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CHAYKIN RETURNS TO ILLUSTRATION WITH
'MIGHTY LOVE' OGN
by Matt Brady (Newsarama)
No
stranger to the writing side of comics for the last few years,
fans of Howard Chaykin have been almost of one voice in wondering
one thing – when would the creator get back to illustrating?
Behold – a cause for celebration among Chaykin fans
- Mighty Love, a 96-page graphic novel coming
this summer from DC, written and illustrated by Chaykin. Newsarama
had a chance to speak with the creator for the details.
For a quick idea of what Mighty Love is
all about, think You’ve Got Mail, or more accurately,
the earlier inspirations for Nora Ephron’s film, such
as In the Good Old Summertime, The Shop Around
the Corner, and She Loves Me - with superheroes.
Really.
The big picture – Delaney Pope and Lincoln Reinhart,
hard nose cop and public defender by day (respectively) who
despise one another during the day, and costumed hero (Skylark
and the Iron Angel, respectively) by night. Attraction ensues
– at night. With the masks.
Skylark is a sexy, sultry crime fighter with a passion for
social justice. If you’re a crooked cop, or abusing
power, Skylark is looking for you. Meanwhile, Iron Angel is
a combat-gear wearing vigilante who goes after the city’s
criminals with a vengeance. The two meet when a million dollars
in cash is stolen from a motivational seminar, and though
at loggerheads about how to proceed, each immediately feels
an attraction towards the other. As each continues to deal
with the other in their costumed identities, both share their
issues with their therapist.
But – if you’re a long-time Chaykin fan, back
off of the idea that this is somehow related to Black
Kiss, and will delve into the fetishistic nature
of costumes, masks, and the possible sexual gratification
one might receive from beating on other people. It’s
nothing quite that dark. Instead, think romantic comedy.
With colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Kurt Hathaway, and
edits by Joey Cavalieri, the creator-owned Mighty
Love is the first of many more upcoming projects
that Chaykin will create, write and illustrate.
Finally, as an aside, if you’re wondering where Chaykin
has been recently that’s prevented him from drawing
anything, it boils down to two letters: T and V. The acclaimed
comics creator made the jump to television production in the
late ‘80s, and has been increasingly more involved with
that over the years since. Most recently, Chaykin was a producer
on the syndicated Mutant X series. Leaving that gave
him free time and hand that was itchy to hold a pen again.
Newsarama: First off, where did Mighty
Love come from? Is it something that’s been
germinating in the back of your mind while other things were
on the front burners?
Howard Chaykin: The germ of this came from
my wife--who asked me why there weren’t anymore love
comics. I explained that all comics are love comics, because
they’re all soap opera. That wasn’t what she wanted
to hear, so she pushed and badgered me, and ultimately what
emerged was the title, Mighty Love--the idea
of doing a screwball romantic comedy with people wearing masks.
The natural source of that would be The Shop Around the
Corner, You’ve Got Mail, and all those
stories of mistaken identities.
NRAMA: So it’s those stories, with
superheroes?
HC: Yeah. One of the basic tenets of superhero
comics is the secret identity.
NRAMA: Except here we’ve got Delaney
and Lincoln instead of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Can you give
a sketch of each? Let’s start with Delaney…
HC: She’s an honest cop in a dishonest
administration. Her politics are centrist/right. She’s
a Catholic girl with a strong moral streak and a certain heartsickness
about some of the things she has to do on her job, because
she recognizes that the people she works for are corrupt.
She acts this out in a neurotic way by becoming Skylark at
night.
NRAMA: And Lincoln?
HC: Lincoln is a limousine liberal –
a product of an upper middle class upbringing and education,
who’s a defense attorney. He has the same heartsickness
because of the legal system he works in – he finds himself
working for people he despises. At night he becomes the Iron
Angel, a hard-boiled, take-no-prisoners asskicker.
These two know each other in their professional lives, and
they frequently find themselves on opposite sides of a witness
box. They meet behind masks, and develop what ultimately evolves
into a romantic relationship.
NRAMA: So, while they’re on the different
side of the coin in their day jobs, at night, they get the
same kind of…relief, for lack of a better word, from
the mask.
HC: Right. The masks give them an opportunity
to live without compromise—as opposed to their day to
day lives of constant compromise. They’re both a little
neurotic, but the masks take care of a lot of those neuroses,
and they’re having a good time.
NRAMA: Is this set in a “real”
world rather than a superhero universe?
HC: Absolutely. It takes place in an unnamed,
great American city, in my view of the real world. It’s
now. There aren’t a lot of guys running around shooting
lightning bolts from their eyes, and no sharks with lasers
on their heads.
NRAMA: When you mentioned the origination
of the idea - given the subject and the fact that the superhero
involvement in the story is minimal, in that Delany and Lincoln
are the only ones, are you looking for this to bridge the
gap between superhero and non-superhero readers, or hell with
it, just tell a good story?
HC: Just tell a good story. I wish I was
cannier in terms of my choices of material, because I would
be wealthier, happier, and have more comfort and privacy,
which is really all I want out of the world. I tend to do
what I feel like doing, and hope that people like it. That’s
it.
NRAMA: You’re bringing in a therapist
to it, which undoubtedly helps with the exposition…
HC: True, but at no point will I say, “Look!
Look! Therapist!” It’s part of the story. I’m
not fond of spelling everything out for the reader. I work
hard enough on this stuff, so I expect a little more time
from readers to read it and figure it all out. Characters
don’t constantly refer to one another by their full
names, and they don’t constantly remind one another
of who they are. I don’t want to force the reader to
stop while I have someone explain something that they should
already know. I’d much rather just keep telling the
story.
NRAMA: Fair enough. So what about the balancing
act – in a story like this, sooner or later, the reveal
has to come out…
HC: Not in this one.
NRAMA: They don’t?
HC: Nope. I chose not to reveal the identities
to one another.
NRAMA: Okay – that certainly will
take things in a different direction. Moving away from the
story – recently, you’ve been writing comics,
but this is the first one where you’ve done the full
art. What pushed you to do it?
HC: I learned years ago that if I’ve
got a full-time job staffing a television series, I can’t
draw a book. It’s too work intensive. I’m not
staffing right now, and I had a big chunk of time, dove in,
and discovered how much I’ve missed it. I had no clue
how much missed it, and I’m going to be doing this for
at least the next several years. I’m having a better
time now than I’ve had in a long time.
NRAMA: From looking at the preview art,
it looks as if you haven’t missed a beat – your
nearly obsessive attention to detail is still there.
HC: Yeah, I’m pretty production-based.
American Flagg!, Time2,
and even Black Kiss anticipated the arrival
of Photoshop. A lot of the stuff I used to do with a copier,
I’m now able to do with Photoshop.
NRAMA: So the old dog is learning new tricks..
HC: With the help of an assistant who is
teaching me how to do this. Teach one, learn one, do one.
His name is Don Cameron, the guy who did Cyberella.
He’s a crack computer guy, and he’s responsible
for the computer effects in Mighty Love.
NRAMA: When you say you see yourself doing
this for the next several years, are you talking of Mighty
Love, or others?
HC: A sequel is certainly in the offing,
but I am also in the process of setting up a couple of new
concepts that I’ll write and draw.
NRAMA: With Mighty Love, despite what you
said about having more fun now than when you’re staffing
television shows, is this something that you could see yourself
carrying over to television or movies?
HC: Absolutely. One of the reasons to work
in comics today is to create properties with ancillary value
in other media. So if I’m doing a creator-owned property,
I’m trying to create something that generates interest
outside of comics. But for now, finishing this is my number
one priority—and I’m having a great time.
The following three pages occur sequentially just prior to
the pages with Skylark and Iron Angel on them calling the
police. Click the thumbnails for larger versions.
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