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Satellite Sam: The Deluxe Edition
1951: Carlyle White creator and star of the daily children's show Satellite Sam turns up dead in the last place a struggling young television network wants its star to be found. His accidental death reveals a secret life, and the discoveries his son makes trying to piece together his father s last days will send him spiraling down a dark path of murder, sex, and obsession. This midnight-black roman noir weaves true stories of TV's golden age together with harrowing portraits of broken men and women struggling to hold on to their souls under bright lights and tabloid celebrity. By the award-winning team of Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals, ODY-C) and Howard Chaykin (Black Kiss, American Flagg!, The Shadow), this omnibus edition features all fifteen issues of Satellite Sam, plus special bonus materials and an all-new epilogue created especially for this collection."
400 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2015
2 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Matt Fraction
1,219 books1,855 followers"How he got started in comics: In 1983, when Fraction was 7 years old and growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he became fascinated by the U.S. invasion of Grenada and created his own newspaper to explain the event. "I've always been story-driven, telling stories with pictures and words," he said.
Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.
"My mother was not happy about that," he said.
But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."
Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.
Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.
Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."
Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.
- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.
Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.
"My mother was not happy about that," he said.
But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."
Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.
Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.
Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."
Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.
- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 20, 2015
Drama set in the early days of television
Set in 1951, this series (black and white in my digital edition) deals with Satellite Sam, a successful science fiction series during the early days of television. It’s about the workings, the competitiveness and machinations of 1950s television as well as solving a mystery about the show’s star. Blackmail, racism, murder and perversion are all part of the mix.
Perfect era for Howard Chaykin’s artwork (see The Shadow) but sometimes I had trouble remembering which character is which despite a castlist at the beginning (pain to keep accessing in the digital format).It also features good writing by Matt Fraction. Plenty of sex and violence if that’s your bag.
Set in 1951, this series (black and white in my digital edition) deals with Satellite Sam, a successful science fiction series during the early days of television. It’s about the workings, the competitiveness and machinations of 1950s television as well as solving a mystery about the show’s star. Blackmail, racism, murder and perversion are all part of the mix.
Perfect era for Howard Chaykin’s artwork (see The Shadow) but sometimes I had trouble remembering which character is which despite a castlist at the beginning (pain to keep accessing in the digital format).It also features good writing by Matt Fraction. Plenty of sex and violence if that’s your bag.
February 1, 2016
No other comic book writer had quite as strong an output between 2012 - 2015. With "Hawkeye" his only book at Marvel Comics, Fraction started Sex Criminals, Satellite Sam, and later Ody-C. Criminals and Ody-C are ongoing masterpieces in their own right, but "Sam," the first of them to finish, is the only one we can really look at in full. And it is an equal to its siblings, a great writer flexing newfound historical soap muscles.
"Satellite Sam" is a murder-mystery Mad Men set in the production offices of a postwar kid's television serial. When the star of the eponymous show is found dead, his son, a drunkard producer, sets about to discover the mystery behind his father's murder. What starts as a simple murder plot balloons into a enthusiastic exploration of the early days of cinema, 1950's politics, and sex.
It's wrong to write about "Sam" without bringing Howard Chaykin's work into the mix. I haven't read most of his older works in full - only "Black Kiss" and its sequel, with parts of others - but his art in "Satellite Sam" is perfect. Largely black & white, each character is drawn with vivid detail & variety. I'm going to have to pick up more of his work for enjoyment & comparison.
"Satellite Sam" is, hands down, one of the most important works on Fraction's C.V. It's the writer pared down - less loopy, zany, manic storytelling than the rest of his oeuvre but just as much character depth and heart.
"Satellite Sam" is a murder-mystery Mad Men set in the production offices of a postwar kid's television serial. When the star of the eponymous show is found dead, his son, a drunkard producer, sets about to discover the mystery behind his father's murder. What starts as a simple murder plot balloons into a enthusiastic exploration of the early days of cinema, 1950's politics, and sex.
It's wrong to write about "Sam" without bringing Howard Chaykin's work into the mix. I haven't read most of his older works in full - only "Black Kiss" and its sequel, with parts of others - but his art in "Satellite Sam" is perfect. Largely black & white, each character is drawn with vivid detail & variety. I'm going to have to pick up more of his work for enjoyment & comparison.
"Satellite Sam" is, hands down, one of the most important works on Fraction's C.V. It's the writer pared down - less loopy, zany, manic storytelling than the rest of his oeuvre but just as much character depth and heart.
February 3, 2017
Busy as hell, and the all black and white art doesn't always make telling characters apart the easiest, but damn if this isn't one of the better things Chaykin's been involved with in recent years. It's a tale of intrigue, sex, racism, murder, sex, politics, corporate backstabbing, sex, and sex behind the scenes at a fledgeling tv network in Fifties New York City, and it's a hell of a lot of fun to read.
December 22, 2017
Fraction's writing is certainly an improvement on Chaykin's recent efforts, which have been less than stellar. Still, Satellite Sam lacks a protagonist I really want to root for, which is an issue. Michael White is kind of a jerk. Fortunately some of the secondary 'good guys' picked up some slack in that regard.
Chaykin's art is well-suited to the story's era but I sometimes had trouble telling characters apart.
Chaykin's art is well-suited to the story's era but I sometimes had trouble telling characters apart.
November 22, 2020
Pretty good...expected a bit more from Fraction and Chaykin. But overall okay.
September 28, 2024
Matt Fraction’s love letter to Howard Chaykin. Meticulous and authentic. Brilliant.
April 27, 2016
Goodness. Overall a real work of art and very well plotted, but after a while there was only so much I could take.
July 9, 2016
Can't go wrong with Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews