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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 5, 2015 14:05:07 GMT -5
I have all of Chaykin's issues. I may well try to read along.
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Post by MDG on Dec 5, 2015 14:55:52 GMT -5
This cemented Chaykin's true creative genius in my mind. There's been lots of other entertaining, if similar toned, characters and storylines later, but none have matched Flagg. Flagg, for Chaykin, was a run like Adams on Deadman or Wrightson on Swamp Thing or Starenko on Nick Fury--the outstanding high water mark that all his subsequent work would be judged against and usually found deficient. And often the right series at the right time. Blackhawk, The Shadow, Black Kiss were all good--at times very good--but "not as good as American Flagg." |
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Post by fanboystranger on Dec 7, 2015 0:38:10 GMT -5
This cemented Chaykin's true creative genius in my mind. There's been lots of other entertaining, if similar toned, characters and storylines later, but none have matched Flagg. Flagg, for Chaykin, was a run like Adams on Deadman or Wrightson on Swamp Thing or Starenko on Nick Fury--the outstanding high water mark that all his subsequent work would be judged against and usually found deficient. And often the right series at the right time. Blackhawk, The Shadow, Black Kiss were all good--at times very good--but "not as good as American Flagg." Yeah, I totally agree, and that's something the Chaykin has acknowledged. Again, to sort of shift the discussion from the "what" of the story to the "how" of the story, no one was really attempting that sort of densely packed narrative in a visual context. Certainly, there were exposition heavy comics telling a dense story, but mostly those were done via the caption. (Consider The First Kingdom, a contemporary book that is almost entirely explained through the text rather than the [very beautiful and compelling] images.) Within the first few pages of the first issue, Chaykin essentially goes from traditional, grandiose panels featuring sci-fi staples-- the astonauts/explorers returning to Earth, all done in a tongue-in-cheek, "these guys hate their jobs" sort of way-- to a complete sensory overload when Reuben actually lands. After the grandiose first few pages of space giving way to Earth, the reader is confronted with a sensory overload of conflicting images that anyone who has landed in an airport has experienced, and a countdown to the inevitable first confrontation pacing the panels. Readers are as confused as poor Reuben Flagg, former tv star and current Plexus Ranger, as he yawns his way down a conveyor belt into the O'Hare PlexMall, one of the few bastions of society in a dystopian former United States. There are images-- information! (this is key as the first year progresses)-- eveywhere, on the walls, on the screens, on the fellow people. It is truly overwhelming, which is purposeful-- it all means something eventually, but at the time, it's just psychological clutter, except for the clock, which Reuben does not see, but we do. Reuben gets gladhanded and ballbusted through a series of meetings, all loaded with even more information, until the showdown with the Go-Gang, which happens every Saturday at the same in the same place after the same show. (Another tossed off piece of information that is vital to the overall story.) Then it branches up again in big grandiose panels with great little design quirks-- the tranquilizer guns charge up over a brilliant series of panels with sound effects that say "Pa...Pa..Pa...Pa... (arming)... OOOOOO (charging).... MOW! MOW! (shooting), a great design trick by Ken Brunezak that shows the attention to detail and references "Surfin Bird". The first confrontation doesn't go the way it usually goes from week to week, and that's the start of the series, thrusting an unqualified Plexus Ranger (who used to play a tv character named Mark Thrust) into a web of intrigue and violence that may (or may not) signify a complete societal upheaval... if anyone's paying attention. |
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Post by fanboystranger on Dec 7, 2015 1:11:29 GMT -5
One more thing before the thread really gets started, but I think may inform it. This is mostly supposition on my part, but I think, in a lot of ways, AF! was a reaction to Chaykin working with Wally Wood. Wood was one of the preminent comic artists when it came to science fiction. Chaykin, a massive fan of those brilliant EC artists of the preceding generation, actually got to work with Wood as an assistant early in his career. Chaykin's illusions about the industry were kinda shattered by Wood's cynicism, alcoholism, and womanizing, all things that Howard himself would struggle with until he cleaned up his act in the late '80s. AF! starts out as a grand space opera in the Raymond/Williamson/Wood tradition until the characters actually start talking. The classic sci-fi trappings are there, but they become skewed by a cynical viewpoint that questions everything. Reuben Flagg looks like Flash Gordon, but he drinks and hounds with the best of them. And he doesn't necessarily believe in what he's doing, but there's no one else to do it. There are no clear heroes here, and there's certainly no grand progressive future, as much as the media (within the book) wants you to believe there is. It's all cool if we watch Interspecies Romance, though...
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Post by mikelmidnight on Apr 24, 2016 13:57:08 GMT -5
The best thing Chaykin has ever done, in my opinion, and one of the finest examples of the form.
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parker
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Post by parker on Sept 15, 2016 4:49:19 GMT -5
TruerToTheCore, here... I lost my accounts and passwords for various sites and mail servers. BIG APOLOGY SO FAR! The thing is... lots of stuff came up (like a new kid  ) and everytime I tried to read I just could not get into it (not for quality reasons). So I don't know when I will start this. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 15, 2016 5:02:01 GMT -5
The thing is... lots of stuff came up (like a new kid ) Congratulations!!! |
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parker
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Post by parker on Sept 15, 2016 5:07:24 GMT -5
Thanks. Really, I love to read these boards (sadly, forgotten about it in the last months), especially your threads. So I kinda feel bad about that. You have to give something back at some point |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 15, 2016 6:40:17 GMT -5
Congrats Parker! Don't feel bad... review threads are about fun discussions.. if they're work, it's not good  . We'll be here when you're ready! |
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) and everytime I tried to read I just could not get into it (not for quality reasons).
. We'll be here when you're ready!