EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 12 © 2015 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

52 Howard Chaykin achieved recognition with his hit series American Flagg ! in 1983. Five years later, his risqué Black Kiss created a different kind of stir among comic book aficionados. Howard Chaykin Thomas Kintner exposes the vices and virtues of one of the most incorrigible artists to emerge from the1980s comics renaissance. Most careers are conducted in anticipation of that fortunate moment when stars align, aspirations coalesce, and the proverbial brass ring is within reach. On the other hand, some people just don’t much care for brass. Consider Howard Chaykin. Arguably an exploiter but never an opportunist, he has followed his own appetites, embracing a muse that has frequently kept him a cool remove from the mainstream. At the same time, his work has charted territory on which his art’s fellow practitioners have grown ideas of their own. Which art is that? Ask him–or don’t. He’ll volunteer it regardless. “I’m a comics man.” Comics are where he got his start, and, following the occasional detour, where he ultimately landed. His longest shadows within its borders are cast by a pair of 1980s projects that have endured for very different