Took me a little over a week from reception to completion of Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!. Definitely well worth the $$ I laid out for it. 20+ years on while I can see some of the shallowness induced by the form, I can better appreciate the underlying satire. Chaykin’s art held up really well though. It doesn’t look dated in any way shape or form.
Some elements of the series I had forgotten:
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The rather explicit racial politics, the modern update of the final solution, and the kooky Nazi imagery. The A.S.L.C. were a bunch of bad dudes.
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Mananacillin.
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The Plex trying to literally sell out the United States.
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Reuben’s adventures in Brasilia, and the general rise of South America and Africa.
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Luther Ironheart’s boneheadedness.
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C.K. Blitz, C. G. Marakova, Sam Louis Obispo, Titania Weiss, The Witnesses, and Raul the Cat. How could I forget about Raul!
I can’t remember if Chaykin actually had problems delivering issues on schedule, but a number of the early episodes had a lot of recap. As if there were big chronological gaps in when the issues were actually published. Another minor nit is that the hardcover edition doesn’t have any page numbers, especially when it comes in at a big honking 400+ pages.
In any event, issues 1-12 were great. The 13th and 14th ones just remind you how great Chaykin’s illustrations were. Here’s hoping that someday there’s a collected release of the second 12 Chaykin issues which includes Northern Lights, Double Cross; Bullets and Ballots; and Mad Dogs and Englishmen.