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BIOGRAPHY 1970s Howard Chaykin began his career in comics as an assistant to such artists as Gil Kane and Neal Adams before going solo. His first major work was for DC Comics drawing a comics adaptation of '' Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser '' in '' Sword Of Sorcery ''. Although the title was well received, it lasted only five issues before cancellation. Chaykin also drew the character Ironwolf in the Science Fiction anthology title '' Weird Worlds '' for DC. Moving to Marvel Comics , he began work as co-artist with Neal Adams on the first Killraven story, seen in '' Amazing Adventures '' #18 in 1973 . After this, Chaykin was given various adventure strips to draw for Marvel, including his own creation, Dominic Fortune , (inspired by his Scorpion character, originally drawn for Atlas Comics ,) now in the pages of '' Marvel Premiere ''. He also wrote and drew his Cody Starbuck creation for the anthology title '' Star Reach '', one of the first independent titles of the 1970s. These strips saw him explore more adult themes as best he could within the restrictions often imposed on him by editors and the Comics Code Authority . In 1976 , Chaykin landed the job of drawing the Marvel Comics adaptation of '' Star Wars '', written by Roy Thomas . This proved to be a massive success not only for Marvel, but for Chaykin; however, Chaykin left after ten issues to work in more adult and experimental comics. The next few years saw him produce material for the likes of '' Heavy Metal '', as well as drawing the Graphic Novel adaptation of Alfred Bester 's '' The Stars My Destination '' and works by Roger Zelazny . Chaykin also created an original graphic novel called '' Swords Of Heaven, Flowers Of Hell '' with writer Michael Moorcock , and found time to move into film design with work on the movie version of '' Heavy Metal '' . 1980s In 1983 , Chaykin launched '' American Flagg! '' for First Comics . With Chaykin as both writer and artist, ''American Flagg!'' was a massive success and proved highly influential thanks to Chaykin's innovative storytelling and an exploration of more mature subjects still alien to mainstream comics of the time. Chaykin mixed all his previous ideas and interests — jazz, pulp adventure, science fiction and sex — into ''American Flagg!'', but after the first twelve issues, Chaykin began to lose interest in the title, choosing instead to pursue new projects. The first was a controversial revamp of '' The Shadow '' in a four-issue mini-series for DC Comics in 1985 . Rather than setting the series in its traditional 1930s milieu, Chaykin updated it to a contempory (1980s) setting and included his own style of extreme violence. Controversy of the violence aside, the title was a huge success and firmly established Chaykin as one of the major creators in comics. He returned to full art and writing duties on ''American Flagg!'' in a one-off special which was to introduce his next series, called '' Time2 '' — this being a partial spin-off from ''American Flagg!'' as well as containing semi-autobiographical elements. The story demonstrated a more pronounced 1930s jazz influence, and spun out into a series of graphic novels which sold well. By 1987, Chaykin was no longer involved with ''American Flagg!''. Sales of that title dropped drastically as his replacements were not well-received, nor did they grasp the tone which Chaykin had set. However, before Chaykin could return to the book, he revamped another DC Comics character: '' and Frank Miller ) boycotted DC and refused to work for the company. However, this boycott would only last until the early 1990s . In '', a twelve-issue series published by Vortex Comics which contained his most explicit depictions of sex and violence yet. Telling the story of sex-obsessed Vampires in Hollywood , ''Black Kiss'' pushed the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream comics. Even though ''Black Kiss'' shipped sealed in an "adults only" poly-bag, its content drew much criticism. This did not stop it from selling well, however, and it became one of the most successful independent comics of the time. 1990s Chaykin returned to DC to write a three-issue prestige format mini-series called '' Twilight ''. This was another radical revamp of DC characters — this time, DC's science fiction heroes from the 1950s and 1960s, such as Tommy Tomorrow and Space Cabby . This was followed by the 4-issue mini-series '' Power And Glory '' in 1994, a superhero-themed PR satire for Malibu Comics ' creator-owned ''Bravura'' imprint, which was optioned for film production (currently remaining unmade.) Chaykin began to drift out of the world of comics by the mid-1990s. With the exception of several Elseworlds stories for DC Comics, his comic output became minimal — this due to Chaykin becoming more involved in film and television work. He was Executive Script Consultant for '' The Flash '' television series on CBS, and later worked on the action-adventure series '' Viper ''. Near the end of the decade, Chaykin started to drift back into comics and co-wrote the three-issue mini-series '' Pulp Fantastic '' with David Tischman for the Vertigo imprint of DC. ''Pulp Fantastic'' was part of Vertigo's celebrations for the new Millennium , and although it never sold well, it would see the start of Chaykin becoming more involved with comics over the next few years. 2000s Chaykin began co-writing '' American Century '' with David Tischmann for Vertigo. This story, set in post-war America, would be a pulp-adventure strip inspired by the likes of '' Terry And The Pirates '' as well as the EC Comics war stories created by Harvey Kurtzman . 2001 also saw Chaykin become part of the creative team on '' Mutant X '', a television series inspired by the Marvel Comics series of mutant titles. ''American Century'' was a critical hit but sold poorly and was cancelled after 27 issues. This was only the start of an intense period of work for Chaykin at DC Comics. He also quit his television and film work during the run on ''American Century''. His next work was '' Mighty Love '', a 96-page original graphic novel described as "'' You've Got Mail '' with super-powers" {Link without Title} . This was acclaimed as a return to the type of work he did on ''American Flagg!'' and contained his first art in a title since the early 1990s. 2004 saw Chaykin and Tischmann revamp '''', a graphic novel in which real-life showman P.T. Barnum ficticiously comes to the aid of the U.S. government. In 2005, Chaykin also produced the six-part '' City Of Tomorrow '', a DC/Wildstorm production involving a futuristic city populated by gangster robots. Chaykin described the mini-series as "'The Untouchables' meets 'West World' at Epcot." In 2006 , he will work on his first superhero title for DC Comics, pencilling '' Hawkgirl '', with Walter Simonson writing, starting with issue 50. {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS
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