At 68, the American author maintains his aura of controversial and controversial. Nothing and nobody escapes his acid comments, whether they are authors like Will Eisner or characters like Batman
Howard Chaykin (New Jersey, 1950) receives his interlocutor singing the Toy Story song There is a friend in me. "What's your name?" He asks without letting the recorder turn on. It is one of the guest stars in the Comic Con Metropolis de Gijón, where a long career full of great titles ( American Flagg!, Black Kiss , La Sombra ), controversy and provocation is honored. His latest work, The Divided States of Hysteria , now arrives at the stores in the hands of Dolmen Editorial with a content warning on its back cover: "This story includes graphic representations of transphobia, violence, racism and assault descriptions." Inside, Chaykin exposes his point of view after one of the covers of the series (which showed a hanged and castrated Pakistani worker) was censored in the United States: " The duty of an artist is to show reality as you see it, however distasteful it is.Your duty is to offend if necessary.It will never shut up so as not to offend weak minds, unable to face the harsh reality.That is the kind of people who think a cover is conceived. to shake the reader is really an apology of the extreme right. "
In Europe his figure is very admired. Do you feel the same in the United States? No. What do you think it is? I have not done any work that mattered to the general audience of the American comic book . I do not share their enthusiasm, I do not believe in mythology the comics they like ... And I am not very kind. I am good people, but ... I am only kind depending on the situation. Do not even recognize the findings offered by a work like 'American Flagg!'? No, because American Flagg! It reached a small audience. There were many authors who read it and then when they became professionals who were very influenced by it, but that the public never saw it, you know? People do not know. Or at least not in the same way he does know about Watchmen or The Return of the Dark Knight . And frankly, even if they did, they wouldn't like it very much, because American Flagg! He doesn't live in that banned universe full of tropes, which is the superhero comic. For example, I think The Dark Knight's Return is a disaster full of incoherent links and Watchmen was a work destined to wipe out superheroes completely and yet it became an instruction manual on how to make superhero comics for the rest of our lives. Flagg! It doesn't look like a superhero comic, it doesn't use the meanings of superhero comics before its publication, and it deals with things that comic fans don't like. Comic book fans like pin ups and cheesecake, but they don't like people having sex. That really makes them feel very uncomfortable. They also like heroes with sharpness and moral clarity, while I have more interest in ambiguity, I like characters and stories in which heroes and villains believe they do the right thing emotionally, and can be interchangeable. I reject that kind of comic that follows the cartoon model of Coyote and Road Runner. Because the superhero comic is that. They simply follow the model that Chuck Jones implanted in the Coyote and the Road Runner: Batman chases the Joker, Superman chases Luthor. And that never ends ... Superheroes can't change, evolve. Just change your costume, that's all the change there is. The characters do not change or grow because they are that, the livelihood of an idea. Batman is always going to be a rich boy who had a bad day. Will Eisner, Gil Kane, Neal Adams ... Which author would you highlight as your greatest reference? Will Eisner? Yes. I read his statements highlighting his work when defining sequential art. I hated Will Eisner and he hated me. I don't mean your job, part of your job is fine. But I hated him as much as he hated me. And that was too much! But that was fine. it's okay. The names I carry on my shoulders are Gil Kane, Gray Morrow, Wallace Wood, Neal Adams and Joe Orlando. Now that he mentions those great and revered authors, from outside the industry he surprises how other veteran authors who still maintain a good level do not they find projects in which to develop their work, case of Mike Zeck, Ron Frenz or Roger Stern. I don't know. I am an invisible man for the comic book industry. I am a marginal talent. But I know how good I am, this is not self-contempt. But I also recognize the fact that the way to achieve fame and power in the comic book business is to join a superhero and do it for a couple of years, in order to create a fan base. And that was something I never did. I am also not interested in the type of stories in which these people are interested. I like other genres. I like the stories of the west, of war, of folleteo ... I don't consider myself to be in the same class or category as most of the industry. And I am in another place, I am a different type. You have compared yourself with Robert Altman, but I have a friend, very fan of yours, who defines him as "a Billy Wilder of the comic, but with swear words, violence and sex" ... Do you feel comfortable with that comparison? Mmmm ... I also have friends. Is it really a friend? Or is someone invented, an imaginary friend? Yes, the last time I saw him there was. He had moved, still with little hair ... Do you have a bald friend? Is it a 'skinhead'? A 'crypto-nazi'? Not that I know, well, I'm not a bad boy. I am a coward. It could be rude, but I hug Billy Wilder. But it is true that I am swearing all the time. I think it gives me character. But I won't insult your friend for the comparison because I don't know him. And I only insult the people I know. [Shut up a few seconds] Fuck that guy! From your work in the big comic companies, what do you remember with love? Or rather, do you remember something with love? Maybe its beginnings in 'Star Wars' or its passage through Marvel and DC? Nothing. Nothing really. They were jobs for which they paid me. And not well. But hey, I don't care. In the last year we have been left with two capital figures of the North American comic book as were Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. What image do you have of them? Stan Lee? What is dead And he won't come back, it's over. I crashed three times and could not have cared less. I mean ... I've said it before and I repeat it now: Jack Kirby invented Stan Lee. Stan Lee is the reason why the comic book business exists today, but it is also the reason why the only type of comics that comes out today is that type of comic that Stan Lee would tolerate. He eliminated anything other than the type of prawns he made. Therefore, Stan's death had no impact on me. Although I know that one of my colleagues, whom I hate and despise, made a comment that his life changed after meeting him. This woman has to leave more of her house, I mean it. And do you admire an active author? Oh, yes, of course ... But do you really want to know who I mean? [Laughs] I love the work of Walter Simonson. And Eduardo Risso's ... And I like Alan Moore as a writer ... And I think that's enough for that.According to the criteria of
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