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Satellite Sam #1
NEW YORK CITY, 1951: The star of beloved daily television serial "Satellite Sam" turns up dead in a flophouse filled with dirty secrets. The police think it was death by natural causes but his son knows there was something more? if only he could sober up long enough to do something about it. This noir mystery shot through with sex and violence exposes the seedy underbelly of the golden age of television.
30 pages, Comic
First published July 3, 2013
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Matt Fraction
1,221 books1,864 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 3, 2014
Since this is an Image book by Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin, I came in expecting at least two things: sex and beautiful women in lingerie. The first issue delivers both, with the latter an ongoing mystery that would probably drive this series later on.
It wasn't a home run. One, it was hard to read. Fraction used a lot of television production terminology that I really had a hard time to follow and I almost lost interest. Two, the art wasn't in color and although that isn't necessarily a bad thing as I would explain later. it makes identifying the characters a chore.
The only good thing I saw in the first issue was the art. Yes, I just complained that it is in black and white but it preserved all of Chaykin's lineart and detail which was usually covered by the color in his other works. Fraction drew this book to Chaykin's strengths: women in lingerie and a 1950's setting.
It wasn't a home run. One, it was hard to read. Fraction used a lot of television production terminology that I really had a hard time to follow and I almost lost interest. Two, the art wasn't in color and although that isn't necessarily a bad thing as I would explain later. it makes identifying the characters a chore.
The only good thing I saw in the first issue was the art. Yes, I just complained that it is in black and white but it preserved all of Chaykin's lineart and detail which was usually covered by the color in his other works. Fraction drew this book to Chaykin's strengths: women in lingerie and a 1950's setting.
September 2, 2019
Not my cup of tea.
June 10, 2014
Very confused
I chose the title as I was looking for a new graphic novel"comic book" and I felt like the story left me confused. maybe structure the story more or make a decisive role in it.
I chose the title as I was looking for a new graphic novel"comic book" and I felt like the story left me confused. maybe structure the story more or make a decisive role in it.
December 3, 2023
I am intrigued, but I'm not sure what any of that was about. I loved the snappy intensity of filming live TV and the dialogue was able to capture that rushed feeling. In terms of a single issue and not having the reveal of what the woman found in the room, that wasn't good, but Matt Fraction's reveals usually pay off so I'm choosing to not hold it against him. I'm honestly mostly impressed, because I feel like I've never read a comic quite like this one so I might have to get my hands on the trade and find out more to make a true assessment.
August 18, 2016
I emailed Howard Chaykin a single sentence one time and he wrote a single sentence back correcting my grammar, and it was at that moment that I knew I had won the contest of who gets to have the best conversation with Howard Chaykin, because I would rather have that one sentence back and forth than any long conversation where I told him about how much I liked The Shadow and he pretended he cared and then maybe I brought up some random part of his career that I bet not a lot of people ask him about and oh aren’t I so clever that I asked the question that a lot of people don’t ask, unlike all those proles who bring up American Flagg, everybody talks about American Flagg, look at me how special it is that I know the name of the thing that is different from the other thing and now maybe I can be best friends with the comics artist or cup my hot mouth on him or just hold his head down in a bowl of warm sand or whatever, however that fantasy plays out. This is God-kin’s newest one, and it’s him teamed up with Matt Fraction: and the thing about that is that those two guys (plus Rick Remender) did some really odd and wonderful Punisher comics that nobody talks about anymore because part of what made them wonderful was how they just sprang up out of regular Punisher comics and then almost immediately wilted, like a flower that bloomed while dying. The first issue reads pretty much exactly like what you would think it would–pulling back the curtain on the Golden Age of Television, look at all this sex, ego and sleaze–but that straightforwardness allows for density, and that’s clearly what Chaykin and Fraction are going for in this one. If this was in color, it would be too much. Too much! This is the best thing either of these guys have done in a while, and considering one of them is a legitimate on-paper genius, that’s a big fucking deal. (That better be the last Network reference though. That’s some undergrad shit.)
September 23, 2014
I guess it's sort of my fault, I saw the cover and noticed this issue was free and downloaded without reading the synopsis.
What I thought I was going to get was a sexy, violent, sci-fi story, to my dismay this was NOT the case. This story is about a 1950's sci-fi tv show and was about as sexy as Ed Wood...
I was bored out of my mind, there was no fluidity, and I spent most of the time confused since there was absolutely no character introduction or exposition.
The black and white artwork was nicely done but dialogue was just being thrown at me and I was thrust into a situation I cared nothing about with characters I was not yet acquainted. In the end there was nothing that made me want to continue reading.
What I thought I was going to get was a sexy, violent, sci-fi story, to my dismay this was NOT the case. This story is about a 1950's sci-fi tv show and was about as sexy as Ed Wood...
I was bored out of my mind, there was no fluidity, and I spent most of the time confused since there was absolutely no character introduction or exposition.
The black and white artwork was nicely done but dialogue was just being thrown at me and I was thrust into a situation I cared nothing about with characters I was not yet acquainted. In the end there was nothing that made me want to continue reading.
October 23, 2016
Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin's Satellite Sam is a noir with lots of sex, violence, and black and white art. The 1950s area setting feels very "Madmen" in both a good and derivative way. Fraction does do a lot to get setting and dialogue right, but the authenticity actually hurts the readability of the comic. Furthermore, if one is used to Sex Criminals or Fractions mainstream work, a lot of the humor he normally has is gone in this comic. Lack of exposition, which can sometimes be refreshingly en medias res approach in noir, also slows this down. That said, Fraction's storytelling and Chaykin's line work do keep my reading.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews