TURN LOOSE OUR DEATH RAYS AND KILL THEM ALL!

This gigantic compendium collects the complete stories written and drawn by the 1940s outsider comic book artist Fletcher Hanks. Hanks wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered all of his own stories. Between 1939 and 1941 he created nearly 50, all unified by a uniquely artistic vision -- primitive, bizarre, and singularly idiosyncratic. Whether it’s the superhero Stardust doling out ice cold slabs of poetic justice, or the jungle protectress Fantomah tearing evildoers limb from ragged limb, contemporary readers will be stunned by the pop surrealism and unfiltered violent mayhem of Hanks' work. This new paperback edition brings back into print all of Hanks' previously published material and is the most complete collection of his work. Includes Karasik's brilliant graphic story about finding Hanks' son and how little Hanks Jr. (who was a friggin' WWII hero) knew about his own father. And how little he thought about him. It's a brilliant little 16-page piece, written and drawn by Karasik as he, a super fan boy, goes through the process of learning the convoluted story about an equally bizarre creator!!! I love it. - Bud Hank's son was interviewed for an earlier edition; he was a true hero, having piloted planes over the famous "hump" of the Himalayan Mountains, bringing much-needed supplies into territory attacked by the Japanese. He tells the story of his father being a raging alcoholic who deserted the family. When you look at his stories and their violent themes, somehow that begins to make sense. Here was an unhappy man channeling his fantasies into stories for Fiction House, Fox and other companies in the earliest days of the Golden Age. In 1941 he disappeared from comics, never to be seen again. Hanks was found frozen to death on a park bench in NYC at the age of 88, probably sleeping off another drunken binge. The fascinating introduction tells us as much of the story as is known. Hanks, born in 1887, was taking an illustrator correspondence course in 1910 and in 1915 enrolled in the well known W.L. Evans School. Other students included Chester Gould, Hank Ketcham and E. C. Segar! Even more interesting is his student work shown here, more of which is held in the Billy Ireland Museum in Columbus, OH. Once dismissed as merely a bad artist, his work is now celebrated for its so-very-weird elements, much like the work of Basil Wolverton or Munson Paddock. Hanks was full-steam-ahead with over-the-top tales of vengeance and revenge, violent retribution and giving the bad guys their just desserts! The stories are actually quite readable and among the strangest of the Golden Age. Foreword by Glen David Gold, Introduction by Paul Karasik. Student Portfolio.  Stories are collected from titles including Great Comics, Jungle (Fiction House), Fight, Fantastic (Fox), Planet, Daring Mystery (Timely), and Big 3.