Customer Reviews

Black Kiss

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Howard Chaykin is one of the great writers/illustrators of our time that makes no bones about emphasizing graphic sex and ultra-violence. The story, about a ex-con jazz musician framed for the murder of his ex-wife and daughter who gets involved with these two... I can't. It's too much. It's so wonderfully over-the-top that you can't resist it. This comic has a little something offensive for everyone: gender-bending, incest, gang-rape, necrophilia, pedophilia, and that old classic: Satanic worship. It basically has every form of "deviant" sex that you could imagine, but Chaykin plays it so twisted and matter-of-fact, that you can tell that this is NOT to be taken seriously.

It is also REALLY NOT for kids. But grown-ups who enjoy a little bit of the dark side will be wholly sucked into this series of bloody and sexual misadventures.

I have a hardbound edition of this. This novel is pretty raw compared to his later works (especially American Century). I will concede that it is a little rough around the edges but you have to appreciate the beauty of a noir story line that go in a direction that you least expect. You simply have no idea where the story is taking until the very end--which is horribly wicked and pretty funny.

Written in 1988 it still holds up well and it influenced a lot of stuff that followed. It's a well written piece of filth that had me smiling and laughing out loud all the way through. I've never met Howard Chaykin, but if there is a book that deserved the title "Kiss my ass you stupid retards!" this one is it. Some people say that "The Watchmen" changed the comics medium. I think this is the book that changed and influenced the medium.

So far I've read Chaykin's Time Squared, American Century, American Flagg and this, Black Kiss. American Century is fun, American Flagg has great page layouts, but in terms of pure entertainment Black Kiss takes the cake.

Definitely not as good as I thought it would be. You may as well go a bit further and read Sin City.

Chaykin's style is certainly suited to the material, with sex, violence noir, dames, tough guys and all that sort of thing. With strippers, of course, but this did not quite hit the mark for me.

not for everyone, and especially not for kids! similiar to frank miller's 'sin city' but with a decidedly kinky after taste.

Howard Chaykin does some nice stylized comic book illustrations. But also kinda conservative in composition and layout.

Black Kiss is a sloppy Noir mess. The plot is not quite there. THe story doesnt add up. The action and sex arent up to par (in the story or on the page). The scenes arent well developed and are under utilized. THeres not much to get excited about.

so I cant recommend this book.

I ordered this based on Amazon's recommendation before I noticed the publisher was Eros. Seeing how Amazon recommended I assumed that it would be a pretty good film noir in comics and it wasn't.