Wednesday, June 7, 2017

The Divided States of Hysteria #1


Chaykin’s America

The President and his Cabinet have been killed in a coup attempt. As a result, the intelligence community is in panic mode. Swarms of drones survey the nation. These flyers tag potential threats to the American way of life and then smite the potential offender out with prejudice. This sort of surveillance is making every American paranoid and the walls of democracy look like they are about to come tumbling down.
Howard Chaykin (American Flagg) crafts this story about modern America in order to ask some very deep questions. Should we lose our freedoms in order to remain free from lawlessness? How far is too far to go to protect democracy? Does America even deserve being being saved if it loses it’s soul in the process?

An Envelope Pushed Too Far?

Divided States of Hysteria debuts on June 7. However, I’ve seen a little bit of anger already towards this series from people posting about it on Facebook. Howard Chaykin will not deny that he is a very liberal person with a patriotic streak. Works like his American Flagg are proof of that. As a result, Chaykin has made quite a few enemies in the comics industry, including a portion of his fan base.
When it comes to Divided States, some readers are angered by Chaykin’s excessive use of violence, sex, and Quentin Tarantino’s favorite F-word. One such post in a Facebook group claimed that the writer/artist was too anti-Republican and trying to be ‘controversial for controversy’s sake.’ But I don’t think that this book was the same as a comedienne raising a bloody decapitated of an elected official.
Howard Chaykin may have killed off the President. But he doesn’t say that the assassinated leader of the free world is Donald Trump. Numerous writers and TV series have killed off world leaders as a plot device for stories about the war on terror and the loss of privacy. It’s not a new thing, nor is it a political statement when it happens. When issue #1 hits store shelves later this week, it will piss off quite a few readers. But that’s not why I was not a fan of Divided States.

Nowhere To Escape

When I read a comic these days, I want to be able to escape from reality. Yes – I love the relevant comics of O’Neill and Adams among others. Yes – the medium has been and is still a premium outlet to speak out about social injustice. However, I am getting a little burned out with the constant stream of horrors going around in the world and at home. I need a break from tragedy to stay a little sane. Often, I need the insanity of the Tick or the surrealism of Deadpool to stay grounded in reality. Howard Chaykin’s newest series is not the best way to do that.
When it comes to information overload, this book is set to the max. The Divided States of Hysteria is very chaotic. But it’s not a fun chaos like Marvel’s Slapstick. Every page is filled with computer gibberish, Twitter-like posts, and insane levels of information. I liked the touch where Chaykin gives one villain the last name of Noone (as in No One.) It was one of the few Easter eggs I took pleasure in uncovering.
Speaking of touches, I felt that Chaykin’s art showed some serious decline. There were panels I could not tell if it was really Chaykin’s work or unused images of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight III. This kind of thing happens to artists are they get older and it’s very sad. Maybe it’s time that Chaykin sticks to just writing the stories from now on.
This series would make a great thriller if it didn’t hit so very close to home. The first issue of the Divided States of America reads almost like the daily newspaper, if those paper journals weren’t an almost forgotten relic of the past. Lone Wolf terror attacks at a major transportation hub. An angry man with a grudge goes postal on an innocent group of people. A transgendered person is brutally assaulted when their secret is exposed. I didn’t just read it in a Image Comic – I saw it last night on CNN!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.


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