Comments on: Thoughts on the Forthcoming Howard Chaykin Blackhawk Collection

By: Prof Fury

Prof Fury — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:54:56 +0000

Jack, that’s a good question. It was solicited (or at least, it appeared on Amazon for pre-order) and then vanished. I asked Chaykin about it some while back and he didn’t know what had happened. I hope they’ll get around to releasing the collection at some point—I’d like to be able to use it in the classroom, besides just wanting one for myself.

By: Jack LesCamela

Jack LesCamela — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:08:17 +0000

Brannon, what happened with this? As far as I know DC never released the tpb collecting Chaykin’s BLACKHAWK. A pity too, as I was really looking forward to replacing my well read prestige edition issues.

By: Commies Rule !

Commies Rule ! — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:28:08 +0000

Should be good readin’.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:47:29 +0000

I had the exact same experience—I found it one of those reading experiences that benefited from just sitting back and letting the byzantine plot details sort of wash over you. Probably a weakness overall, but I admired Pasko for even trying to keep so many balls in the air. I could not go back and tell you exactly what happened, just that I enjoyed the general tone and tempo of the whole thing. Plus, Rick Burchett.

hope you’ll find time for a write-up when you’re done—would love to read your thoughts.

By: Professor Fury

Professor Fury — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:59:30 +0000

Matt, I’m reading that series right now—I’m up to issue 8. Enjoying it so far, though I can’t imagine how I would have kept up with all the plot threads if I’d been reading it with a month’s break between issues—complex plotting indeed. (Frankly, I’m still not quite sure I have all the moving parts of the conspiracy nailed down, though maybe I’m just not supposed to yet.)

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:26:59 +0000

Any thoughts on the follow-up ongoing series by Martin Pasko/Doug Monech and Rick Burchett? it gets a little weird at the end but it takes the same characters into the red-scare fifties. I recently re-read it and was surprised at its complexity, if only from a plotting perspective.

By: PrettyFakes » Blog Archive » Howard Chaykin and Batman

PrettyFakes » Blog Archive » Howard Chaykin and Batman — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:15:32 +0000

[...] been thinking some more about Howard Chaykin since that post about the forthcoming reprint of his Blackhawk. In the course of my ramblings, I ran across this excellent essay on Chaykin’s Time2 graphic [...]

By: Ragepie

Ragepie — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:46:18 +0000

I bought and read City Of Tomorrow. I thought it was rather good.

Personally, I am a big fan of Black Kiss. I have a trade paperback collection of the series, as well as reader copies of the original issues. On top of that, I have the copies of the original issues still shrinkwrapped in their original plastic; unread. All I need now is a Black Kiss poster.

By: Kevin Church

Kevin Church — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:17:28 +0000

This is seriously terrific.

By: gorjus

gorjus — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:34:21 +0000

Man, you talk about problematic usage of ideology . . . I distinctly recall at the time the outcry when Chaykin transformed Bart Hawk into Janos Prohaska. Of course, the bit was that originally Blackhawk had been i.d.’d as Polish—we just turned him American over time, until in ‘68 we learned his ludicrous, only-in-America name.

Chaykin restored all that, and with it, the complexity of thought that existed prior to the World Wars—a time, as you note, when German was the number two language in America, and we were not nearly as united against the Axis as folks would like to think now (cough cough Henry Ford cough).

But man, at the time—how could a Commie be a hero? Be a . . . American hero? It didn’t make sense, and I couldn’t process it, all that page long-CHUDDA-CHUDDA-machine gun Bruzenakking aside.

And yes, he totally did it with that swastika.