|
|
 |
 |
|
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Talkin' Chaykin Redux: Comic Book Artist Vol. 2 #5
CBA has provided something I have always wanted to see, a long career-spanning interview with Howard Chaykin. It's no secret that I love the man's work, I did a whole series on him (that's the last one which you can work your way backwards from). I've always wanted to find a great interview with him but most of what I've found is short talks done to promote his latest work. I did enjoy the MP3s that The Comics Journal's site posted of a talk with Kim Thompson he did for Amazing Heroes. It went a bit deeper and also had Chaykin in full-on gadfly mode. I still couldn't find a big long piece that went from his days as a gopher with Gil Kane to his work now on Mighty Love, Challengers of the Unknown and the upcoming City of Tomorrow. That's where Jon B. Cooke and Comic Book Artist come in. It was by no means a perfect interview but it was still darn interesting. Here are my thoughts on it as a Chaykin fan.
One thing to notice is that this interview is just as much about Chaykin the man as much as it about Chaykin the artist. We get his family history, which has interesting twists and turns in it, pictures of him at various ages and the talk even ends with the names his grandchildren call him. It was nice knowing this stuff but I would feel it to be completely trivial if Cooke didn't balance it out with his work as a comic book artist. Cooke did do that and in fact connected the two aspects. Growing up as a Jew from Brooklyn has probably informed Chaykin's work more than anything else. It certainly seems to be where everything else that's important in his career comes from. All the things like getting jobs as assistant to Gil Kane and Wallace Wood to his interest in Manhattan circa 1945 to his interest in the great commercial illustrators would probably not be there if he was Howard O'Brien from Nebraska. I still think there was a bit too much personal stuff in here (did you know that Chaykin and Gary Groth both love the music of Anita O’Day?) but I suppose that just tells you how deep this interview went, which is certainly worth it.
Of course the joy of reading this interview was the fact that Cooke and Chaykin go over every aspect of the latter’s life as an artist. The discussion about Chaykin’s job as a gopher to all these artists also serves as chance to hear Chaykin’s opinions on any number of artists. I felt his views on Kane and Wood were the most informative and I certainly learned something there in regards to how better assess Wood’s accomplishments. Reading that Chaykin strives to combine Alex Toth and Wood more than anything else was certainly interesting to read, as well as confirming some suspicions I already had.
One thing to notice is that while a great timeline is set-up in this piece, going over the actual work like Star Wars or American Flagg! never seems as important as going over where Chaykin’s head was at during the time those books were being put out. We do get to hear the most about stuff like Flagg! and Time2 (which I must pick up) but other works like The Shadow and Blackhawk are never engaged in too seriously. I would have really liked to hear more about the works than Cooke seems to. I would love to hear about Chaykin’s use of having so many plots going on at once in one book than what kind of content guidelines First Comics gave him. In fact I wish Cooke had used that mention of guidelines to get into the way Chaykin uses sex in his work.
This interview is ultimately about Chaykin’s opinions on working rather than the actually work. That’s fine and in the end I loved reading something this informative. We get plenty of Chaykin art to look at (although I did notice that two of the pieces on the slick color pages, the Atari and Star Wars illustrations, had some bad pixilation to them) and the sketchbook at the end was worth the price alone. I’ve never seen a Chaykin Spider-Man before but it is gorgeous.
So for those who already love Chaykin’s work or if you’re just starting to get into the man’s work, I suggest you pick up this little piece of biography.
Permanent Link: 8:04 PM |
0 comments
Comments:
-- Home
|
|
