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Satellite Sam #1
Satellite Sam, Vol. 1
Collects SATELLITE SAM #1-5
NEW YORK CITY, 1951: The star of the hit TV show "Satellite Sam" turns up dead in a flophouse filled with dirty secrets. If his son can sober up, he might be able to figure out why in this noir mystery shot through with sex and violence in the seedy underbelly of TV's golden age. By MATT FRACTION (SEX CRIMINALS, Casanova, Hawkeye) and HOWARD CHAYKIN (BLACK KISS I & II, AMERICAN FLAGG!).
NEW YORK CITY, 1951: The star of the hit TV show "Satellite Sam" turns up dead in a flophouse filled with dirty secrets. If his son can sober up, he might be able to figure out why in this noir mystery shot through with sex and violence in the seedy underbelly of TV's golden age. By MATT FRACTION (SEX CRIMINALS, Casanova, Hawkeye) and HOWARD CHAYKIN (BLACK KISS I & II, AMERICAN FLAGG!).
148 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2014
7 people are currently reading
272 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 - 30 of 62 reviews
May 14, 2015
This was just bad. On multiple levels.
Where to start?
Well, first...it was probably the most boring stoyline I've run across in a while, in one of the least interesting settings I've seen in...ever.
The drama behind an old sci-fi television show!
No, I'm sorry, but I don't care what happened "behind the scenes".
Actor found dead with naughty pictures of women!
Um...
A look at the lives of random people who work for the show!
Aaaaand you've totally lost me.
Lots of oral sex!
Come on, Fraction! What are you? 15 years old or something?!
It was crap. There was no tension, no one to root for, and not even a real plot that I could see. Or maybe there was, and I had just zoned out by the time it got around to making an appearance.
The art? Everyone looked the SAME! And it was all scrunched in with a shitload of thought bubbles & dialogue. I couldn't tell what the hell was happening, or who the hell was talking half of the time. And when I could? It was mostly just random nonsense about tv shit that (as far as I'm concerned) didn't advance the plot.
Don't believe me?
Here, look! Would you want to read this shit?!
So. Excruciatingly dull, hard to tell the difference between characters, and cluttered panels.
Oh, yeah. And it's Black and White. Awesome.
Kill it with fire!
April 6, 2015
This re-defines the word "poo".
On the back cover of the volume in big bold lettering it says: SEX – DEATH – LIVE TV!
Live TV?
This "noir-ish" tale takes place during the “golden’ age of TV, the early 1950’s, when TV was for the most part shot live. In college, Mass Media was my minor, so I brought a lot of background knowledge into reading this, and honestly, in spite of the gratuitous amounts of fellatio included within, I’d still trade it for one of my dry, dusty tomes on the history of broadcasting.
A hack actor dies. His drunken son thinks its murder. He uses Dad’s pin-up photograph collection of his former floozies to make sure. Throw in a horny politician, a conniving, cuckold station head, a born-again stripper and assorted pencil-thin characters and viola, you have a "golden age" mess.
What the hell Matt Fraction? I loved his Iron Man. I loved his Hawkeye. I hate this. There’s a small amount of this usual wit sprinkled about, but this is turgid storytelling from someone who can do much better. And if you aren’t a fan of the work of illustrator, Howard Chaykin, his work here won’t do anything to convince you otherwise. Too many characters that look similar, too many word balloons that don't connect to the character that's speaking.
If you want competent or better noir, read anything written by Ed Brubaker.
Health warning: This is a black and white comic printed on the kind of paper that can give you a cut if you don’t turn the pages carefully.
On the back cover of the volume in big bold lettering it says: SEX – DEATH – LIVE TV!
Live TV?
This "noir-ish" tale takes place during the “golden’ age of TV, the early 1950’s, when TV was for the most part shot live. In college, Mass Media was my minor, so I brought a lot of background knowledge into reading this, and honestly, in spite of the gratuitous amounts of fellatio included within, I’d still trade it for one of my dry, dusty tomes on the history of broadcasting.
A hack actor dies. His drunken son thinks its murder. He uses Dad’s pin-up photograph collection of his former floozies to make sure. Throw in a horny politician, a conniving, cuckold station head, a born-again stripper and assorted pencil-thin characters and viola, you have a "golden age" mess.
What the hell Matt Fraction? I loved his Iron Man. I loved his Hawkeye. I hate this. There’s a small amount of this usual wit sprinkled about, but this is turgid storytelling from someone who can do much better. And if you aren’t a fan of the work of illustrator, Howard Chaykin, his work here won’t do anything to convince you otherwise. Too many characters that look similar, too many word balloons that don't connect to the character that's speaking.
If you want competent or better noir, read anything written by Ed Brubaker.
Health warning: This is a black and white comic printed on the kind of paper that can give you a cut if you don’t turn the pages carefully.
February 10, 2015
Ugh. Seriously, I see what Image did...they showed you the flashy stuff (Saga, Walking Dead, Sex Criminals) the big writers (Fraction, BKV, Aaron) and they got you to pay for that, while also unloading on you a ton of mediocre stuff and some downright turds. But...I'll still buy the next Humble Bundle, just for the value alone of the great stuff. I'm willing to suffer the shit to get to the gooey nougat centre.
Between successful/popular Matt Fraction writing, and old dog/well-known/respected Howard Chaykin doing the art, you figure Satellite Sam would be a winner.
Well, you'd be wrong.
I'm also starting to think that Matt Fraction is becoming a little obsessed with sex in comics. Sex Criminals had humour and a balance of lightness and more serious stuff, a mixture that goes down easy. This is just the seedy sex of the depraved behind closed doors 1950s.
I never watched Mad Men, but this seems like Mad Men the comic, in a TV producing environment instead of an Ad Agency.
I also have to admit a secret...while I respect Howard Chaykin, and can tolerate his stuff, I don't really LOVE his style of art. In black and white, it's hard to tell some of his characters apart, and frankly, between that and the storyline, I didn't make much effort to.
Satellite Sam is a TV show, and the star is found dead in a flophouse with tons of dildos and lingerie all over the floor. His son discovers that he's also got boxes and boxes of photos he's taken of all the floozies he's fucked over the years...including the Female Co-Star of the show (who's a born again Christian!). SCANDAL!
But this book goes for titilation over substance, and fails. Yes there's a kind of lurid, dirty appeal to the forbidden sex acts that we all now take mostly for granted (I mean most people are going to see 50 Shades of Grey for Valentine's Day FFS), but at the same time, it's kind of tired.
I don't really care much for the head of the studio trying to expand his network, or his appeals to the FCC to get a bigger audience share, or the technology of early TV. It is interesting material for a proper history/biography book for sure, but it falls nearly as flat as the Superhero Union Contract Negotiations of COWL.
The son, Michael is a raging alcoholic, yet somehow, the murder of his father seems to spur him on to discover who he really was (other than a raging horndog). There's lots of sex here, but no connections, just the equivalent of sad handjobs from homeless hookers. (Lono's fave!)
No one is happy, everyone has vices, and there's always positioning for power. Yawn. It's obvious Fraction finds the early age of TV fascinating, and in this digital edition, we also get a conversation between Fraction and Chaykin about the 50s and early TV, which is more interesting that the whole of the first Volume.
Sex, booze, broads, TV, lies, scandal, coverups, somehow this all just falls pretty flat for me as a reader. I'm not really emotionally connecting to any character, they all seem pretty useless. Then as a reason to continue the series, or prolong it at least, they throw in the angle that it wasn't a random crime of passion, but a murder that killed Michael's father....DAA DUHHH DAAHHH!
I'm sorry, I would have liked to enjoy this, but it just feels like it's pandering to a teenage audience who hasn't figured out how to use PornHub yet. This would have totally worked on me at 14, for sure, but now it just comes across as cheap and makes you feel like taking a shower.
I think that might even be the aim, so ya, we get it, the 50s were just as depraved as today, but people felt the shame of keeping things under wraps and to themselves. I guess it's up to you to decide if that's better than nude celebrity selfies going viral or not.
I'll be missing the rest of this on purpose, and I think maybe if Matt Fraction is so interested, he a Howard should just have a nice long sit down chat, and put out a podcast or something...
Sadly disappointing, again, like a sad handjob...2 in 2 days...not a good start to the week...at this rate I'll have to start reading FF.
September 3, 2015
Somebody told me that this was one of the best indie comics of the past few years, they said it was a noirish tale too, but what they didn't tell me was that it occasionally bordered on softcore porn. Turns out that the story was dull and the art so-so but I quite enjoyed the softcore porn aspect of it. I'm either heading in to middle age or still a teenager. But either way I didn't care enough to make me want to pick up volume two.
Read
November 2, 2023DNF at 66% or so.
I just couldn't get into this one. It just felt tacky and sordid, and the lack of colour or even sophisticated shading made the illustrations feel unnecessarily amateurish despite the line art being well done.
I should have read my friends reviews of this one before burning a Hoopla borrow on it. Lesson learned!
I just couldn't get into this one. It just felt tacky and sordid, and the lack of colour or even sophisticated shading made the illustrations feel unnecessarily amateurish despite the line art being well done.
I should have read my friends reviews of this one before burning a Hoopla borrow on it. Lesson learned!
August 5, 2014
I found the artwork in this book to be very confusing. It was very hard to tell the difference between most of the male characters, and while the black and white style gave an excellent noir feeling to the artwork, it really didn't help. The style of the word bubbles added to the confusion, I felt it often wasn't clear who was speaking at any given point in time, and bubbles appeared to be connected across panels at times when it was not appropriate.
I also didn't really understand the motivations of any of the characters until after I read the bios that were grouped at the end of the book, which originally were released with each individual issue of the comic. In a letter at the end of the book Fraction wrote that someone reading the story in a condensed format rather than monthly shouldn't need the bios to accompany each issue, but I felt like the writing and story were so nebulous that it would have been helpful. It wouldn't have made a difference aesthetically or in terms of page number, so I'm not really sure what the reasoning was there. I didn't fully understand what had happened in the book until after I read them.
The premise is excellent and interesting enough that I almost want to keep reading, but I just don't think I could slog my way through another volume. Just not a book for me.
I also didn't really understand the motivations of any of the characters until after I read the bios that were grouped at the end of the book, which originally were released with each individual issue of the comic. In a letter at the end of the book Fraction wrote that someone reading the story in a condensed format rather than monthly shouldn't need the bios to accompany each issue, but I felt like the writing and story were so nebulous that it would have been helpful. It wouldn't have made a difference aesthetically or in terms of page number, so I'm not really sure what the reasoning was there. I didn't fully understand what had happened in the book until after I read them.
The premise is excellent and interesting enough that I almost want to keep reading, but I just don't think I could slog my way through another volume. Just not a book for me.
December 18, 2025
I rarely DNF comics, but I couldn’t get through this one. 2 stars for the art style, but the story was not for me.
January 21, 2015
I've become a Matt Fraction fan over the past few years. His stories often have a massive ambition, but manage to stay grounded through solid characterization and snappy dialogue. On this book, however, I run into a problem.
The art style gives me a damn headache.
I do have a bit of a bias. My preferred comic book style runs closer to Sixth Gun, Saga, Invincible, or pretty much anything with clean, simplified lines. I like clarity in visual storytelling.
The old-school design of Satellite Sam has a constant busy quality, with overly tight panels, compositions, and line work that without color gives the impression of a sea of detail. The word bubble design doesn't help either, looking like their placement was more of an afterthought than a decision.
And oddly, the story doesn't seem to work in the aspects its aiming for. Seeing the world of early television from a insider perspective is compelling, but equal time is given to the sometimes lurid sex lives of the main characters, which I often found boring and lacking in the sort of characterization it was supposed to provide. The son of the dead actor, as an example, seems like he should be a window into this world, but he's mostly just a whiny drunk doing mediocre detective work for purposes that seem unrelatable.
It's a disappointment, but I can console myself in the fact that Fraction always seems to have about 4 projects going at once, so there's probably something for anyone's tastes.
The art style gives me a damn headache.
I do have a bit of a bias. My preferred comic book style runs closer to Sixth Gun, Saga, Invincible, or pretty much anything with clean, simplified lines. I like clarity in visual storytelling.
The old-school design of Satellite Sam has a constant busy quality, with overly tight panels, compositions, and line work that without color gives the impression of a sea of detail. The word bubble design doesn't help either, looking like their placement was more of an afterthought than a decision.
And oddly, the story doesn't seem to work in the aspects its aiming for. Seeing the world of early television from a insider perspective is compelling, but equal time is given to the sometimes lurid sex lives of the main characters, which I often found boring and lacking in the sort of characterization it was supposed to provide. The son of the dead actor, as an example, seems like he should be a window into this world, but he's mostly just a whiny drunk doing mediocre detective work for purposes that seem unrelatable.
It's a disappointment, but I can console myself in the fact that Fraction always seems to have about 4 projects going at once, so there's probably something for anyone's tastes.
July 28, 2015
The story seems to be somewhat interesting, but the art ruins this book. There are about five male characters and maybe three (?) female characters with EXACTLY THE SAME FACE. This book desperately needs some colour, at least. Yes, maybe black & white is more in style of the story, but it is very hard to read it the way it is now. At most — it needs another penciller. I don't care how legendary Chaykin is, and I understand that this book is a big collaboration between him & Fraction plot-wise, but hell, I've read other b/w comic books and never had the problem with distinguishing the characters.
Very disappointed.
Very disappointed.
August 12, 2014
Matt Fraction: most overhyped writer in the industry. Has one fantastic book and a hundred other pieces of garbage floating around out there.
Add this one to the rubbish bin.
I guess I just don't get why anyone should care about this story. Fraction has zero understanding of the drive of a crime novel, and even less understanding of the mood. I guess he was reading a lot of Ellroy before he vomited out this script.
Stylist Howard Chaykin does exactly what he always does and nothing more here. Weird panels and nonlinear pages. Same old.
Writing: D
Art: B
Add this one to the rubbish bin.
I guess I just don't get why anyone should care about this story. Fraction has zero understanding of the drive of a crime novel, and even less understanding of the mood. I guess he was reading a lot of Ellroy before he vomited out this script.
Stylist Howard Chaykin does exactly what he always does and nothing more here. Weird panels and nonlinear pages. Same old.
Writing: D
Art: B
August 12, 2017
"Satellite Sam, Vol. 1" gets one star for the art and time period. The writing, when you can make sense of it on the very busy and messy pages, is so weak that if the person's last name were not Fraction the reader would wonder, to a great extent, how this was even made with so many great ideas out there for graphic novels. The story? Some guy who works for a sci-fi show on television, in 1950's New York, runs into a snag when his father dies in possession of countless polaroids of random women, all posed in pretty much same thing for the same shot. So, the son, Mike, goes looking for the women. I know, fucking dramatic right? Wait, it's not over: in what must've been a horrible misreading of the movie "Network" and the power that it wields, we are treated to page after page of behind-the-scenes chit chat about nothing, about plans for broadcasts no one cares about, plans for this and that, all this planning by our characters in a story not even planned out by its creators. Sure, the 1950s are rife with material and settings and characters and maybe if this had a plot, coherent artwork, less sexualized content (or keep it the same, who knows, but considering how lacking this book is in every department, it's all the oral sex that makes this book - and these are scenes that would've made me pleased, maybe, when I was twelve), more mystery, characters drawn and developed enough to be distinguished apart, and dialogue more true to the time period, we could have something here. But we don't, and it's too late for Fraction to start off his "Satellite Sam" tale with a strong note.
July 12, 2017
I'm not sure why but this graphic novel didn't really do much for me. It was an enjoyable read but that's about it. It didn't suck; it just wasn't that positive. Considering everything, it really should have been great. Amazing art by Howard Chaykin. Solid writing by Matt Fraction. Subject matter that involves TV, sex, murder and a mystery that makes you think as opposed to being handed to you. However, I kept finding myself dreading reading it instead of looking forward to it. And unfortunately I'm happier to be done with the graphic novel than I was when reading it. I hate when this happens because I like other things that Fraction and Chaykin have worked on. This time though, ... And I can't quite put my finger on why. It just didn't do it for me.
May 17, 2025
Mid-tier material at best. This is the first time I've read Matt Fraction's work. It's okay, but from other reviews, he has better stuff out there. I enjoy Howard Chaykin's art; he knows how to layout a panel to progress a story.
With this story, I don’t care for any of the characters. Though I’ll read the other two volumes because, well, I bought them all at once. They are quick reads, so I should be able to get through them fairly fast.
With this story, I don’t care for any of the characters. Though I’ll read the other two volumes because, well, I bought them all at once. They are quick reads, so I should be able to get through them fairly fast.
Read
March 25, 2023DNF at 40% the story is bad the artwork is not to my taste and I can’t be bothered to finish this. Wanna give it one star but I didn’t read half of it do you know I’m the real winner here.
February 25, 2015
Satellite Sam by Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin is a 1950s whodunit by way of Cinemax. Soft porn was never this sleazy and dirty and well, compelling. Satellite Sam Vol. 1 combines the first five comics in this black and white series. It exposes, in writing and artwork, the underbelly of live television and what the men and women will do to keep the show going. The price often paid in the currency of flesh and blood.
The matinee idol star of a daily television serial "Satellite Sam" is found dead in a dirty room full of hidden secrets. The police rule it a heart attack but his son Michael thinks there is more to it. If only he can stay sober long enough to figure out just what happened in that room.
The lingering clue is the room full of photos. Still photos of various women. In various stages of undress. In various positions. And of course the room was also littered with sex toys. Of every shape and size. Just what was his father doing with all these women and why take all these photographs? As the star of Satellite Sam, he had ample opportunity and access to women, but this stank of something else. Something worse. Michael is determined to find out just what. The only way to do that is to find the women in his father's photos.
Matt Fraction writes a serious whodunit. A noir peace that is reminiscent of Chinatown and a Raymond Chandler novel before the censors had a chance to cut it up. There is a lot of nudity and just off the page oral sex going on. Between men and women and men and men and women and women. At times, all this sex gets in the way of the story but Fraction reigns it back in to show that this is more than just a book with dirty pictures, but a real mystery as well.
The black and white artwork of Howard Chaykin is stark and defined. There is no blur here as he commits to every detail of every panel. There are clues here he seems to say, minute hints at what has gone on. Chaykin brings the sleazy world to television to the light and leaves just enough in the dark to keep you going.
Overall this is a daring and creative comic. Not one your mom would approve of but then again, she's too busy watching 50 Shades of Grey to notice.
A real good read.
The matinee idol star of a daily television serial "Satellite Sam" is found dead in a dirty room full of hidden secrets. The police rule it a heart attack but his son Michael thinks there is more to it. If only he can stay sober long enough to figure out just what happened in that room.
The lingering clue is the room full of photos. Still photos of various women. In various stages of undress. In various positions. And of course the room was also littered with sex toys. Of every shape and size. Just what was his father doing with all these women and why take all these photographs? As the star of Satellite Sam, he had ample opportunity and access to women, but this stank of something else. Something worse. Michael is determined to find out just what. The only way to do that is to find the women in his father's photos.
Matt Fraction writes a serious whodunit. A noir peace that is reminiscent of Chinatown and a Raymond Chandler novel before the censors had a chance to cut it up. There is a lot of nudity and just off the page oral sex going on. Between men and women and men and men and women and women. At times, all this sex gets in the way of the story but Fraction reigns it back in to show that this is more than just a book with dirty pictures, but a real mystery as well.
The black and white artwork of Howard Chaykin is stark and defined. There is no blur here as he commits to every detail of every panel. There are clues here he seems to say, minute hints at what has gone on. Chaykin brings the sleazy world to television to the light and leaves just enough in the dark to keep you going.
Overall this is a daring and creative comic. Not one your mom would approve of but then again, she's too busy watching 50 Shades of Grey to notice.
A real good read.
August 24, 2016
SATTELITE SAM
initial interest might be more in the taboo side of things. Where at first the story seems that it is going in more a film noir look back with some typical tawdry elements. Then it kind of loses itself. Not only with more Sex that to a certain degree seems exploitive though allows to shock us with details that we expect more in contemporary issues. While taboo it also makes the end results seem more intimate and personal. Violence when someone is at their most vulnerable.
Not on this partial nostalgic look I tot he past, but also is the basis of these types of tales usually in all times. Though usually when it comes to these years they are not as graphic or explicit. It also allows us to see the moral decay of the times In Particular the lead character our hero though it also reveals in the politics of the time showing us more the ugly then the good, the prejudice and just happens to throw in a conspiracy.
After all sex never hurt a story is usually great for advertising. As long you remember your main point and don't get too distracted by it. In other words in the same way it can be a distraction in life. Is it a vice or like a dessert great, delicious, fun but too much can lead to all types of problems. Experience or take it in prosperity.
initial interest might be more in the taboo side of things. Where at first the story seems that it is going in more a film noir look back with some typical tawdry elements. Then it kind of loses itself. Not only with more Sex that to a certain degree seems exploitive though allows to shock us with details that we expect more in contemporary issues. While taboo it also makes the end results seem more intimate and personal. Violence when someone is at their most vulnerable.
Not on this partial nostalgic look I tot he past, but also is the basis of these types of tales usually in all times. Though usually when it comes to these years they are not as graphic or explicit. It also allows us to see the moral decay of the times In Particular the lead character our hero though it also reveals in the politics of the time showing us more the ugly then the good, the prejudice and just happens to throw in a conspiracy.
After all sex never hurt a story is usually great for advertising. As long you remember your main point and don't get too distracted by it. In other words in the same way it can be a distraction in life. Is it a vice or like a dessert great, delicious, fun but too much can lead to all types of problems. Experience or take it in prosperity.
May 2, 2014
Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin tell a tale of the early days of television, and the murder of the star of a science fiction serial. On one level, this is delightfully done, with interesting characters, a rich understanding of the era and its media foibles, and a lot of cleverness.
Unfortunately, it gets, even over the course of this volume, too clever for its own good. Everyone has a secret (most of them apparently having to do with sex), and we get to see them all, with the story and perspective bounce in all directions. The creative team seem to have fallen in love with the setting and lost track of actually telling a story. Chaykin's art is professional as ever, but without color and as a period piece, too many of the characters blur into each other in hairstyle and clothing. And, frankly, it's simply not an entertainingly enough read to make me want to collect more.
On that basis I'd give it 2 stars, but the joy of the creative team shines through so much I'm willing to bump it to 3.
Unfortunately, it gets, even over the course of this volume, too clever for its own good. Everyone has a secret (most of them apparently having to do with sex), and we get to see them all, with the story and perspective bounce in all directions. The creative team seem to have fallen in love with the setting and lost track of actually telling a story. Chaykin's art is professional as ever, but without color and as a period piece, too many of the characters blur into each other in hairstyle and clothing. And, frankly, it's simply not an entertainingly enough read to make me want to collect more.
On that basis I'd give it 2 stars, but the joy of the creative team shines through so much I'm willing to bump it to 3.
February 8, 2015
The first issue of Fraction and Chaykin's Satellite Sam is a magnificent exercise in tone - throwing you in at the technical deep end of the lost world of 50s live TV, the action building to the moment of transmission (and the revelation of the book's mystery plot). Nothing else in this first volume is quite as breathless or immersive - in fact it's a comic that demands slow reading, as sorting out who's who and what they're after can take a while. But it's a sharp, good-looking, entertainingly nasty book: Chaykin likes to draw hucksters, sleazebags and sex bombs, and Fraction gives him exactly what he wants. The plot bounces back and forth, getting more complex with every issue, but as with most Matt Fraction comics, I'm reading and enjoying this mostly for the atmosphere. Satellite Sam throbs with the sweaty insecurity and curdled dreams of middle age.
October 17, 2016
Very different book than I had envisioned, I actually thought this was going to be a science fiction story. The black and white art is quite dark and I'm unsure why this was the direction they went. The story is set prior to color tv so maybe this might change as the series grows older, that would be a great idea if they do. The tone of the book is a little messy and the characters jumping at you but at the core is a very solid story with a high level of deception going on. I liked the under laying investigation starting to grow and I think it could develop into something grand. This series didn't have a long life so hopefully they answer the questions raised here.
April 13, 2014
This started out very nice, good and edgy and beautiful to behold. It was a pleasure to see Chaykin's artistic hands return -- he had gone through a decade of drawing faces only and those fat faces filled the whole panel.
The problem is that the promise of Satellite Sam's early issues is not delivered in the later volumes.
That about sums it up. Unless I am missing something, and I'm not, this could easily have been a 4-issue mystery. Instead, it has become a bloated 4-volume ATM for its creators, and the art is declining in quality the further you read. Be warned.
The problem is that the promise of Satellite Sam's early issues is not delivered in the later volumes.
That about sums it up. Unless I am missing something, and I'm not, this could easily have been a 4-issue mystery. Instead, it has become a bloated 4-volume ATM for its creators, and the art is declining in quality the further you read. Be warned.
October 24, 2014
Not at all my thing. I've enjoyed Howard Chaykin's art before, but this time around it wasn't doing it for me. And while the story had the usual Fraction wit and bounce to it, nothing about it grabbed me six issues later. Oh, well.
April 14, 2014
Matt Fraction writes brilliant stories, but this one is too fragmented for my enjoyment. It needs some work on continuity.
July 29, 2018
This trade paperback collects the first six issues of the Image comics series "Satellite Sam" by Howard Chaykin and Mat Fraction. I am not familiar with Mr. Fraction or his work, but Howard Chaykin is one of my favorite artist who survived the collapse of the first Indy comics book of the late 70s early 80s. I bought the book on the strength of Mr. Chaykin's art alone. The fact that the comic series is set in the 50s is another selling point, although I should admit I was too young to remember very much of the 50s.
The story begins as a whodunnit with the star of a 50s television show - Satellite Sam - founded dead in a hotel room. His perpetually drunk son is tapped to fill in as the titular character at a moments notice and thus the epic tale begins. The story is marginally complex - characters are thrown at the reader without much explanation of who they are or what their place in the story is, and the reader is left to work it out by following the story. This is a bit better method than the usual comic book practice of having a recap at the start of each issue, but it might work better if the characters looked a little less alike. Most of the men are square-headed, mustached, and slightly the worse for where so it's hard at first read to tell one character apart from the other. I was forced to go thru the little bios at the end of the book to figure out who some of the people in the story were.
These were my only complaints with the book. The art is very nice. Howard Chaykin rarely disappoints. He did miss out on one little detail, however. Hats. In the 50s, men and women still wore hats almost every time they went outside - and real stylish hats, too, not like the baseball caps of today. His 50s television cameras were spot on, though, and I didn't see any telephones, furniture or other props that weren't from an appropriate era, though there is an interesting lack of motor vehicles to be seen in the comic. The main character looks remarkably like Clark Kent from the 50s Superman show. I wonder if this is intentional?
As for the title of my review, in the 50s and 60s racy magazines were hidden behind the counter at the stores, and if they were placed where they might be visible at all, they were often masked by a brown paper band that only left the title exposed or they were entirely wrapped in brown paper. I'm surprised that Image didn't include a brown paper wrapper as a nice retro touch because this graphic novel is definitely NOT for children.
There's a lot of implied sexual activity taking place, both off and barely on panel, and Howard Chaykin is not one for drawing ladies who manage to keep their clothes on. He's also not one for drawing the ladies in modest underwear, favoring racy and lacy unmentionables with lots of straps, trusses and belts and the like. One of the things that often took me out of Chaykin's sci-fi comics was his garter fetish, dressing up futuristic bombshells in undergarments that would have been old fashioned even for Betti Page. The girdles and garters, however, are entirely in keeping with the 50s era, a time when even men often wore leg garters with straps to hold up their socks.
This is not a simple story. It will probably take several reads to work out everything that goes on in this book. I am looking forward to the second trade paperback collection. I do hope the story is eventually brought to a conclusion, because the other thing that Howard Chaykin is infamous for, besides his sexy sirens, is creating interesting stories and series and then moving on to other projects leaving them unfinished.
The story begins as a whodunnit with the star of a 50s television show - Satellite Sam - founded dead in a hotel room. His perpetually drunk son is tapped to fill in as the titular character at a moments notice and thus the epic tale begins. The story is marginally complex - characters are thrown at the reader without much explanation of who they are or what their place in the story is, and the reader is left to work it out by following the story. This is a bit better method than the usual comic book practice of having a recap at the start of each issue, but it might work better if the characters looked a little less alike. Most of the men are square-headed, mustached, and slightly the worse for where so it's hard at first read to tell one character apart from the other. I was forced to go thru the little bios at the end of the book to figure out who some of the people in the story were.
These were my only complaints with the book. The art is very nice. Howard Chaykin rarely disappoints. He did miss out on one little detail, however. Hats. In the 50s, men and women still wore hats almost every time they went outside - and real stylish hats, too, not like the baseball caps of today. His 50s television cameras were spot on, though, and I didn't see any telephones, furniture or other props that weren't from an appropriate era, though there is an interesting lack of motor vehicles to be seen in the comic. The main character looks remarkably like Clark Kent from the 50s Superman show. I wonder if this is intentional?
As for the title of my review, in the 50s and 60s racy magazines were hidden behind the counter at the stores, and if they were placed where they might be visible at all, they were often masked by a brown paper band that only left the title exposed or they were entirely wrapped in brown paper. I'm surprised that Image didn't include a brown paper wrapper as a nice retro touch because this graphic novel is definitely NOT for children.
There's a lot of implied sexual activity taking place, both off and barely on panel, and Howard Chaykin is not one for drawing ladies who manage to keep their clothes on. He's also not one for drawing the ladies in modest underwear, favoring racy and lacy unmentionables with lots of straps, trusses and belts and the like. One of the things that often took me out of Chaykin's sci-fi comics was his garter fetish, dressing up futuristic bombshells in undergarments that would have been old fashioned even for Betti Page. The girdles and garters, however, are entirely in keeping with the 50s era, a time when even men often wore leg garters with straps to hold up their socks.
This is not a simple story. It will probably take several reads to work out everything that goes on in this book. I am looking forward to the second trade paperback collection. I do hope the story is eventually brought to a conclusion, because the other thing that Howard Chaykin is infamous for, besides his sexy sirens, is creating interesting stories and series and then moving on to other projects leaving them unfinished.
August 18, 2025
Set in 1951, this graphic novel is filled with homophobia, sexism, racism, and sex acts…. Actually, it’s a 14 year old boy’s wet dream of sex acts, women dressed up in lingerie, pics of women in “sexy” poses which are shown way too much imo, and even some dildos thrown in for good measure. I don’t know what’s up with Fraction, as I had enjoyed Sex Criminals. But this is just…. Not for me. And please miss me with that whole ‘that’s what happened at this time, so the author was just reflecting that’. Oral sex was *ILLEGAL* in the US for married couples. Forget about extramarital sex or homosexuality. I get that the author wanted to show just how seedy and depraved one of the characters were, but… we could have done a lot more with a lot less, imo. Idk, the whole thing was just unappealing to me, so I don’t think I will be continuing with this series at all. I wish I had checked out the reviews here before diving in, because my whole feed is just one and two star reviews, with a few ‘did not finish’ reviews thrown in. I didn’t see any others that rated this thing higher, but then again I didn’t go looking either.
Other reviews here on goodreads that say what I’d like to say but much better than I ever could, are linked below:
Gavin - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Anne - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tory - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2 stars, and not recommended at all, unless you are a 14 year old boy…. Or like this kind of thing. 🤷🏽♀️
Other reviews here on goodreads that say what I’d like to say but much better than I ever could, are linked below:
Gavin - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Anne - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tory - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2 stars, and not recommended at all, unless you are a 14 year old boy…. Or like this kind of thing. 🤷🏽♀️
June 9, 2023
This was an absolutely rough read from start to finish. What promised to be a noir story set in the era where television really took off, ended up being a dull, nonsensical murder mystery that was unsatisfying all the way through. The story starts with the death of the lead actor to the television program, "Satellite Sam". The actor's son suspects foul play and the mystery kicks off by looking at the lives of a medley of uninteresting characters. Fraction drops in a load of tried of noir tropes to give the story the classical feel he was hoping to capture, but it just doesn't fit together. And while I'm an unabashed fan of Howard Chaykin, the overall aesthetic and character designs seem really lifeless. Just boring stuff all around.
March 28, 2020
Hmm...not very good. Clearly intended as a mid-century noir tale, but it just doesn't get there. Noir-like elements and atmosphere are there, but the plot is full of holes, the story is a disjointed mess, and the characters are a collection of 1950s Hollywood cliches that don't do anything terribly interesting. Sure maybe things come together in volumes two and three, but if nothing grabs you in the first installment, why bother to find out? I don't plan to.
April 7, 2021
This sordid tale of the early days of TV, a dead star, sleazy sex secrets and various other loose ends is kind of a hot mess. The story involves a fairly large cast some of whom have pretty interesting stories, but few of them actually go anywhere, and fewer still make you really care about their outcomes. Howard Chaykin's art is unusually poor and unfinished, and the page composition is sometimes hard to follow.
September 25, 2024
A complicated read. I thought I was getting a who done it (which I’m sure it will get to) , but instead I get a look at old timey tv studios. The complex politics of tv and the past of the leading man. The characters are hard to tell apart due to the art being black & white. I’m going to try the second collection to see if it gets any better. This is definitely NSFW.
April 14, 2024
I am an avowed apologist for the work of both Howard Chaykin and Matt Fraction. I read these in singles. I have the hardcover edition. I decided to read it again in the trade format. It reads as nicely as you'd expect from the talents involved.
February 11, 2018
Wtf? Not worth the money
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