SATELLITE SAM #1

Review by: ghostmann

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Story by Matt Fraction
Art by Howard Chaykin

Size: 0 pages
Price: 3.50

Hey bitches I’m back! Miss me and my reviews? No? Well fuck you man, I’m gonna write one anyway so deal.

For a lot of you comic dorks out there the ’80’s are a time you only can remember or visit through John Hughes films or bad copy-cat films of John Hughes films (dudes, I watched Some Kind of Wonderful yesterday and what a complete rip-off of Pretty of Pink – it’s not like they even cared how obvious it looked either. Completely missed casted too (I can see why Robert Zemeckis fired his Eric Stoltz’s ass off of Back to the Future. Dude needs to stick with playing heron dealers or kids with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia) But hey, I’m getting way off the point here – what was my point? Oh yeah, I grew up in the 80’s and started collecting comics in the 80’s and the motherfucking 80’s will always be, to me, one of the best periods if not THE best, Comic Books (we can argue that opinion later in the comments section if you want to).

And one of the best comic book creators in the 1980’s was Howard Chaykin. During a time of Alan Moore’s, Frank Millers, John Byrne’s, and Chris Claremonts, Chaykin always seemed like he was playing second fiddle – being overlooked. He never reached that “Super Star” status. Why? How come such a spectacular artist and storyteller isn’t mentioned as one of the most revolutionary, visionary and medium altering and changing creators like Miller or Moore?

Let’s back track a little bit here and get to the bottom of this mystery.

Howard Chaykin first came on the scene as the artist to Marvel Comics adaptation of the movie Star Wars. Chaykin was the first guy to draw han and Chewie in comic book form, he set the bar with his ten issues of that long running series, but his style was just beginning to develop then and this early work here at Marvel and in the Heavy Metal magazine, were just the warm-ups for his ground-breaking series American Flagg that came out in 1983.

American Flagg in my opinion is the one of the most original, influential and prophetic comic books to ever come out of the 20th century. Years before Miller’s Dark Knight and Moore’s Watchmen, American Flagg turned the comic book medium upside down and showed us just how incredibly vivacious and dense and “hip” this art form can be. I will go on to say that without American Flagg there would have been no Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen – okay, maybe that’s stretching it, but that series had a HUGE impact on the industry and the creators that turning out the funny books back then.

But people didn’t seem to get it.

I liken American Flagg to the the movie Blade Runner. When Blade Runner came out in 1981 it bombed at the box office and no one seemed to “get it”. But almost thirty years later it is considered one of the most ground-breaking and realistic Science Fiction movies ever made. Most Sci-Fi films after it have in some way borrowed or out right stole ideas, designs, or themes from Blade Runner. You can put it up against any Sci-Fi movie today and Blade Runner still holds its own. It is timeless. It is a classic. The same goes for American Flagg. The art in Flagg was beyond ANYTHING anyone was doing at the time and pretty much stood alone. I remember picking up issue #2 of the series and having my mind blown – as Ruben Flagg was getting something else blown in the comic – and that might be the problem right there, it was too sexual for the times. It was TOO MUCH TOO SOON so to speak. Howard Chakin got pushed back into the back shelves of the comic book stores and has remained there ever since. And because of this he went a little nuts there for a bit producing sub-par work like Black Kiss (and when I sub-par I mean in terms of his own work, Black Kiss while pretty much a porno, is still a compelling read and those first few issues feature dazzling art). Chaykin sat out the ’90’s and let the Liefeld’s and McFarland’s run the comics industry into the ground, but these last few years he has been slowly emerging and putting out some great art and some yeah some miss-steps (Black Kiss 2), but it was nice to see his name on those covers again and his distinct style gracing the covers on the shelves once again.

And now we have Satellite Sam and things seemed to have come full circle. This comic by Chaykin and Fraction is like traveling back to the 1908’s and watching a master like Chaykin kick ass like we all knew he could. This first issue is a wonderful throwback to a time when Howard was firing on all cylinders and making us sit up and take notice. Matt Fraction may be providing the words but the “voice” of this comic is ALL Chaykin. It is fantastic and my pick of week (whew, that was lot of words just to say that huh? )

Do yourself two favors today: one, go pick up Satellite Sam and enjoy a Film Noir mystery much in the vain The Maltese Falcon and see two superb comic book masters at their top form. And favor number two, when you are there at the comic shop see if they have the trade paper backs of the first 24 issues of American Flagg and you will see what I’m talking about – they are some of the finest comics you will ever read in your life.

(and damn it, just as I was about to post this review I see Paul beat me to the punch. But he’s right. Pick of the Mother Fucking Week!)

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. Shame on Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane for starting Image Comics and running comics into the ground! This totally would have been better if DC published it, comics code and all šŸ™‚

    • When a “review” starts out with the sentence, “Hey bitches Iā€™m back! Miss me and my reviews? No? Well fuck you man, Iā€™m gonna write one anyway so deal.” it’s wise to expect a little over the top statements here and there my WAC friend. šŸ˜‰

      Did Image ruin comics back in the 90’s? Of course not, but things got ugly there for a bit and that company didn’t help matters with their multiple cover gimmicks and shoddy writing.

      Image today is pale reflection of it’s former self and they are putting out some of the finest comics to be found on the shelf.

    • There were a thousand reasons comics went to crap. It was industry-wide and happening before Image even jumped in the game, so I thought it was funny that the folks you threw under the bus were two of the guys that started the company that published the book you reviewed. Thought I’d poke a little fun at it. Think of it as a welcome-back gift šŸ˜‰ Happy 4th of July.

    • Right back at ya man. =)

  2. Fun review, makes me want to pick up the book alittle bit more. And if no one else will say it, I will; I missed your reviews @ghostmann.

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