For those not in the know, Howard Victor Chaykin is a comic book artist, freelance illustrator, and painter who’s been producing commercial and fine art for fifty-plus years now. From comics to paperback covers to advertising art, Chaykin has left his mark in many arenas. His graphic design sensibilities are exquisite and, in many ways, highly influential, especially since his seminal work American Flagg! came out in the early ‘80s. Before landmark books like The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, it was American Flagg! that took sequential art storytelling in bold, new, and exciting directions.
I have a coffee table book of Chaykin’s art and career that was published a few years ago. It’s a wonderful reference, loaded with cool anecdotes from the man himself and scads of art, from sequential art to book covers to commercial art to commissions. In honor of Chaykin’s 75th birthday coming up on October 7, here’s a gallery of some of his steamier art—the man’s bread and butter, beyond square-jawed noir antiheroes, is definitely the female form, which he often renders in lacy lingerie, thigh high stockings, garter belts, and high heels. He’s a modern day Good Girl artist blended with a hardboiled, R (and X) rated pulp-noir style. Few modern artists reflect and expose our cultural wasteland of sex and violence quite as deliciously as Chaykin does. Just check out his covers to Satellite Same or his very adult series Black Kiss to see what we mean. When it comes to pushing the envelope, Wholesome Howie never lets us down.
The Starfire Lounge 