American Flagg

The story Ranger Rueban Flass as he navigates an American landscape that, in retrospect, feels more prophetic with each passing year.

America, 2031. TV star Reuben Flagg is drafted to protect citizens of Chicago as a Plexus Ranger, having pretended to be one onscreen. The inexperienced Flagg must tackle an American blighted by a biased and oppressive media, dubious 'wars', widespread political corruption and environmental disaster.

Presents the work of America's most popular and influential comic artists, and includes critical essays accompanying each artist's drawings.

Joel Breakstone, a GI liberator of Buchenwald and brutally damaged goods, follows a path of vengeance that leads to redemption in a violent journey into his own heart of darkness„in a spiritual adventure from comics' contemporary master of crime and punishment, HOWARD CHAYKIN. Collects MIDNIGHT OF THE SOUL #1-5

A highly original collection of essays, demonstrating how comic books can be used as primary sources in the teaching and understanding of American history.

Presenting the nexus-point of Cynosure, this title includes stories that are produced by some of the medium's most creative talents.

In the 1980s, Howard Chaykin broke new ground in American comic books with a series of formally innovative, iconoclastic works that turned the traditional action-adventure tales of mainstream comics into a platform for personal expression, political engagement, and aesthetic experimentation. His original creations American Flagg!, Time2, and the notorious Black Kiss, along with his reshaping of familiar titles like The Shadow and Blackhawk, generated acclaim and often controversy as they challenged expectations of the visual design and subject matter permissible in popular comics. Today, Chaykin remains a vital and prolific artist, but despite the original and influential nature of his work, he receives scant critical attention. In Neon Visions, Brannon Costello offers the first book-length critical evaluation of Chaykin’s work and confronts the blind spots in comics scholarship that consign this seminal artist to the margins. He argues that Chaykin’s contributions are often overlooked because his comics eschew any pretensions to serious literature. Instead, Chaykin’s work revels in the cliffhanger thrills of heroic-adventure genres and courts outrage with transgressive depictions of violence and sexuality. Examining Chaykin’s career from his early successes to compelling contemporary series such as City of Tomorrow, Dominic Fortune, and the controversial Black Kiss 2, Costello explores how this inventive body of work, through its evolving treatment of the theme of authenticity, incisively investigates popular culture’s capacity to foster or constrain individual identity and political agency. Challenging prevailing assumptions about the types of comics deemed worthy of scholarly attention, Costello reveals that the work of an artist as distinctive as Howard Chaykin demands a nuanced reading—one that confronts his unique approach to the comics medium, his blending of autobiographical themes and genre trademarks, and his engagement with comic books as artifacts of consumer culture.

The American Revolution can rightly be called a turning point in the history of mankind and this fascinating book looks past the famous battles of Lexington, Ticonderoga and Yorktown and focuses on the forgotten world of diplomacy. Explore the world of secret diplomatic communiqués between the American and French forces, the spy network developed by General George Washington and much more. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

HEY KIDS! COMICS! takes its cue from nearly a century of turbulence and triumph, despair and drama in the comics racket. Artists and writers, con men and clowns, ganefs and gangsters create the foundations of today's biggest entertainment businessÑor at least the tail that wags the dog. Some of it really happened, and the names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty Éalthough in the end, everyone was guilty of something. Collects HEY KIDS! COMICS! #1-5

Nearly 25 years ago, Howards Chaykin brought the '80s to a close, and comics to the brink, with his landmark erotic thriller, Black Kiss. Now, after years of anticipation, he's back with Black Kiss II, telling the story behind that legendary story — like the original, in glorious black and white. And really, now — does it have to be so dirty?