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American Flagg #1 cover at HA.
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139 posts in this topic

I loved AF when it came out, and bought every issue. Even though the story-telling could be confusing, it was pretty groundbreaking in terms of art style, lettering, dialogue, and themes.

Perhaps the reason AF has lacked staying power is because the world we live in today is a little too close to the world Chaykin predicted.

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9 hours ago, J.Sid said:

I've been reading comics since the 80s and never had anyone tell me "you've got to read American Flagg."

Did the people you hung out with say things like "Marvel, dude, MARVEL!!!" ?

I was in college at the time and would tell every fellow comic reader/collector I ran into at the time that they needed to read American Flagg.  It was fantastic.

I can understand why people who were still young adolescents when it first came out would consider it to be a hard slog. :baiting:

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32 minutes ago, tth2 said:

Did the people you hung out with say things like "Marvel, dude, MARVEL!!!" ?

I was in college at the time and would tell every fellow comic reader/collector I ran into at the time that they needed to read American Flagg.  It was fantastic.

I can understand why people who were still young adolescents when it first came out would consider it to be a hard slog. :baiting:

I loved Indy stuff, but I can't say it was ever recommended to me by anyone either.   I guess there would be a mention sometimes in the comic press.   Maybe I just missed the heat on it with you guys being, I'm guessing, 3-5 years older than me.  

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55 minutes ago, tth2 said:

Did the people you hung out with say things like "Marvel, dude, MARVEL!!!" ?

I was in college at the time and would tell every fellow comic reader/collector I ran into at the time that they needed to read American Flagg.  It was fantastic.

I can understand why people who were still young adolescents when it first came out would consider it to be a hard slog. :baiting:

Not just Marvel at all-- Groo and TMNT as well!

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18 hours ago, Nexus said:

Yes, from a sales/hype/popularity standpoint, DKR and WM were major events. DKR #1 snuck up a bit on the audience, but it was a wall book before #2 even hit. WM, OTOH, was anticipated by nearly all upon announcement.

From a critical standpoint though, it was SWAMP THING, AF, MAGE, NEXUS, plus others like LOVE AND ROCKETS, which were considered the "best" current comics of that time. With DKR and WM later joining them.

And Cerebus.

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19 hours ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

I think this is going to happen with Preacher too. 

Eventually, probably. But for now, PREACHER is almost 25 years old, and is still going strong. By the time they were 25, AMERICAN FLAGG!, NEXUS, MAGE, et al, were all but forgotten. It didn't even take 25 years, it happened sooner. Largely due to not being available in easily accessible formats. PREACHER will be in print for a while, and as long as it does, should be OK.

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12 hours ago, Panelfan1 said:

Glad to see this topic raised. Was going to do so myself.

Interestingly to Felix's point  - there is another cover for sale at the same time and personally I like it much better. Less iconic for sure - but a more interesting image/composition.

Link

What are the estimated for the #1? 10k?15k? 20k? More. I truly have no idea how to judge this even though I used to own the comics. Ha ha.

 

lf.jpeg.jpg

Nice cover, but not interested. Not from the regular run, but from the later spinoff. Also, I disagree about image/composition. From that standpoint, AF #1 is one of the best, most memorable covers of the '80s IMO. The first image we see is a giant phallic symbol on the cover. Which announces Chaykin's intentions completely.

In terms of the OA, though, just a damn shame about the markers. That might hold the bidding back some. Or not. As this thread shows, there is clearly still a lot of regard for AF. Even if some of us might not be actively in the running, it should still do well. It's already at a number higher than any other AF pen/ink cover, and will only likely go up from there.

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2 hours ago, Bronty said:

I loved Indy stuff, but I can't say it was ever recommended to me by anyone either.   I guess there would be a mention sometimes in the comic press.   Maybe I just missed the heat on it with you guys being, I'm guessing, 3-5 years older than me.  

Yeah, you missed out on AF's peak, which was roughly the first 12 issues. You'll just have to trust me that it was transformative, and if you were a serious comics fan, you had to check it out. Unfortunately, like so many of those indies, it fell victim to the monthly grind. Those guys all burned out around year 2 or 3. So 3.5 years later, quality had fallen off dramatically.

In retrospect, would have just been better as a 12 issue limited series. Chaykin pretty much said everything he wanted to say by then. Unfortunately, that just wasn't how the market was set up in those days.

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4 minutes ago, Nexus said:

Yeah, you missed out on AF's peak, which was roughly the first 12 issues. You'll just have to trust me that it was transformative, and if you were a serious comics fan, you had to check it out. Unfortunately, like so many of those indies, it fell victim to the monthly grind. Those guys all burned out around year 2 or 3. So 3.5 years later, quality had fallen off dramatically.

In retrospect, would have just been better as a 12 issue limited series. Chaykin pretty much said everything he wanted to say by then. Unfortunately, that just wasn't how the market was set up in those days.

You also had Chaykin turn over the drawing to other people, and eventually even the writing and plotting. Although, the Alan Moore mini run on it is kind of interesting.

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8 hours ago, PhilipB2k17 said:

You also had Chaykin turn over the drawing to other people, and eventually even the writing and plotting. Although, the Alan Moore mini run on it is kind of interesting.

If memory serves me, "turn over" wasn't the story I remember. I believe it wasn't all sweetness and light. He wasn't all that unhappy it eventually failed when he wasn't on it.

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Here is the story on the AF#1 cover.

 

 I can't remember the year it was close to about one year from its debut...But I bought the AF1 cover AND  one interior page---title page from Howard himself for $600 at SDCC. He brought a stack of OA AF with him, there was one particular page I wanted to purchase that he would also not let go. I held that cover for 20 years or something like that and sold it to Joe when he had just joined HA for I think 10 times what I paid, maybe more...I think it was 6k and I threw in couple of other minor pieces. Here is a good thing, when I bought the cover, Howard did not have the overlay material with him...he promised to send me that in the mail and he DID...cool guy.  I REALLY really liked the "the stars my destination" graphic novel. In fact until this year I had two prime pieces as I had bought them from Mitch as I had the whole book to chose from and have finally traded them off. It's a great cover, and I have the best taste...LOL I agree, the first 12 issues are amazing for its time.

Edited by Mmehdy
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