I am nearing the end of my recap of the Boston Comic Con. As I have said before, I really loved the con and am so happy that Boston finally has a worthy convention.
One of my favorite parts of the convention was meeting and talking to Howard Chaykin. Chaykin is one of my absolute favorite comic creators. I discovered him in the mid-80s with Blackhawk and The Shadow, moved on to American Flagg and then Cyberella, Power and Glory, American Century and just about everything else. In particular, I have enjoyed his semi-revamps of older DC characters like Blackhawk, but also Challengers of the Unknown, the hokey space characters he turned serious in Twilight, and even Angel and the Ape.
So I basically lingered around Chaykin's table and talked to him about anything and everything: comics, creating comics 'the Marvel way' and other styles, his pitch to revamp Superman in the late 80s (the revamp that went to John Byrne), Time2, his DC revmps, working with Archie Goodwin, and all things in between. It was great to just pick the brain of one of my comic heroes.
Chaykin was doing head sketches at the con and while Supergirl isn't a character I would typically associate with him, it would be the perfect amalgam of a couple my comic favorites. The result is this great commission, a really perfect piece for my collection. Chaykin even said he had some fun doing it.
Just a couple more posts about the Boston Comic Con left. Now I'm wondering what the next con I am going to go to.
ooo, would love to read a post about his superman pitch :)...
ReplyDeletei don't have too much experience with howard chaykin. unfortunately i didn't love his hawkgirl run a few years ago... but, he's certainly a very respected creator and artist. well done on getting the supergirl pic :)
I'm curious too about his Superman pitch. Great sketch by the way.
ReplyDeleteGENE
I love seeing all of the commissions you've had done over the years. I especially like the Wagner Supergirl. I've never had a commission done before and I was wondering what the process is. Could you write a column sometime about how you go about getting a commissioned piece? What's the protocol for approaching an artist to do it? How specific do you get when telling him or her what you want? How much should you expect to pay for one? Thank you and love the website.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the posts.
ReplyDeleteChaykin's pitch had most of Metropolis knowing that Clark was Superman but being just so happy that Supes lived there that they went along with the 'joke'.
And I will definitely write about commissions at some point. That's a great idea.