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tittypete's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know if it was the way the dialog bubbles were laid out but I found this comic confusing to read. I really dug the concept at first but then it seemed to just meander and fizzle. Looks good though. Wouldn't really recommend.
eddyfate's review against another edition
4.0
I read this in the early 90s, and remembers it being a good cyberpunk story in the vein of Judge Dredd that left me feeling vaguely uncomfortable. Rereading it now, both its quality and sense of discomfort are amplified. It has areas that haven't aged well, naturally, but a Jewish man struggling against a Nazi-affiliated organization trying to take over the United States is disturbingly prescient.
mjfmjfmjf's review
3.0
I think my brain melted. I remember American Flagg as being better than this. Then again it was breaking new ground when it came out. It was edgy and the writing was cool - sure the art was a bit jarring but I've seen loads that were unintentionally horrible and this is just stylistically different. Actually in lots of ways it still felt pretty current - pretty good for something 30 years old. But definitely not enjoyable. Still good to see the lots of the First Comics runs are still easily available.
darylnash's review against another edition
2.0
I tried. I really really tried to like this.
Michael Chabon gave it a glowing review in his Maps and Legends which was the spur for me to read this comic that I remember seeing prominently featured in shops and magazines when I was a kid. However, I was a little too young for it when the series started, and I never got around to trying it later. Well, I might have waited too late.
Chaykin's art is definitely the high point.
Unfortunately, the writing can't keep up. It's a series of incidents and characters intended to shock and outrage; which it does--some things perhaps more now than in the 80s. This is obviously satire, but do I fault myself or the work for sometimes being confused as to the targets? Maybe forty years distance has blunted its edge, but I think it was more broad than focused in the first place.
The transitions between scenes are almost non-existent, so following the action became more of a chore than it was worth. The characters never felt distinct enough for me to know or care who was who. And I'm pretty sure the dialogue was supposed to be funny but I didn't laugh once.
American Flagg does seem somewhat prescient, but I'm not sure that's a marker of how successful the book is or rather a commentary on how stupid our present era is.
If this was great, I didn't get it.
(Read in individual issues.)
Michael Chabon gave it a glowing review in his Maps and Legends which was the spur for me to read this comic that I remember seeing prominently featured in shops and magazines when I was a kid. However, I was a little too young for it when the series started, and I never got around to trying it later. Well, I might have waited too late.
Chaykin's art is definitely the high point.
Unfortunately, the writing can't keep up. It's a series of incidents and characters intended to shock and outrage; which it does--some things perhaps more now than in the 80s. This is obviously satire, but do I fault myself or the work for sometimes being confused as to the targets? Maybe forty years distance has blunted its edge, but I think it was more broad than focused in the first place.
The transitions between scenes are almost non-existent, so following the action became more of a chore than it was worth. The characters never felt distinct enough for me to know or care who was who. And I'm pretty sure the dialogue was supposed to be funny but I didn't laugh once.
American Flagg does seem somewhat prescient, but I'm not sure that's a marker of how successful the book is or rather a commentary on how stupid our present era is.
If this was great, I didn't get it.
(Read in individual issues.)
jackb_93's review against another edition
A true auteurist vision, with all the author’s personal quirks and preoccupations on show. An almost impossibly dense concoction sometimes, this is a work of barely restrained ambition, of a jazz player, having been stuck playing rhythm in various pickup bands, finally getting to be bandleader and already trying for masterpieces. The talk is very fast, and the art is alternately immaculately designed, then jagged and sparse. The story moves at 600 mph and expects you to keep up. It seems like all the various prominent political factions of the 80s feature, making it necessary to have brushed up on your late Cold War history to get the most out of this. As a stew of the Western, post-Blade Runner sci-fi, Cold War politics, media satire, Chandleresque one-liners, US excursions into Latin America, jazz riffs, well-dressed Jewish heroes fighting neo-Nazis and peripheral celluloid porn aesthetic, there’s undoubtedly nothing else quite like it
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