Buck
Rogers #1 of 4 (Hermes
Press)
They
say that a functional definition of insanity is doing the same thing
over and over again expecting a different result. I may fit the
bill. I have never cared for the writing of Howard Chaykin – and
yet I have tried various of his comics over the years thinking that
if he's as great as everyone thinks he is maybe I'll like this one.
His art I actually kind of like, and in fact think it fits very well
for something like we have here, the retro-flavored attempted revival
of a beloved quasi-pulp character who deserves much more modern
exposure. But I find myself invariably put off by the generally
politically-charged revisionism that he usually imposes on such
projects as he undertakes, which is invariably pretty much
diametrically opposite to my own values. Add to that my belief,
based on various things I've read and heard about him (seemingly
confirmed in an about-the-author blurb appended to a two-page
interview here, that “[h]e has a terrible reputation
among fans for profanity, limited patience with nonsense, and spite”)
as well as from him
(see below), that I would not like him very much as a person, and I
can't give you a good reason that I keep giving him repeated chances.
But I do. Almost invariably with the same result as here –
visceral revulsion.
