Fantagraphics released its latest Lost Marvels series, Howard Chaykin Vol. 1, which collects some little-seen 1970s Chaykin work featuring Dominic Fortune, Monark Starstalker, among other things. It’s fantastic to see collections from the Bronze Age that don’t feature the heroes. Marvel and DC both do a lousy job of making the non-hero titles easily accessible. Chaykin is a living legend, and all of his large volume of work should be collected—regardless of the genre.
However, with all that said, I cannot in good faith recommend the latest Lost Marvels volume. When I first heard the new series, I was thrilled. The basic idea is to gather lesser-known, forgotten, or previously uncollected Marvel Comics stories from the 1960s through the 1980s. The collections focus on non-superhero comics, showcasing unusual, quirky, and obscure titles that, despite their artistic value, were overlooked or “lost” within Marvel’s extensive publishing legacy.
The latest volume breaks that rule, because it includes the Marvel Dominic Fortune MAX series from 2009, and also includes the 2008 War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle. While it may not be collected in a trade, I’m reasonably sure, without too much trouble, I can find either series at one of my local comic shops. The addition of these two series does not fit into the Lost Years concept.
I am usually the biggest cheerleader when it comes to comic books, and a quick scan of my columns will show how seldom I do anything negative. Maybe it’s because I feel like the least volume comes off as a money grab, poaching off Chaykin’s name. Perhaps it’s because I recently broke my leg and am off my feet for a couple of months, and I am feeling more grumpy than usual. But I feel disappointed with the latest volume, especially when I expect more from Fantagrahics, which usually delivers quality trades.
I would have been perfectly fine if calling it some kind of Chaykin collection, minus The Lost Years, because—like I said,everything out there should be collected. His impact on comics over the decades is incalculable. He deserves better representation than the misleading collection of comics.
The first collection was all nine issues of the horror anthology Tower of Shadows, which featured work, and this is only a sample, of Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith, Stan Lee, and John Buscema. All these creators got to show their talent in a different genre that fans might not expect.
The third volume in Fantagraphics’ Lost Marvels series, collecting all eight issues of the long-out-of-print, tough-minded 1980s run of Savage Tales, comes out in November. The collection will feature hard-edged adventure tales that traverse gangster-infested cities, bloody historical conflicts, dangerous frontier territories, and bleak post-apocalyptic wastelands, all told with a mixture of harsh drama and black humor. 
The contributor list reads like a hall of fame, featuring legendary artists John Severin, John Buscema, Sam Glanzman, Val Mayerik, Ron Wagner, Grey Morrow, Wayne Vansant, Herb Trimpe, Michael Golden, Joe Jusko, Mary Wilshire, Arthur Suydam, Will Jungkuntz, Vincent Waller, Ralph Reese, Bill Wray, and Ken Steacy, alongside acclaimed writers Chuck Dixon, Robert Kanigher, and Denny O’Neil.
If you are truly curious or uncertain if you want to add it to your collection—because it is a fantastic collection, just not a Lost Years—it is available to borrow via Hoopla, one of the best places to sample new comic books.
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