Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Howard Chaykin‘s Tomb of Dracula #5 cover art. Love this piece. The Prince of Darkness with his two Brides. He sits on a throne that features his crest as he drinks a goblet of blood. And the wolf at his feet is looking straight at us.
Chaykin rules.
I love this Noir illustration that Howard Chaykin created for a role-playing game. Pretty rare art, wouldn’t ya say?
Source: Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl.
Talk about vintage Howard Chaykin art! This is the cover for the 1974 Creation Con Program book. It’s even autographed by Chaykin!
Source: Jon Qube.
LOST MARVELS NO. 2: HOWARD CHAYKIN VOL. 1: DOMINIC FORTUNE, MONARK STARSTALKER, AND PHANTOM EAGLE is an immediate purchase for me.
Here’s the lowdown…
Collected as part of our new Lost Marvels series, collaboratively produced with Marvel Comics, this new Howard Chaykin-centered volume of smartly imaginative scripts and beautifully designed art features Dominic Fortune, Monark Starstalker, and Phantom Eagle!
When Howard Chaykin broke into comics in the 1970s, there was nothing quite like him. His original characters Dominic Fortune and Monark Starstalker took classic pulp heroes and ran them through a postmodern blender. This new volume contains retro-science-fiction bounty hunter Monark Starstalker’s debut appearance and all Chaykin’s color-comic-book Dominic Fortune stories, including the character’s unexpurgated Max series, published a generation later. Completing the package is the collision between pulp heroism and the devastating, bloody realities of World War I in Chaykin’s 111-page collaboration with The Boys writer Garth Ennis on War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle. The collection is introduced by author and comics scholar Brannon Costello. This second title in Fantagraphics’ Lost Marvels series collects some of the most exciting, sought-after work by Howard Chaykin from 1975 to 2008. Full-color illustrations throughout.
LOST MARVELS NO. 2: HOWARD CHAYKIN VOL. 1: DOMINIC FORTUNE, MONARK STARSTALKER, AND PHANTOM EAGLE drops July 8, 2025. Pre-orders available now.
Howard Chaykin’s BLACK KISS is getting an omnibus. It will be a 7.25″ X 10.875″ hard cover that clocks in at 400 pages. BLACK KISS was a groundbreaking hardboiled crime/horror series featuring vampires, violence and graphic sexual content. Here’s the synopsis…
“Poisonous and bitter, an absurdly funny sucker punch demanding to be spat out.” — Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals)
The infamous, hardboiled-erotica series is collected for the first time in a deluxe hardcover omnibus featuring new material.
It’s been a long, long time…one last time.
Collecting for the first time every stop along the way on Howard Chaykin’s transgressively groundbreaking trail, the BLACK KISS OMNIBUS collects the legendary 1988 series, its 2012 sequel BLACK KISS 2, plus the BLACK KISS XXXMAS SPECIAL and, created just for this volume, the all-new 28-page BLACK KISS HALLOWEEN, which will mark Chaykin’s final excursion into this world’s hardboiled erotic noir.
Throw in a look back at the project’s long history of sensationalism and censorship, plus a large assortment of extras from across nearly four decades, and this 400-page collection will be the definitive shelf-filler that once again makes readers ask that vital question…does it have to be so dirty?
Collects Black Kiss #1-12, Black Kiss 2 #1-6, and the Black Kiss XXXMas in July Special
Deal me in.
When someone brings up the character Blade, two people come to mind: Wesley Snipes and Howard Chaykin. Snipes because he perfectly brought the Daywalker to the silver screen and Chaykin because, well, check out the drawing above.
John Benteen’s Fargo: Hell on Wheels graphic novel – adapted by Howard Chaykin just launched today on Zoop. I immediately jumped on board. Here’s the lowdown…
Legendary comic book creator Howard Chaykin launches his first ever crowdfunding campaign!
A 96+ page prestige format, action packed, hardcover graphic novel starring soldier of fortune Neal Fargo, based on the legendary ‘Fargo‘ paperback series by John Benteen! Imagine if Conan was an American in the early 20th century. He still wouldn’t be as hard as Neal Fargo. Adapted, written and illustrated by the inimitable HOWARD CHAYKIN!
Supporters of the campaign are in for massive treats, as there are art contributions to the book by a murderer’s row of artists, including Gary Frank, Butch Guice, Eduardo Risso, Denys Cowan, Mahmud Asrar, Ron Garney and lots more, with a variant cover provided by Dave Johnson!
Here are two sample pages from Howard Chaykin.
Art by Dave Johnson and Walt Simonson!
Pinups by Denys Cowan and Giancarlo Bernal!
Pinups by Dan Panosian and Cully Hamner!
If this hits the right notes, then get on board before the train pulls out. John Benteen’s Fargo: Hell on Wheels graphic novel – adapted by Howard Chaykin.
I can not wait for this to go live. Deal me in.
A 96 page prestige format, action packed, hardcover graphic novel starring soldier of fortune Neal Fargo, based on the legendary ‘Fargo’ paperback series by John Benteen! Imagine if Conan was an American in the early 20th century. He still wouldn’t be as hard as Neal Fargo! Written and illustrated by the inimitable HOWARD CHAYKIN!
Exclusive Cover by DAVE JOHNSON.
Contributing artists also include Gary Frank, Butch Guice, Jordi Bernet, Enrico Marini, Robert Tanenbaum, Ron Garney, and more!
Who is Neal Fargo? Fargo has been described as “a combination of Robert E. Howard‘s Conan mixed with Sam Peckinpah‘s The Wild Bunch. He was a big man, with wide shoulders, narrow hips the long legs of a born and bred horseman. His hair was close-cropped and snow white, though he was only in his thirties. He had grown up hard and never looked back. He’d punched cattle, rough-necked in the oil fields—even fought in the prize rings. He joined up with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and found his true calling—combat. His face was so battered, scarred, weathered and remarkably ugly that it was almost handsome. He drew helplessly admiring looks from the women and cautious, wary looks from the men. He was a soldier of fortune, for sale to the highest bidder—he was Fargo.
What’s the story? Fargo is hired to protect a small railroad on the verge of going out of business from being sabotaged by a larger ruthless and corrupt competitor. Fargo always enjoyed a challenge, and payback was fair play in his book. Fist fights, gunfights, women and whisky, ‘Hell on Wheels’ is a prime example of what makes Neal Fargo a timeless character in the world of adventure graphic novels. Combine that with the unique creative sensibility of Howard Chaykin, no stranger to tough, smart protagonists (with an eye for the ladies) and ‘Fargo: Hell on Wheels’ will be one of the most exciting independent graphic novels of the year!
Too Dead to Die: A Simon Cross Thriller by Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin will be released on December 20, 2022. Here’s the lowdown…
Writer/artist team Guggenheim/Chaykin (BLADE, WOLVERINE) reunites for an all-new original that brings classic spy novels to the modern world.
In the 1980s, Simon Cross was America’s top super-spy. Today, his past has come back to haunt him, forcing him out of retirement for one final adventure.
I’ve been a Chaykin fan since the mid-70s. Anything he writes, or in this case draws, is worth a look. Pre-orders are available now. Deal me in.
When you think of titles associated with Howard Chaykin, names like American Flagg, Cody Starbuck, Dominic Fortune, Black Kiss, The Scorpion and Monark Starstalker probably come to mind fairly quickly. Then Chaykin’s work on comics like Star Wars, Wolverine, Nick Fury, The Punisher and Avengers may be next. You’d have to go pretty far down the list before you get to Savage Sword of Conan. But that’s what we have today.
Howard Chaykin isn’t an artist most folks think of when talking Conan. (Myself included.) Perhaps we should though since Chaykin created the cover to Savage Sword of Conan #31 shown above. I’ve always liked it. I hope you do as well.
Today is Howard Chaykin’s birthday, I’ve been a Chaykin fan for decades. His work on Cody Starbuck in Star*Reach won me over. Everything that Howard Chaykin writes or draws entertains. I hope his birthday is a great one.
The Scorpion was Howard Chaykin’s short-lived series for Atlas Comics. What we’re seeing today is a recreation of an unpublished cover by Chaykin that would have appeared on issue two. The Scorpion was a cool character and concept… but then again, it was by Chaykin so what else would you expect?
Howard Chaykin is one of my all-time favorite comic creators. Chaykin started as an assistant to Gil Kane, worked his way up to being an artist on lesser known titles, then some of the more popular characters including the first issues of Star Wars. Along the way he began writing and drawing his own stories and he never looked back.
Chaykin’s comic stories are intelligent and assume the reader is as well. He has a sense of humor and irony in every tale. His work usually contains adult language and adult situations for which he does not apologize. Comics aren’t just for kids.
Michael Tisserand conducted an interview with Howard Chaykin that explores Chaykin’s career and outlook on the path that led him to where he is today including the people and things that influenced him. The interview is well worth a read.
I’m not a big Red Sonja fan, but I am a Howard Chaykin fan. I especially like his take on Red Sonja shown above. If you dig it as well, you can click over to The Bristol Board to see a super-sized version.
