American Flagg (v. 1) [Paperback]

Howard Chaykin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2009

One of the key comics of the 1980s - along with Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! was a massive-selling hit, breaking new ground in comics storytelling and influencing a generation of writers and artists. America, 2031. TV star Reuben Flagg is drafted to protect the citizens of Chicago as a Plexus Ranger, having pretended to be one onscreen. The inexperienced Flagg must tackle an America blighted by a biased and oppressive media, dubious 'wars', widespread political corruption and environmental disaster...Never-before-collected, this bitingly prescient satirical series is an all-time classic. This debut volume features an introduction by Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Howard Chaykin has had an illustrious career, both inside comics and out. As well as American Flagg!, he illustrated the original Star Wars comics, and wrote and illustrated Blackhawk, The Shadow, Black Kiss, Time(Squared) and, more recently, Challengers of the Unknown. In television, he wrote for Earth: Final Conflict and The Flash, was Executive Consultant on Mutant X and Supervising Producer on Viper.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books Ltd (May 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845760778
• ISBN-13: 978-1845760779
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #957,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves a Salute, August 14, 2010

By 

N. Bilmes "bookaholic" (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Flagg (v. 1) (Paperback)

American Flagg helped pave the way for Frank Miller's Dark Knight, and served as a pivotal work in the comics genre when it debuted in the mid-1980s. The artwork pulsates with energy, and the storyline rushes headlong without stopping to spell out every nuance for the unintelligent reader. There is social commentary on politics, TV, religion, and sexual mores imbedded in the narrative.

This, like Watchmen, is a graphic novel you will reread regularly.

5.0 out of 5 stars Raise the Flagg, June 16, 2011

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Flagg (v. 1) (Paperback)

"American Flagg!" is one of those comics that I have heard about for decades, and heard was great, but had never read. I finally picked it up and, no surprises, it is as fantastic as reported.

Howard Chaykin and his series "American Flagg!" get the term "groundbreaking" attached quite often, and after reading it I see how true this is. Published in 1982 through First Comics (the same year Blade Runner] came out, which does not seem to be a coincidence), "American Flagg!" laid the groundwork and set the stage for the comic book revolution that would come in 1986 with Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In his introduction, Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) goes so far as to compare "American Flagg!" to Citizen Kane, as having shown the world what could really be done with a medium that hadn't yet realized its own capabilities.

Aside from just upping the sex-and-violence quotient to be more adult - something Chaykin would continue with his own famous revamps of The Shadow and Blackhawk - "American Flagg!" mixes politics, anti-corporationalism, and tongue-in-cheek irony combined with an entirely non-ironic patriotism and love of the American ideals of free speech, free press, and free religion. And maybe free love.

In 2031 (a day not quite as far in the future as it must have seemed to Chaykin when he wrote it), a eco- and war-devastated Earth has been abandoned by the rich and powerful in favor of a terra-formed Mars. The Earth has been almost entirely purchased by a mega-corporation called The Plex, who pits the remaining population against each other in violent battles that it sells as top-rated programming to Mars. Rueben Flagg arrives, drafted into the Plexus Rangers, a corporate security force. Flagg was once a video star of the series Mark Thrust, until The Plex realized they had captured enough footage of him that they could holographically simulate the character without the actor. Flagg, who is Jewish, finds that Earth is a cesspool of discrimination and racism, with gangs battling against each other every night for Mars' entertainment. The Plex broadcasts a TV show, Bob Violence, loaded with subliminal messages to ensure the Earth folks keep fighting. But Flagg is an idealist, who has grown up on the dream of America, and decides that a little underground rabble-rousing is just what the country needs. And maybe a pirate TV station.

I was happy to see that "American Flagg!" is not at all dated. There is a bit of the early 80s here, especially with pastel fashion, white suits, and the pre-AIDS sexuality that has Rueben Flagg as a cavalier James Bond type who can't go thirty feet without a woman taking off her dress and throwing herself at him. ( Interesting that Chaykin had all that fun catch up symbolically a bit later, when in "The Shadow" the sex-driven couple both caught AIDS.) There are some political issues that seem dated; one wonders why a future-society so sexually free would still be freaked out by homosexuality.

Ultimately, "American Flagg!" lives up to its reputation. This is Good Comics. And any true lover of comic books who hasn't read "American Flagg!" is missing out.