Personal Life
Howard Chaykin started his comics career in the early 70s working as an art assistant for Wally Wood, Gray Morrow, Neal Adams and Gil Kane. His early work consisted of science fiction and fantasy adaptations including Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser for DC and the first Star Wars adaptation for Marvel Comics, as well as several personal creations for the early independent companies including The Scorpion for Atlas Comics, and Cody Starbuck for Star Reach Graphics. He has since gone on to build a career as one of the preeminent comics creators, and the "go to guy" for stories set in the 1930s and 40s. He is outspoken and independent with a professional reputation for delivering what he says, when he says it will be done.
Career
Chaykin's career spans over 40 years of sequential art works. Consequently, there's a lot out there. He has contributed countless covers and backup stories to a wide variety of different publishers.
The 1970s
Chaykin's Star Wars PosterChaykin's first published solo works were mostly for Marvel and DC for their different science fiction and horror lines. In 1977 he was given the task of drawing the adaptation of Marvel's new Star Wars license, inexorably tying him to the franchise as one of its seminal creators. He accomplished pioneering work with the graphic novel format adapting Empire by Samuel R. Delany and The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.
The 1980s
During the 80s Chaykin brought out several genre and taboo breaking creator owned projects, including: American Flagg!, Black Kiss and Time 2. He continued to work extensively for Heavy Metal Magazine, and brought back Blackhawk and the modern updating of The Shadow for DC. During this decade, Chaykin experimented with different narrative structures and mixed media designs, many of which showed up in American Flagg!
The 1990s
During the better part of the 90s Chaykin's comics output was limited to mostly covers. He did, however manage to create Power and Glory for Malibu, continuing his themes of media and corporate control from American Flagg! and Time 2. His two most prominent comics works of this decade were Batman Thrillkiller and Twilight for DC.
The New Decade
Chaykin returned to comics in a big way. His output for Marvel and DC increased dramatically. He created the series American Century and Bite Club for DC Vertigo and did extended artist stints on Blade and Punisher War Journal for Marvel. He also returned to updating old characters with his Challengers of the Unknown series, also for DC. Chaykin shows no sign of slowing down with many new projects on the drawing and writing boards. He still finds time to complete covers and backup stories along with his series work.
Chaykin is currently the artist for Satellite Sam, an Image series written by the incomparable Matt Fraction .
Other Media
Film
Heavy Metal the Movie, 1981 (Chaykin designed the Taarna segment.)
Television
The Flash TV Show
The Flash, 1990-1991 (series writer)
Earth: Final Conflict, 1999-2000 (series writer)
Mutant X, 2001-2002 (series writer)
Book Covers
Chaykin has designed many covers for several different publishing houses, most notably for Baen Books in the late 70s and early 80s
Characters Created
DC
Marvel
Indie
Log in to comment