American Century

Over 27 issues from 2001 to 2003, DC’s American Century was a hard-boiled, period crime saga written primarily by David Tischman, Howard Chaykin, and Jason Hall, with art by Marc Laming, Luke Ross, and Chaykin himself. Set in the paranoid, jazz-soaked underbelly of 1950s America, the series followed a down-on-his-luck pilot entangled with the CIA, the mob, and a mysterious stolen briefcase. A gritty, politically charged thriller, it stands as a sharp, underappreciated gem from DC’s early-2000s mature-readers line, blending noir atmosphere with Chaykin’s signature cynical edge.