Howard Chaykin, the Dark Prince of Comics with Alex Grand & Jim Thompson

Read Alex Grand’s Understanding Superhero Comic Books published by McFarland Books in 2023 with Foreword by Jim Steranko with editorial reviews by comic book professionals, Jim Shooter, Tom Palmer, Tom DeFalco, Danny Fingeroth, Alex Segura, Carl Potts, Guy Dorian Sr. and more.

In the meantime enjoy the show:

Alex Grand and co-host Jim Thompson interview Howard Chaykin, discussing his life from when he was born in 1950 through his childhood comic book reading of 1960s Marvel, his training under Gil Kane, Wally Wood and Neal Adams in the late 1960s through the 1970s. His early Marvel, DC, Atlas Seaboard Comics, Byron Preiss Graphic Novels, Heavy Metal and on into American Flagg for First Comics, The Shadow, Time Square, Blackhawk, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Black Kiss, Cyberella with Don Cameron. His Television career including the 1990s Flash TV show, Legend with Russ Heath, Hawkgirl with Walt Simonson. His Marvel career in 2012, Black Kiss 2, the controversy surrounding the Divided States of Hysteria, and finally his ode to comic history, Hey Kids! Comics!

Howard Chaykin has done plenty of work at Marvel and DC but mostly likes to tell his own stories. He’s worked hard to establish creator-owned comics in his career.

Transcript published in Comic Book Historians Presents… Howard Chaykin, Dark Prince of Comics:

Howard Chaykin Biographical Interview 2019 by Alex Grand & Jim Thompson
📜 Video chapters
00:00:00 Welcoming Howard Chaykin
00:03:03 Early days
00:06:16 Golden age collector
00:08:58 Early reading, Archie Goodwin
00:10:17 Training under Gil Kane
00:14:43 DC: Gil Kane and Original Art
00:15:42 Gil Kane: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
00:19:04 Wally Wood, Jack Abel, Gray Morrow
00:23:22 After 5yrs into the business
00:25:04 What was the Overseas Weekly?
00:25:41 Wally Wood inking
00:27:48 Drawing horses for Shattuck
00:29:05 Superhero disdain | Rick Buckler
00:31:25 Neal Adams
00:33:03 Henry Boltinoff, Julius Schwartz
00:34:38 Early DC work
00:36:56 Marvel, Roy Thomas, Atlas Comics
00:39:22 Jeff Rovin, Larry Lieber, Martin Goodman
00:40:08 Scorpion for Atlas Comics
00:42:46 George Lucas – Star Wars, 1977
00:45:13 Upstart Associates, 1978
00:47:05 World of Krypton 1979
00:47:54 Heavy Metal movie, The Legend of Jesse James | Designing female characters
00:50:07 Byron Preiss, Jim Steranko
00:51:36 Talk about Marvel at that time
00:53:22 American Flagg for First Comics
00:56:02 Frank Miller, Alan Moore
00:58:13 Building collaboration
01:00:12 Dave Sim Comics Journal | Shadow
01:04:34 Time Square
01:08:43 Blackhawk
01:13:30 Collusion between the companies
01:15:26 Black Kiss, Dagmar
01:18:14 José Luis García-López, Rich Buckler
01:22:25 Helix, Cyberella with Don Cameron
01:24:25 Your time away from comics | Television career
01:27:08 1990s Flash TV show
01:28:06 Mighty Love
01:30:08 City of Tomorrow
01:31:12 Legend with Russ Heath, Hawkgirl with Walt Simonson
01:34:23 Marvel career in 2012
01:35:09 Working with Archie Goodwin, 1980s
01:36:09 Bruce Wayne and Donald Trump
01:38:00 The Divided States of Hysteria
01:42:09 What are Megaphonics and Identitaries?
01:44:54 Midnight Of The Soul, Satellite Sam
01:46:56 Hey Kids! Comics! | Image Comics
01:53:43 Neon Visions: The Comics of Howard Chaykin, Book by Brannon Costello
01:55:40 Next volume of Hey Kids! would be…
01:56:33 Every year I know it’s my last year
01:58:00 Wrapping up

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#TheDividedStatesOfHysteria #NeonVisions #HowardChaykinInterview
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Use of images are not intended to infringe on copyright, but merely used for academic purpose.