mahatmarandy's Howard Chaykin's American Flagg #1 - Little Hitlers review

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    This should be spelled with a "K"

    Howard Chaykin's "American Flagg" comic was a pretty good - albeit dirty - science fiction comic set in a future semi-dystopic version of Chicago, in which an ex-porn star becomes a cop, and tries to bring order the streets. People still like it 30 years later. This is not that comic. This is "Amerikan Flagg" - note the "K". It's suppose to look Russian.

    The original American Flagg series suffered badly when Chaykin left, and descended into sillyness and bad writing. It ended with protagonist Reuben Flagg showing down the company that owns the United States, and getting them to give him Illinois.

    "AmeriKan Flagg" picks up a few months later, when Reuben is the dictator of the Illinois Free State. The first half of the comic is a recap of the good bits of the original comic, which ignores all the dumb stuff that happened in the last two years. This lazy use of stock art is intercut with scenes of what the major characters are doing now. One cop is now working for the mob, basketball star Jules Folquet is visiting from Europe, which has been taken over by racist black folk from Africa, and Reuben is having a menage a trois with his two on-again-off-again love interests from the original book. (Which is actually pretty steamy for an '80s comic, despite the lack of nudity. Deserre Deutschmark is trying to exercise away the pounds. Hammerhead Kreiger is posessing the body of a hooker in the mall. No, really.

    The actual plot is pretty thin: Flagg and Jules get caught in a gang riot, a TV station burns down, and inside it they find some videocassettes (How quaint!) addressed to Flagg. In watching them, Flagg sees his long-lost father in the crowd at a basketball game in Europe. Oh, yes, and when the three of them aren't having sex, Flagg's girlfriends tend to physically fight a lot.

    He decides to return to Europe with Jules.

    Chaykin is writing again, but not drawing. Art is a good imitation of his style. Not a great issue, particularly since they ended the previous series with a big recap, but they probably needed it.

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