(First Comics, 1983-1988)
DAVE SIM:
(from the Cerebus Yahoo Group Q&A, August 2004)
...Howard Chaykin I always admired a great deal. Very intimidating
fellow, very sure of himself. I was terrifically impressed back in 1982
when Deni and I had dinner with him and his then-wife Leslie on the
first US Tour that he was planning
to do an on-going book called American Flagg! whose theme he neatly
encapsulated as "the future is the same as the present, only later and
more so." That's awfully good. That's very Howard. One good sentence
can save you fifteen minutes of explanation, so come up with it,
schmuck. It was particularly interesting for me because it was going to
be a monthly book and I was already becoming conscious of the fact that
there weren’t a whole lot of those in the new direct market age. Of
course, to Howard we weren’t in the same league. I was still a strange
kind of semi-pro fanzine publisher, which was the reaction to Cerebus
and Elfquest. Being in the comic-book field meant living in New York
and all that that entailed. Of course now it seems very natural to
mention Cerebus and American Flagg! in the same sentence, but not back
then.
I have several Howard Chaykin stories that have stayed
with me over the years. I already told one in the Synchronicity
Triptych essay. Back in 1974 when I first met him doing an interview
with him for Comic Art News & Reviews he had long hair down to his
shoulders and mutton-chop sideburns. Very Neil Young. Overnight, at
some point, he realized that this was a mistake. He was living in New
York, he was a grown-up who was interested in having a solid career in
comic books AND in commercial illustration and he realized that, in the
latter category, you weren’t doing yourself any favours showing up for
meetings with art directors looking like a Woodstock leftover. The
sixties were ten years ago. Get over it. But that also put him in a "minority of one" situation. I can’t think of any comic-book creator of
his generation in the mid-70s who didn’t look like a Woodstock
leftover, and the community was (and, I assume, still is) particularly
brutal with anyone who breaks ranks with the pack. But, I have to hand
to him, he didn’t go halfway and get a 1964 Beatle haircut and just
shorten his sideburns and start wearing new jeans. He got his hair cut
very short -- shaved on the sides -- bought fashionable dress clothes
beautifully cut and tailored and suspenders (which were just then coming
into fashion in chic New York circles). The whole nine yards. And, at
some point he had to be, you know, seen like this in a comic-book
environment. And, again, I have to hand it to him. He didn’t try to
put on some Woodstock disguise. This was the choice he had made, this
was what he was going to look like. So, as the story goes, he walks
into either Marvel or DC one day and sees (whoever it was -- the first
comic book person who was going to be exposed to the New Howard
Chaykin), walks right up to them with a big grin and an outstretched
hand and says (by way of introduction): "Hi. Joe Nazi."
I also remember having dinner with Howard and an
excruciatingly young Frank Miller right around the time the first few
issues of Frank’s Daredevil had come out. I’m pretty sure that this was
pre-Upstarts, the studio that Howard and Frank later had with Walt
Simonson. I was virtually non-existent at that dinner. As I say, I
existed on Howard’s radar screen but somewhere between fanzine and
professional, a quirky kid. It was a very interesting dinner, though,
because it was largely an uninterrupted monologue/interrogation of Frank
by Howard. What did Frank want to accomplish, how were things going
with his editor, when the editor said that did it have this sort of tone
or that sort of tone, is Frank aware of the pitfalls in, etc. etc. I
remember Frank being very quiet through most of the dinner, mostly
nodding, a lot of shrugging, but a very intense look on his face because
he realized what he was getting for free here -- a dense-packed education
on the ins and outs and why’s and wherefores of suddenly being a Big
Name in the comic-book field. Because it had nothing to do with me -- as
far as I could see I would never have to make my way through the
labyrinthine maze/gauntlet that is a New York City comic-book career
(otherwise I would’ve been making my own mental notes on every word out
of Howard’s mouth) -- I was able to observe the whole process from a
greater remove and what struck me was Howard Chaykin’s sheer
open-hearted generosity in doing this. Howard was far enough along in
his career at this point that it was obvious he was never going to be in
the category he was educating Frank about. That category happens
overnight, the fact that it happens overnight is a big part of it. If
you’ve been working in comics for five years you can’t suddenly make
that leap. Neal Adams was in that category. Steranko was in that
category. Wrightson was in that category. Howard was a very
career-minded individual and ferociously competitive and, in
context -- particularly in the brutal world of the New York City Funnybook
Industry -- he could certainly be forgiven for taking a “sink or swim”
approach to Frank Miller (there were always better-than-average odds
that they might end up competing for a plum assignment somewhere up
ahead). But, he didn’t do that. He went out of his way to give Frank
the advantage of every scrap of information he himself had gleaned -- since he had been Gil Kane’s assistant -- about the situation in which
Frank had suddenly found himself.
The only time I found myself in a comparable situation was
in 1993 when Bonemania hit. As I told Jeff at the time, I was quite a
ways away from ground zero when this happened to the Pinis and I was
only marginally closer when it happened to Kevin and Peter (the only two
comparable self-publishing success stories) but here is everything that
I know about being an overnight skyrocket success in independent
comics. Since there were a lot of self-publishers that I was helping at
the time in various ways, there was always the temptation to give Jeff
the same sort of limited access that I gave them (always having to bear
in mind that I had my own monthly comic book to write and draw). If it
hadn’t been for Howard’s example, I don’t think I would’ve given Jeff as
much time as I did, dense-packing as much as I knew about the ins and
outs and whys and wherefores of being an overnight hit in independent
comic books.
Oddly enough, one of the few moments when I did enter the
conversation (mentally, anyway) at that long-ago dinner was when Howard
offered the opinion that the comic-book collector’s market was crazy
because people were buying and selling the first issue of Marvel’s Star
Wars comic book for (I think, at the time, it was around $20 -- it goes for
around $60 now, according to the latest Overstreet Price Guide) and it
wasn’t anywhere close to being Howard’s best work. Howard drew the
cover of the first issue and pencilled the first ten. That was the
first time that I had known Howard Chaykin to perceive something
inaccurately. Which was understandable in a way. George Lucas had made
no secret of the fact that Han Solo had been based to a large degree on
the prototypical Howard Chaykin space and/or pulp hero, as typified by
Cody Starbuck, the Scorpion and Monarch Starstalker. Sort of Gil Kane’s
“laughing cavalier” with a lop-sided grin on his face. I’m pretty sure
that this was the reason that Chaykin landed the assignment to do the
comic-book adaptation (and the reason Al Williamson was tapped to do the
newspaper strip. Whatever Lucas didn’t get from Chaykin, he got from
Williamson, thematically and visually). But, I thought at the time that
Howard was overlooking the obvious—the book was commanding those prices
because it was Star Wars, not because of whomever was writing and
drawing it. At the same time his reaction was understandable, one of
those molar-grinding incidents of being at a one-step remove from a
worldwide mega-hit. How could you do your best work when you could see
that Han Solo wasn’t any sort of improvement on Cody Starbuck, but just a
watered-down Hollywoodized version of same?
I have to admit at this point that I didn’t -- and still
haven’t -- read American Flagg. I read, I think, the first three issues
and just found the ironic “adult” tone uninteresting. No, that’s not
fair. I did find it interesting, but, for me, it just suffered in
comparison to The Scorpion: the previous example of Howard doing the
whole package on his own for Atlas/Seaboard. From the splash page with
its white handwritten captions and craft-tinted “photo album” panels, it
seemed to me that The Scorpion was the book Howard had been born to
draw. American Flagg! seemed to me like a parody of The Scorpion -- we’re
all adults here, we don’t take this sort of material seriously. I
really should read Flagg sometime. There’s no question in my mind that
it is a better piece of material than the vast majority of what I’ve
retained over the years. I understand there’s an anniversary edition of
it coming out this year, so I’ll keep my eye out.
At the 1986 San Diego Comicon, Gerhard’s first experience
with San Diego, I had told him about all the great parties that they had
there and how you just went from one to the other all night. So, it
was more than a little embarrassing when we checked into our suite and
then went out to all of the primary convention hotels, literally going
from floor-to-floor listening. You know, “Where de party at?” Finally
we gave up and went back to our suite on the top floor of the Holiday
Inn Embarcadero. “Well,” I said. “I guess we’ll have to have the
party.” So, I made up a quick invitation and got the hotel to photocopy
thirty of them. Nice sized party, I figured. Eventually two hundred
people showed up, but there were only thirty invitations and one of them
I had definitely given to Howard Chaykin. I had also printed up
proposals for a handful of artists if they were interested in doing a
book through Aardvark One International. I think I had four or five
packages made up for people I knew were going to be at the show. One
was Howard. Jaime Hernandez was another. But, anyway, the party was
going pretty good when Howard walked in. “Howard,” I said. “Here. Just
in case you’re ever looking for a publisher for a project.” He flipped
through the proposal. “Dave,” he said, in his matter-of-fact tone, “Are
you hustling me?” A little taken aback by the verb, I stammered
something about well, yeah, I guess you could call it that. He said,
“You’ve said some negative things about me in print which I don’t take
very seriously because when I think of you I remember a pimply-faced
teenager with stringy hair interviewing me for his fanzine. So, let’s
resolve never to work together on anything ever.” He handed the proposal
back and said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go and enjoy
myself.” And he wandered off into the depths of the party.
What Howard was referring to was my “Declaration of
Independence” in The Comics Journal No.105 where I described the
“inverted pyramid” of traditional comic-book publishing. I wrote:
“The inverted pyramid is difficult to disguise…but then,
little effort is expended in doing so. ‘First Comics! You can count on
us.’ (this was the motto of First Comics, publishers of American Flagg
among other titles) (This means you can count on Rick Obadiah, Rick
Oliver, the production guys.) ‘We publish one of your favourite
characters -- American Flagg!’ (As Mike Gold says, ‘A great character is
forever -- a fresh approach is what’s needed, that’s all.”) “created and
written by Howard Chaykin, Joe Staton artist.” (Doesn’t really matter
who does it, right? A great character is forever.)
This approach is a betrayal of the fans, the readers, the
shop owners, the distributors and everyone who had a stake in American
Flagg!, emotional or financial. The back issues will decline in value, a
slap in the face to those distributors and shop owners who now have
boxes of dead or dying wood-pulp they will be forced to sell at cost or
below. Chaykin’s assurances all along that “he can’t foresee leaving
Flagg!” gave a false message to the marketplace in which economy
functions (Flagg! Is, after all, a direct-sales-only comic). The fans
feel betrayed because they had come to rely on Chaykin’s Flagg! month-in
and month-out; and, more importantly, had been given no indication that
this situation could or would change.
If, as I have heard, Chaykin planned it this way all
along, we can chalk up another victory for the inverted pyramid. Had
this been the ‘independent comic’ it had been declared to be (and I’ll
get to my personal definition of that term in due course), it would have
run its course over 20-some-odd issues and have left a legacy of a
remarkable (I’m going to go out on a limb and add ‘brilliant’) and
singular vision. With the replacement of Howard as artist on the
series, First Comics and Howard declare themselves to be ‘business as
usual’ and neither alternative nor independent.”
Well, you know, I still think I was right about this. But
I can certainly see how it would rub Howard the wrong way but -- as is
usually the case with Dave Sim -- it’s more important to me to discuss
openly what we think is “good for comics” and what we think is “bad for
comics” because the improvement of the medium and the business context
within which it exists is more important than who has or hasn’t got
bruised feelings about what was or wasn’t said.
I have no way of proving it, but I always suspected that
the
Black Kiss mini-series that Howard did for Vortex Publications in
Toronto was directed at me, Howard at his most eloquent. “Is this what
you meant, Dave? A small, prestigious project that will get talked
about? Yes, this is the sort of thing I might’ve done through Aardvark
One International if you hadn’t lit into me in print. So, instead, I’ve
given it to one of your competitors, the guy just down the highway from
you.” And then he called the collected version,
Big Black Kiss. “And,
see? You would’ve made money off of the collected version as well?”
This was the reason that I called my 24-hour comic about a divorced wife
(at this point Howard and I were both divorced from our wives)
Bigger,
Blacker Kiss. My reply to Howard being: there are larger issues at
stake here which is why I wrote what I wrote about your choices on
American Flagg! Larger issues that I think need to be discussed and
need to have actual examples cited so that the next generation of
cartoonists can make up their minds based on the two sides of the
debate. The largest issue to me, now, would be, “How long has
American
Flagg! been out of print? How long has Big, Black Kiss been out of
print?” Those questions are far larger than whether I did or didn’t get
to publish them myself.
by Howard Chaykin
(Vortex Comics, 1988-1989)
Anyway, I saw Howard at another convention a few years
after this and made a bee-line for him. He was glad to see me. I was
glad to see him. He said something flattering about the fact that I had
figured out very quickly a few things it had taken him years to figure
out which, braced as I was for a body shot, left me stammering in the
other direction this time. It’s certainly something I would always say
about Howard, too. Particularly Howard’s ability to encapsulate a huge
argument in one pithy sentence. As you can see here, I just don’t have
that aptitude. Howard not only had -- and has -- a very successful career in
the ballbusting brutal confines of the New York City Funnybook Industry,
he’s also had major successes in Hollywood career -- and not just as a
storyboard artist or as a scriptwriter -- he’s actually risen to the
executive level on the shows that he’s worked on, something which
doesn’t happen unless you know your way around and have the ability to
think fast and accurately on your feet in a pressure-cooker environment.
Very, very rare qualities which Howard Chaykin has in spades. If
Howard ever needed me for anything, he remains on a short list of people
I would drop everything to help in any way that I could -- un-work
related, I would assume. He’d be my first choice of someone to have
dinner with in just about any comic-book context I could think of. And a
big reason for that is that I would never have to wonder where I stood
with Howard Chaykin. He would never say anything behind someone’s back
that he wouldn’t say to that same person’s face. As was the case at the
Aardvarks Over San Diego party. He had something to say and he said it.
It cleared the air so that I didn’t hesitate for one second before
approaching him the next time I saw him.
Those are the sort of people I have always admired and whose company I have most enjoyed.
I notice in the latest Overstreet Price Guide that all of
the back issues of American Flagg! are priced at between 3 and 4
dollars, even Alan Moore’s run from 21 to 27.
MWAH, Howard.
