Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg
I wouldn’t be lying if I said that Howard Chaykin changed my life. Although I knew him from before, the splendid Black Kiss, it was on American Flagg that he opened my mind to a world of possibilities. Graphically, he was by far ahead of everybody else in the time - he abused of newer graphic design schools in his comics. Conceptually, also. He had a ‘cast’ of ‘actors’ which would re-appear in all his stories. So Reuben Flagg was played by the same ‘actor’ that appeared on ‘Black Kiss’. It’s confusing, it’s genius. And the stories were incredibly mature, even for a graphic novel. Sex wasn’t treat as a big deal, and every character had shades of grey. The future described in American Flagg is incredibly chaotic, corrupt and exciting! (more…)