afternoon with Howard Chaykin
250
Index
289

Howard Chaykin
121

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About the author (2011)

Brannon Costello, Saint Gabriel, Louisiana, is associate professor of English at Louisiana State University and coeditor with Qiana J. Whitted of Comics and the U.S. South (published by University Press of Mississippi).