Howard Chaykin

• Born 1950-10-07

Howard Chaykin is an American comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's earliest work with comic books was under the tutelage of Gil Kane, whom he would later call his mentor. Leaving Kane, he began working as an assistant to comics artist Wally Wood in the studio he shared with Syd Shores and Jack Abel in Valley Stream, Long Island. In 1971 he published his first professional comics work, for the adult-theme Western feature Shattuck in the military newspaper the Overseas Weekly, one of Wood's clients. He then apprenticed under Neal Adams, working with the artist at Adams' home in The Bronx. This led to his first work at DC. Chaykin's first major work was for DC drawing the 23-page "The Price of Pain Ease" in Sword of Sorcery #1 (March 1973). Moving to Marvel Comics, he began work as co-artist with Neal Adams on the first Killraven story, seen in Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973). After this, Chaykin was given various adventure strips to draw for Marvel, including his own creation. In 1978, he wrote and drew his Cody Starbuck creation for the anthology title Star Reach, one of the first independent titles of the 1970s. In 1976, Chaykin landed the job of drawing the Marvel Comics adaptation of the first Star Wars film, written by Roy Thomas. In 1983, Chaykin launched American Flagg! for First Comics. With Chaykin as both writer and artist, the series was successful for First and proved highly influential, mixing all of Chaykin's previous ideas and interests—jazz, pulp adventure, science fiction and sex. In 1988, Chaykin created perhaps his most controversial title: Black Kiss, a 12-issue series published by Vortex Comics that contained his most explicit depictions of sex and violence. Chaykin returned to DC to write the three-issue miniseries Twilight, drawn by José Luis García-López and revamping some of DC's science-fiction heroes of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Tommy Tomorrow and Space Cabby. He co-created/designed Firearm for Malibu Comics in 1993, and then with several colleagues formed the creator-owned Bravura imprint for Malibu Comics. Chaykin created the four-issue miniseries Power and Glory in 1994, a superhero-themed public relations satire. Chaykin began to drift out of comics by the mid-1990s as he became more involved in film and television work. He was executive script consultant for the 1990–1991 The Flash television series on CBS, and later worked on action-adventure programs such as Viper, Earth: Final Conflict and Mutant X. In the 2000s he, among others, co-wrote American Century and Bite Club with David Tischman for Vertigo, and both revamped Challengers of the Unknown for DC. In 2006, he began working on his first superhero title for DC Comics, pencilling Hawkgirl, with Walter Simonson writing, from issue 50 to 56. In 2018, Chaykin began Hey Kids! Comics!, a cynical parody of the history of the rise of the comics industry and the many creators exploited in the process (particularly those exploited by Marvel Comics). This Image series was completed in September 2023 after three volumes and 17 total issues.