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Howard Chaykin Banzai! This stack of over 30 comcis is yours for only $18! That’s 60 cents a book! Get your beak wet, then go buy his new stuff: Avengers 1959.

We started to put together the Challengers of the Unknown and Guy Gardner complete minis and decided to compile an even bigger lot of one of comicdoms most creative of creators.

Howard is one of our favorite artists and story tellers. He has been around since the 70′s, even doing a stint on Star Wars comics, but he really broke onto the comics scene big-time with his American Flagg! original series and DC’s The Shadow. One thing about Howard, we’re not sure anyone in the industry can draw sexy legs in hose and heels quite like Howard. Howard was also an expert in updating older characters for a more mature audience that was craving a sexiness and adult-oriented violence not present in the characters’ previous stories.

This lot contains a variety of Howard’s comics over the years. Warning, some are adult in nature.

1970′s:
Scorpion 1: One of Atlas Comics short-lived ventures. You can see evidence of Howard’s distinctive style evolving in his art. Scorpion is a 1930′s pulp action throwback.

Star Reach Classics 5: reprints of Howard and Len Wein’s stories from the 1970′s.

1980′s
Americal Flagg! Special 1: Another popular theme in the 1980′s was a corrupt, corporate-run future. Chaykin’s American Flagg! kicks this genre in the ass. And again, many more sexy women.

American Flagg! 6, 7, 10, 11, 23 (from the first volume)
Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! 1, 6, 7, 9: these stories were written and drawn by others (John Vosburg’s art is drawn in the same style as Howard’s but, while good, it just isn’t Chaykin) with Howard on oversight duties and cover art. Again, more futurist chicanery, fighting the giant corrupt corporation,and incredibly sexy women (even the older ones?!).

Black Hawk 3: Howard tackled some older characters in the 1980′s bringing them into a more contemporary setting with much more mature themes and deeper character development. Blackhawk was a WWII hero pilot. His story is filled with Nazi intrigue and again, hot babes.

Chaos: Prince of Madness 1: Black superheroes and adventurers came into their own in the 70′s and 80′s, although ironically written mostly by white men. Anyway, Prince Chaos is an intergalactic kind of guy.

Crossfire and Rainbow min 3: OK, so he didn’t do the interior, just the cover. But it’s Howard nonetheless and of course … it’s Rainbow! She’s one of the sexiest indies from the 1980′s.

The Shadow 3-4 mini: OK. Besides American Flagg!, The Shadow is our favorite vintage Chaykin story. Howard is so brilliant at taking a character that has an interesting back story but hasn’t been given its due in good story telling, and then turning out a mad-capped, fast-paced, nail-biting romp. The Shadow is also the first time we remember seeing Howard’s femme fatales. Legs that go on forever, fishnet stockings, stiletto heels, and the attitude to go along with all that.

1990′s
Heavy Hitters: Midnight Men (Epic) 2,3

Power & Glory: 1, 3, 4: Howard Chaykin draws violence and women – and he’s over the top about it. But he also has a great sense of humor. Power & Glory is about a manufactured “superhero” who’s really nothing more than a facade. He “looks” good but he’s not really good at anything at all.

2000′s
Challengers of the Unknown Mini-series: 1-6: First page, the wife of the prime minister has her head explode by a sniper’s bullet. So, that gives you an idea of the violent speed that runs through this story. Howard never writes anything subtle does he?

Guy Gardner: Collateral Damage mini 1-2: Bound format mini with the Green Lantern anti-hero.

Howard Chaykin Solo: DC’s creator series has Chaykin doing his own short stories including Nazis (Howard loves the 1930′s and 40′s doesn’t he?), the wild west, horror, and a scientist beating his fiance to death by smashing her head with a power strip. Huh? Read on, you’ll see.

City of Tomorrow mini 5-6: Another take on Howard’s panache for a post-American-deam dystopia.

American Century: not his art (except some of the covers), but again, Howard is a deft storyteller. AC is set in the post-WWII era with the hero a disenfranchised veteran faking his own death to start life in new adventures. Critically acclaimed. Too bad it was cancelled.

Take a look elsewhere on the site for Hawkgirl, one of Howard Chaykin’s more recent projects.

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