There’s no rest for the weary, and one of borg.com‘s favorite writer/artists, Howard Chaykin, seems to be proving that, producing new stories and art everywhere you turn.  In 2013 he is working on two new comic book series that take a nostalgic look back to the middle of the 20th century.  Chaykin is serving as series artist on Satellite Sam, and artist and writer bringing Buck Rogers and the 25th Century back to comics.  Where the Buck Rogers monthly will be a straightforward classic take on the character, Satellite Sam will look at a TV serial character like Buck Rogers and the actor behind the role.

Chaykin and writer Matt Fraction (Hawkeye) take a dark look at the Golden Age of television with Image Comics’ Satellite Sam.  The innocence portrayed in 1950s television is contrasted with real life Hollywood when Carlyle Bishop, star of the TV series Satellite Sam is found dead in the not so glitzy part of town.  His son Michael finds a box of sleazy photos, which opens up a detective story into a life far different from that portrayed on TV.  It sounds a bit like it may reflect the type of short and complex lives of real-life actors George Reeves (The Adventures of Superman) and Bob Crane (Hogan’s Heroes) in a Sunset Boulevard setting.

Later in the year Hermes Press will release Chaykin’s four issue series Buck Rogers and the 25th Century, bringing back to comic books the “first, best, and original sci-fi hero.”  Chaykin’s unique style will pair nicely with the classic character who first dazzled newspaper comic readers more than 80 years ago.  Chaykin is returning the character to its roots: Buck Rogers, former World War I ace is accidentally suspended in time only to awaken to a new and different earth, 500 years in the future, fragmented by war and ruled by an omnipotent force.  Buck, along with Colonel Wilma Deering, begin a new fight to free the United States… from the future ruling Chinese.

Satellite Sam Issue #1 hits comic book stores July 3, 2013, and Buck Rogers and the 25th Century Issue #1 is scheduled for release in August.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com