Hey Kids! Comics!

Today, the properties that originated in comic books are big business. Superhero stories spawn huge franchises that cross over various media platforms and used to sell a myriad of products. But the people responsible for creating these often beloved and highly commercial characters and stories are often buried in obscurity, relegated to a single line of a movie credit (if they are lucky), or often cut out of receiving any credit at all. Famously, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster sold Superman to what would be called DC Comics for $130 and spent decades trying to be compensated for their creation. Jack Kirby created or co-created pretty much every character in the original Marvel Universe, but he received no royalties, and worse yet mostly people attribute his work to Stan Lee. Even more recently, Thanos creator Jim Starlin feuded with Marvel over compensation over the main villain for a movie that had a $1.2 billion opening weekend. Such situations of inequity are the focus of this book, Hey Kids! Comics! that chronicles the lives of several fictional comics creators.

It features several characters over the course of eight decades, and they appear to be based on specific familiar figures as well as some composite characters. The main three, Ted Whitman, Benita Heindel, and Ray Clarke, all shed a unique light on the comics industry. Whitman is an African American artist, working in a field dominated by white men. Heindel is a white woman also trying to navigate this world. Clarke is a white man, but he is a freelancer who bounces between companies and gets a wide look at goings on in comics as a whole. Over the years, they deal with the low regard and low pay of the job, ego-maniacal publishers and editors, turbulent years when comics companies were in financial distress, and the need to be adaptable in order to survive in multiple times of change.

 

 

 

As a person pretty well versed in comic book history, I recognize that a bunch of the stories told here cleave closely to actual events, albeit in fictionalized fashion. They are fascinating, gripping tales that offer a counterpoint to the glam and glitter associated (especially with) superheroes today. The storytelling is tight, the characters are strong and memorable. The biggest issue I had with the book was keeping up with it large cast of characters and time shifts, but after the first chapter I got into the swing and rhythm of the book and everything clicked along well. I feel this book is complex enough that rereading it is rewarding, so it has that in its favor as well.

This volume collects what was a five-issue series, and it was created by Howard Chaykin, a veteran comics maker with decades of experience. He cut his teeth in the industry as an assistant to legends Gil Kane (who I feel is the inspiration for the Clarke character) and Wally Wood. He notably drew some of the initial Star Wars comic books for Marvel in the 1970s, but it was in the 1980s that he really began making his mark transforming comic books with his independent series American Flagg! and the X-rated Black Kiss. He has numerous comics credits since then, and he speaks more about his work on Hey Kids! Comics! in this interview and also writes more about it in this article.

The reviews I have seen about this book have been mixed. Dan Traeger concluded, "I highly recommend this if you’re a fan of comic book history, or if you’re a fan of Chaykin’s historical fiction." Alan Boon wrote, "If you’re even a casual student of comic book history, and aren’t averse to seeing Stan Lee pulled down off his pedestal and given a beating with a rock in a sock, then this could hold some interest for you." Cole offered some interesting insights in his review at The Perfect Bound Podcast. Derek and I also discussed the first two issues in this episode of The Comics Alternative podcast.

Hey Kids! Comics! was  published by Image Comics, and they offer a preview and much more info about it here.