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Waiting
on Chaykin
by Mike-oh
A Brief Interview With Howard Chaykin. I’m
standing in a line behind about twenty-five other comic book fans.
The line is in the foyer of the Dallas Comic Con, which is actually
being held in Plano, Texas about 20 minutes north of Dallas. I recognize
Howard, having just seen him the night before. But now, I’m
trying to decide if I will have the patience to wait out all the
others that are going before me. Five minutes later, the line hasn’t
gone anywhere. I’m not very surprised. Howard can really talk.
He talks like he writes.
Another five minutes pass. I’m trying to find out where to
go to see Tim Bradstreet who is also attending the Con but no one
in the line is any help. I check my watch. Tim is joining a panel
discussion in fifteen minutes. Howard’s line hasn’t
budged. I don’t want to get out of line but I had already
gotten Howard’s signature on a bunch of comics the night before.
Now I hold in my hand a recent issue of Superman of which Howard
illustrated a portion. I didn’t have it with me the night
before because, frankly I hadn’t remembered that Howard’s
art was a part of it. Sorry Howard. But I had seen someone getting
a copy of it signed at Zeus and I remembered that I had a copy.
So I figured I would see Howard the next day and would get a second
chance at a signature then. Of course, I didn’t imagine that
I would be helplessly trapped in a comic-book-geek still life.
Trapped. Waiting. Patiently waiting. Checking my watch. Screw this.
The first time I met Howard was in the pages of Marvel’s adaptation
of Star Wars in 1976. There was a roughness to his style that made
the familiar adventure seem even more rugged and dangerous. I loved
the art even if I was oblivious to the artist. I was only thirteen
at the time and wouldn’t take notice of writers’ and
artists’ names for another couple of years yet. Howard had
only been in the comics biz for three years prior to this assignment.
Obviously his talent was quickly recognized and rewarded. I, on
the other hand, didn’t have clue.
Today, when I don’t have a clue, I find myself reading a page
out of Wikepedia, the online encyclopedia. Wikipedia describes Howard’s
early career thusly: “Howard Chaykin began his career in comics
as an assistant to such artists as Gil Kane and Neal Adams before
going solo. His first major work was for DC Comics drawing a comics
adaptation of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser in Sword of Sorcery. Although
the title was well received, it lasted only five issues before cancellation.
Chaykin also drew the character Ironwolf in the science fiction
anthology title Weird Worlds for DC. Moving to Marvel Comics, he
began work as co-artist with Neal Adams on the first Killraven story,
seen in Amazing Adventures #18 in 1973.”
I hadn’t really discovered Howard by name until I read his
four-part miniseries on the Shadow. As a long time Shadow fan, I
was a little taken back by the modernization of my hero but by the
end of the first issue, Howard completely won me over. It was actually
grittier and pulpier than the older stories I was familiar with.
I would run into Howard a few more times over the years in the pages
of Blackhawk, Batman Black and White and Challengers of the Unknown.
But it wasn’t until I waited for him at Zeus Comics that I
finally met him in person.
Zeus Comics is my favorite comic book store for a lot of reasons.
One of which is their commitment to treating their customers to
special visits from such comic book luminaries like Bryan Hitch,
Gail Simone, and Howard Chaykin. As soon as I heard that Howard
was going to be there, I made plans to show up with my stack of
comics and a few questions for the controversial creator.
I arrived about fifteen minutes ahead of Howard and as a result
landed the third position in line of those waiting to see him. When
Howard showed up, he was already talking up a blue streak. I turned
on my cell phone’s audio recorder to help keep track of the
ramblings. What follows is a rough transcript of the discussion
going on between Howard and those in his waiting line.
HOWARD: I write and draw comics. Anybody that can’t do both
parts… You gotta be able to do both. The real storytelling
is done by the artist. Because the writer tells you how to do it
but the artist does it so the reader can have it done for them.
There’s only one writer who can transcend a sh**ty artist
and that’s Alan Moore. An artist can f**k up a great script
but a writer can really f** k up a great artist.
He then referred to a selection of markers he might use to sign
Anime Girl’s comic books as a “tyranny of choice”.
HOWARD: Show of hands who’s read Tom De Haven’s “It’s
Superman.” Nobody? You should be ashamed. You’re all
comic book fans, right?
ANIME GIRL: I’m an anime girl.
HOWARD: Anime girl? Hit the road. Pound the pavement. There’s
a novel that was published in November of last year. It’s
called “It’s Superman.” It was written by a guy
called Tom De Haven. Great comics fan who has written previously
three novels about the newspaper business. This novel takes place
between 1938 and 1939 and it is a retelling of the Superman story
as we know it and it is absolutely delicious. And that fact that
you guys as comics fans have not read this is staggering.
HOWARD: It is a phenomenal book. Has anyone read “The Amazing
Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” by Michael Chabon? It’s
a great fiction about the artist of a comic book. This book belongs
on that shelf. Gerard Jones’ “Men of Tomorrow?”
No? Gerard Jones’ “Men of Tomorrow” is a non-fiction
about an artist of a comic book. “Kavalier & Clay”
is a fiction but probably comes closer to the truth than “Men
of Tomorrow” because it is fiction and it can do that. “It’s
Superman” is a must read. I love it. It is just uncanny. It
is a great book. If anyone does an adaptation of Tom De Haven’s
book, I want to draw it.
ASPIRING ARTIST: As an artist, who was your inspiration?
HOWARD: Gil Kane, Alex Toth, Carmen Infantino, and Joe Kubert.
ME: Are you reading any comic books that you like?
HOWARD: Yeah. 100 Bullets. The weird thing about the book is that
before they got to issue 50, I felt like they were just jerking
off. But after 50 it started to coalesce. And right now it feels
like it’s going back that way. But I’m along for the
ride.
ASPIRING ARTIST: When did you start drawing?
HOWARD: When I was four. And I sucked at it until I was thirty.
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