And then I was thinking about Howard Chaykin again: I had mentioned I thought his Marvel work lately seemed like slumming it, but I was thinking mainly of Punisher War Journal, which I saw a couple times but wasn't loving. Partly, that's because it's gonna be a while before anyone beats Garth Ennis on that one. And, of course, then I had forgotten Chaykin did a MAX issue with Ennis. From Punisher MAX #50:
And I forgot completely about War is Hell: the First Flight of the Phantom Eagle, the miniseries they did together, about Marvel's World War I flying ace. Well, I didn't so much as forget about it, as balk at paying twenty bucks for the series. (Give or take.) Especially since while I loved Ennis' Enemy Ace, Phantom Eagle doesn't sound as interesting--I think he starts the series as an idealistic but clueless dolt, then slowly has his eyes opened to the terrible nature of the war. With swears! It may or may not load, but I don't like the John Cassaday cover for #3, to me it looks like the Eagle was hit on the head, or like a Lucky Charms ad...
Anyway, so Chaykin can still bring it when he needs to. Still think he could direct the hell out of a movie if he wanted, though...
Chaykin can indeed bring it when he actually feels like it, but too often lately, it seems as though he's been phoning it in. Which is a shame.
ReplyDelete