The Art of Howard Chaykin HC [Hardcover]

Robert Greenberger (Author), Howard Chaykin (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2012

Legendary for what he has done on the page and infamous for what he has said off it, Howard Chaykin ranks among the superstars of modern comics. In The Art of Howard Chaykin, go behind the scenes with the creator whose pioneering works include American Flagg! and Black Kiss, and experience the stories of his life as only he can tell them. Filled with no-holds-barred perspective from his longtime friends and colleagues, and featuring an extensive selection of artwork from throughout his career, including many never-before-published pieces from Chaykin's own archives, The Art of Howard Chaykin takes readers on an in-depth journey from the 1970s to today with one of the medium's great storytellers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment; First Edition edition (July 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606901699
• ISBN-13: 978-1606901694
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.5 x 12 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A writer, editor, and project manager, Robert Greenberger has been working in publishing since 1980. A lifelong fan of comics and science fiction, he watched dreams become reality when he first joined Starlog Press in 1980. There, he created Comics Scene which he edited during its initial run. In 1984, he moved to DC Comics where he worked as an editor or administrator until 2000, earning plaudits for his work on the Star Trek comic book. After a brief sojourn to the Internet, he returned to comics in 2001, this time working as an executive at Marvel Comics. This turned out to be a stormy, frustrating year and in 2002 he returned to DC as a senior editor in their growing collected editions department. In 2006, he left DC and found himself having the time of his life as Managing Editor at Weekly World News unitl its clueless management shuttered the paper.

Since then he has been a freelance writer, working on media tie-in properties, original fiction, non-fiction for your young adults and adults, and whatever else has come his way.

Currently, he writes a weekly op-ed column for the Fairfield Patch and a semi-monthly column for Westfield Comics. He makes his home in Connecticut where he is a Fairfield representative to the Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency. For more, check out his website: www.bobgreenberger.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A book as good as its subject July 12, 2012

By Ian Williams

Format:Hardcover

Being British, I bought this on amazon.co.uk but for some reason they say it's not yet published and therefore aren't accepting reviews. Oh well.

This is one of those reviews where I'm not sure where to begin. I can't start by saying that Chaykin is one of the greatest comics artists ever because he isn't -though he's pretty damn good. What he did do, however, is to write and draw American Flagg which is the greatest science fiction comic ever -I've reviewed the two-volume compilation elsewhere in this blog. He did this back in the early 80's before Alan Moore (who wrote a backup strip for it) became ALAN (PRAISE HIS NAME) MOORE! and before Frank Miller released The Dark Knight Returns which cough borrowed cough the narrative/satirical info-dump technique from AF and then got widely praised for this 'innovation'. Perhaps not surprisingly, Chaykin doesn't have much time for Miller.

I could write a lot about American Flagg but I've already done reviewed the two pb collections so I'll just say that if Chaykin had done nothing else he'd have earned a distinct place on honour in the history of comics. Fortunately he did and this book explores all of it.

As an account of the work of a comic writer and artist, this is an excellent book. It's physically large, on glossy paper, with a vast amount of illustrations and an equally substantial amount of text. Structured chronologically, most of the written content derives from long conversations with Chaykin conducted over the course of a year. (This text is interspersed with comments from various peers which range from insightful and informative to 'my buddy Howie, wisecrack, wisecrack)'. This is followed by a checklist of everything Chaykin has had published, split into categories including comic books, strips, collected editions, etc. After this comes an eclectic forty page gallery of artwork. Anyone wanting to create their own The Art Of My Favourite Artist wouldn't go wrong using this as a template.

Chaykin started back in the early 70's as an assistant to people like Gil Kane. It's a comic business tradition of artists using assistants to do background work on panels and learn the trade that way and Chaykin continued this tradition. It's a form of payback and Chaykin always pays his debts. The impression gleaned from the book is that he's the sort of person that if you like him you like him a lot and if you don't you cross the street to avoid him but that's probably your loss. While admitting he might be an acquired taste, his peers are unstinting in their praise for his professionalism, the honesty and insight of his criticism, and how he goes out of his way to be helpful. When it comes to his work, he's meticulous. If he agrees to write and draw a 28 page comic every month then that's the editor will receive and it will be the best he can do.

By the early 80's Chaykin had established his style and it hasn't changed much; refined perhaps, also partly altered by the improvement in the technological changes in the use of colour. While his own work for independent comics companies can include the near pornographic Black Kiss (sexy shemale vampires no less), his tendency is to write the roguish hero, as good with a quip/gun/sword/blaster as he is in bed, he's also created comics for both DC and Marvel and drawn/written their characters.

While an intelligent writer and a skilled artist, his prime skill is as a designer. The way he lays out a page that blends text and art is outstanding -check out Google images for numerous examples. Not everything he does works -the same can be said for Alan Moore- but it's always interesting and he deserves this lavish and currently, on Amazon UK, almost modestly priced book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Chaykin August 4, 2012

By Russell49

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This item is a great buy. I received as advertised and on time. The history and progress of Chaykin's art is fully detailed and beautifully illustrated. I highly recommend for all Howard Chaykin collectors.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars even more than you'd expect July 2, 2012

By popular culture lover

Format:Hardcover

I was first exposed to Howard Chaykin when "American Flagg" hit me like a thunderbolt back in the day. Here was a comic far more sophisticated, both in story and art, than what comic fans had been used to. Unlike a lot of the pabulum spoon-fed by other writers, Howard actually demanded that you think.

This book surpasses most "Art of....." tomes in its editorial content. In addition to the excellent illos, Greenberger digs deep and delivers an astonishing amount of information to accompany the art, mostly by fellow professionals who really know Howard and his art. The production values here are just top-notch. I couldn't recommend this book more highly. A+.