21st March 2008 (Berkeley, CA) - This July, Howard Chaykin's AMERICAN FLAGG! arrives for the series' 25th-anniversary in its much-anticipated, definitive, hardcover edition."This hardcover goes well beyond my wildest initial expectations," Chaykin said. "The past few years consisted of remastering and restoring every line of every panel on every page to ensure this is the best edition possible. I have been extremely fortunate to have both Image Comics and Dynamite Entertainment working hard on this hardcover, and they have made me, as a creator of one of my most personal works, as happy as possible. I couldn't be happier."
In AMERICAN FLAGG!'s dystopian future, America and its corporations have fled the Earth for the relative safety of Mars. Their abandoned planet has been ravaged by war and a recently fired television star, Reuben Flagg, becomes its reluctant champion. The award-winning series' first fourteen issues will be collected in a definitive edition hardcover designed by Chip Kidd and contains Chaykin's never-before-seen sketchbook and an all-new, 12-page story written and illustrated by Chaykin, all book-ended between an introduction by THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY author Michael Chabon and an afterword by ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN artist Jim Lee.
Image Comics Publisher Erik Larsen stated, "Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! was one of the series that defined the 1980s. Chaykin on American Flagg!, Simonson on Thor, Miller on Daredevil, Alan Moore on Swamp Thing -- that was the good stuff. Chaykin's book explored mature themes not common in comics at the time and the intense mix of satire and science fiction, coupled with his amazing art was applauded by readers the world over. Fans have been patiently waiting for this but we wanted this to be the definitive collection."
"The old adage of good things come to those who wait will prove itself again, once retailers and fans have the book in their hands," Dynamic Forces President, Nick Barrucci, added. "This is one of the first projects in which we were involved as a publisher, and it's taken longer than any other project. Reconstructing the pages has been harder than anyone of us could have imagined. We've all worked together and are bringing a piece of history to the fans and retailers, as this is Howard Chaykin's seminal work. Once we were finalizing the restoration, and realized we could have the hardcover in stores for the 25th-Anniversary, we decided to add more content by adding issues #13 and #14, the epilogues to the first 12-issue novel, to this collection. This collection will have a lot of material in one package, and, we hope, that when fans and retailers hold it in their hands, they will appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears we all put in to this book, to get it as right as possible."
The AMERICAN FLAGG! hardcover will be available in stores and then also at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2008. The first softcover volume (collecting issues #1-6 and the new story) will arrive in September with the second volume (#7-14) arriving in Winter.
© C Harris Lynn, 2008
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