REVIEW: American Century #1

Written by Howard Chaykin & David Tischman
Penciled by Marc Laming
Review by Will Dubbeld

I’ve discovered a strange predilection for picking up Howard Chaykin comics.  I bought, on the cheap, a good chunk of American Flagg after having read but 2 or so issues.  Satellite Sam? Preordered. Blackhawk, Shadow, Century West, Midnight of the Soul, etcetera etcetera.
All of ‘em. Either preordered or gleaned from the nation’s Dollar Boxes.
The odd thing is, I’m not entirely sure why.
His early work was technically adept, but his art certainly seems to have degraded a bit over the years and his writing, while always pushing the envelope, always shoehorns in lurid sex and racial slurs almost to excess.

Whatever issues I have with Howard Chaykin’s writing and art certainly doesn’t dissuade me from picking up a 14-or so issue run of his American Century series.
For example…
Just to pluck something random out of the aether…  

American Century refers to what 1941 editor of Time Magazine, Henry Luce, believed the United State’s role should be in the 20th Century.  Luce advocated a goodwill missionary stance and advocated involvement in WWII to defend and spread democracy.
Whether Chaykin means to weave that mindset into the book later or just liked the nostalgic-sounding name remains to be seen.

As it stands, American Century starts out with an adulteress screwing around on her husband, and by page 4, we’re blessed with some good ol’ fashioned bigotry. Granted, the book’s set in 1949 and everybody’s grandfather tossed around ‘nigger’ and ‘sheenie’ casually (or so I would imagine…), but moderation in all things.  Howard Chaykin seems like he writes bits like that, ‘tee-hees’ to himself because he wrote something naughty, and then follows through with a graphic depiction of a blowjob.
In any case, American Century revolves around the misadventures of Harry Block, WWII veteran and airline pilot. Harry is trapped in a spiral of self-loathing and distaste for his job, his wife who appears shrewish yet prone to infidelity, and his vapid circle of false friends.

Respite comes in the form of a draft letter from Uncle Sam, which brings up some interesting questions.  I’m not an expert on US military history, but my gut didn’t sit well with some of the suppositions here.
As a WWII veteran who presumably served for the duration of the war plus 6 months, is Harry even eligible for the draft having already enlisted/been drafted?
Harry mentions being sent to Southeast Asia and a bus driver bids him, “kill a gook for me” (or somesuch), but the US didn’t enter the Korean War until 1950.  For what conflict was he drafted?
Truman initiated a peacetime draft in 1948, but I’m pretty sure that was to bolster the armed forces to compete with the soviets. Not go screw around in Asia.
I dunno, maybe I’m off-base here. I’m either less-educated than previously thought or Chaykin didn’t do his homework.

None of this really matters in the long run, however, as Harry promptly fakes his death and buggers off to South America.  Whiling away his days with literature and booze, Block happens to meet a smuggler in need of a pilot and the set-dressing is there for illicit activity and adventure in future issues.

Vintage pulpy feelings aside, the issue was mediocre.  Stereotypical Howard Chaykin fare for the most part although he’s got a small editorial that shed some light on the series.  It seems Chaykin was a fan of Milton Caniff’s ‘Steve Canyon’ comic strip and American Century is a bit of a negative-flip of that strip.  For those out of the loop, Steve Canyon was a long-running newspaper strip in the vein of Mark Trail or Prince Valiant, I suppose, telling the tales of an adventuring war veteran pilot and his air cargo business. Okay, this could work.
If Howard can call a moratorium on misogyny and slurs this could evolve into an enjoyable read.
Time, and the next baker’s dozen issues, will tell.