Amazing Heroes #29
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAmazing Heroes #29 landed on shelves in August 1983, roughly two months before Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! #1 hit comic shops in October of that year — meaning this issue gave readers one of the earliest in-depth press previews of what would become one of the defining works of 1980s independent comics. American Flagg! went on to win the 1983 Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book and swept seven categories at the 1984 Eagle Awards, and its influence on later creators including Warren Ellis and Brian Michael Bendis has been widely acknowledged. That Amazing Heroes recognized and spotlighted the series before its debut speaks to the magazine's role as a forward-looking record of the direct-market boom, documenting the rise of creator-owned, adult-oriented alternatives to the Marvel/DC duopoly as it happened.
"Star Wars" in Amazing Heroes #29 (1983) offers a deep dive into the early days of American Flagg, featuring insights from writers Peter Sanderson and Howard Chaykin, who co-created the series. With concept sketches, select interior panels from the first arc, and a reprinted cover, this issue provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at the making of a groundbreaking comic, all drawn and inked by Howard Chaykin, whose distinctive style defines the visual identity of the series.
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By issue #29, Amazing Heroes had been running for just over two years under Fantagraphics Books, having pivoted from a magazine-sized format (used for the first thirteen issues) to a standard comic-book format beginning with #14 in 1982. The publishing imprint at this stage was Redbeard, Inc., the imprint that replaced the original Zam, Inc. starting with issue #7; Kim Thompson, who had taken over as editor from founding editor Michael Catron after #6, was steering the title's coverage. Fantagraphics conceived Amazing Heroes explicitly as a more fan-friendly complement to The Comics Journal — Kim Thompson later described the goal plainly as an effort to outcompete The Comic Reader for the hobbyist audience — and by mid-1983 the twice-monthly schedule meant the magazine could respond rapidly to developing industry stories like the impending launch of First Comics' ambitious new title.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August 1983 by Fantagraphics Books, Vol. 1, #29, as part of a twice-monthly schedule the magazine maintained for several years.
- Cover art supplied by Howard Chaykin, tying the issue's visual identity directly to its main subject.
- Primary feature: an in-depth article on Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, published approximately two months before that series' first issue reached shops in October 1983.
- American Flagg! — a creator-owned science-fiction political satire set in dystopian 2031 Chicago — debuted from First Comics, one of the earliest publishers to offer freelancers ownership of their creations.
- The issue also carried an installment of the Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson Star Wars newspaper comic strip, a reprint feature that ran throughout Amazing Heroes #1–59.
- At the time of publication, the magazine was issued under the Redbeard, Inc. imprint and edited by Kim Thompson, who had taken over the role after issue #6.
- American Flagg! subsequently won seven awards at the 1984 Eagle Awards and took the 1983 Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic Book, underscoring the prescience of Amazing Heroes' early spotlight on the series.
- Issue #29 falls within the comic-book-sized era of the run; the title had converted from a magazine format to standard comic-book dimensions beginning with issue #14 in mid-1982.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #19 (1960), Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #26 (1961), Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #56 (1961), Superman #149 (1961), Batman #151 (1962), Superman #166 (1964), Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #46 (1964), World's Finest Comics #153 (1965), Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #64 (1966), Superman #194 (1967), Superman #200 (1967), World's Finest Comics #178 (1968), Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #89 (1969), Action Comics #391 (1970), Superman #230 (1970), Batman #300 (1978), American Flagg! #3 (1983)
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