American Century (comics)

American Century
Cover for American Century #1, art by Howard Chaykin.
Publication information
Publisher	Vertigo
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Crime
Publication date	May 2001 – October 2003
No. of issues	27
Main character(s)	Harry Block
Creative team
Created by	Howard Chaykin David Tischman
Written by	Howard Chaykin David Tischman
Penciller(s)	Marc Laming Luke Ross Lan Medina
Inker(s)	John Stokes Digital Chameleon
Letterer(s)	Ken Bruzenak Digital Chameleon John Costanza
Colorist(s)	Pamela Rambo Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh
Editor(s)	Shelly Bond Assistant editors: Will Dennis Mariah Huehner
Collected editions
Scars & Stripes	ISBN 978-1563897917
Hollywood Babylon	ISBN 978-1563898853

American Century is a comic book series published by DC Comics as a part of the Vertigo imprint starting in early 2001. It was co-written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman.^[1]

The story concerned a former American pilot who fakes his death and goes on the run in the 1950s. Chaykin intended it as a "left-wing version of Steve Canyon",^[2] and wrote all of the issues. The comic ran for 27 issues until 2003.

Plot

Harry Block, a World War II veteran, fakes his own death and makes his way to Central America to create a new identity for himself as Harry Kraft, a hard-drinking smuggler. During a war in Guatemala, a CIA operative blackmails Block into assassinating Rosa de Santiis, a popular leader in opposition to the CIA puppet dictator General Zavala. Afterward, he heads back to the United States, taking a road trip from Hollywood to Chicago to New York, exploring myriad avenues of 1950s American culture.

The comic ends with Block essentially turning into the character he had created for the fictional "Starburst Comics", a vigilante known as "Dr. Dream".^[1]

Collected editions

Some of the series has been collected into two trade paperbacks:

• Scars & Stripes (collects issues #1–4, DC/Vertigo, 2001, ISBN 1-56389-791-1)
• Hollywood Babylon (collects issues #5–9, DC/Vertigo, 2002, ISBN 1-56389-885-3)

References

1. Irvine, Alex (2008). "American Century". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-7566-4122-1. OCLC 213309015.
2. American Century #1 (March 2001, cover-dated May 2001)

External links

• American Century at the Grand Comics Database

Further reading

• Arnold, Andrew D. (May 25, 2001). "An 'American Century' of Unrepentant Crime". Time. Archived from the original on May 6, 2008.
• MacDonald, Heidi (March 25, 2003). "DAVID TISCHMAN ON CENTURY'S END". Comicon.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2010.