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The Complete Works of Fletcher Hanks #2
You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!
Readers of the first Fletcher Hanks volume— I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets —were stunned by its pop surrealism and outright violent mayhem. This larger second volume, when combined with the first, comprises the complete comics work of the heretofore forgotten Golden Age visionary. Fletcher Hanks was the first great comic book auteur. That is, he wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered all of his own stories. He completed an astonishing 48 stories in three years from 1939-1941. As a one-man-cartooning-band, his work packs the wallop of a unique and unified artistic vision. He was a true comics visionary. In the earliest days of the comic book, before censorship, it was “anything goes!”—and in the tales of Fletcher Hanks, anything went! The superhero Stardust gazes down at evil-doers from space and doles out ice cold slabs of poetic justice with his wizardry. A villain out to kidnap all the heads of state gets turned into a giant head, himself… no body, just a head! The jungle protectress, Fantomah, looks like Jean Harlow in a skin-tight black negligee. But when she sees an evil scientist drugging gorillas to become slaves, her head transforms into a flaming skull and she tosses the villain to the gorillas who proceed to graphically tear the guy limb from ragged limb. Although the early comic books were meant for the kiddies, today’s mature readers are stunned by their pop surrealism and outright violent mayhem. The first volume of Fletcher Hanks stories, I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets! (in multiple printings) was an Eisner Award-winning smash hit and a staple on “Best of the Year” lists. Comics fans were thrilled to come upon a cartoonist of this caliber whom they had never heard of before. Non-comics fans who read about the book in The Believer and other journals were stunned to discover an Outsider Artist in comic book form. Edited by cartoonist Paul Karasik (who also provides an insightful introduction), this second volume, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! , collects all of the rest of Hanks's comic book work. That’s right... all ! The 31 tales in this book (more than twice as many as in the first), when combined with the first volume, comprise The Complete Fletcher Hanks! Full-color comics throughout
240 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2009
10 people are currently reading
309 people want to read
About the author
Fletcher Hanks
14 books19 followersFletcher Hanks, Sr. was a cartoonist from the Golden Age of Comic Books, who wrote and drew stories detailing the adventures of all-powerful, supernatural heroes and their elaborate punishments of transgressors. In addition to his birth name, Hanks worked under a number of pen names, including "Hank Christy," "Charles Netcher," "Chris Fletcher", "C. C. Starr," and "Barclay Flagg." Hanks was active in comic books from 1939 to 1941, when he left for reasons still unknown. In those years, he abandoned his wife, Margaret, and his children Douglas, Alma, Fletcher Hanks Jr. and William.
He continued to live in Oxford, Maryland, where he became the president of its town commission in 1958–60. Years later, his body was found on a park bench in Manhattan in 1976; he had frozen to death, penniless and likely drunk.
He continued to live in Oxford, Maryland, where he became the president of its town commission in 1958–60. Years later, his body was found on a park bench in Manhattan in 1976; he had frozen to death, penniless and likely drunk.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
July 14, 2025
The 2007 collection I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS! is terrific, and this similarly titled second collection of almost 200 pages is not quite as good (they got the best stuff in the first volume, natch), but is also good for a lot of laughs and admiration. This is Golden Age comics, with bizarro characters, plots that go nowhere, dialogue that is the most deliberately stilted you ever read, the color is crazy bright. Maybe this is best experienced in an altered state?
Hanks only worked for a short while, then mysteriously disappeared, almost consistent with his surprising, whack job stories and characters. A collector's item, for sure. Alt-comic prototype, in a way, though not mean or nasty or graphic re: sex/violence. Almost innocent and certainly naive, and sort of so bad it is good, but it is also humorously inventive, too. Much fun.
Hanks only worked for a short while, then mysteriously disappeared, almost consistent with his surprising, whack job stories and characters. A collector's item, for sure. Alt-comic prototype, in a way, though not mean or nasty or graphic re: sex/violence. Almost innocent and certainly naive, and sort of so bad it is good, but it is also humorously inventive, too. Much fun.
July 24, 2009
I enjoyed the balls-out loony 2007 collection I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS! was so greatly that I awarded it the title of "Comic Book of the Year" after wallowing naked in its clearly insane glory. Now comes a sequel book, bringing us over two-hundred more pages crafted from the gonzo imagination of Golden Age anti-wunderkind Fletcher Hanks. My review the previous collection gives you all the background you need, but for those of you already familiar with Hanks' singular charms, what you need to know is that this volume features an avalanche of the bizarro artwork, stilted dialogue, and just plain sheer madness that earmark the author's mind-wrenching work. Negligee-clad skull-faced jungle heroine Fantomah is back, as well as ass-kickin' lumberjack Big Red McLane, along with Tabu, Wizard of the Jungle (a ridiculous Tarzan knockoff, only with superpowers, so think "Super-Tarzan"), Space Smith (a Flash Gordon knockoff whose name is kind of like naming Aquaman "Underwater Pete"), Tiger Hart of Crossbone Castle on the Planet Saturn (kind of a Prince Valiant/Flash Gordon mashup), Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service (who, along with his female sidekick, is visually indistinguishable from Space Smith and his female companion), 'Yank' Wilson Super Spy Q-4, and of course my man Stardust the Super Wizard, so this volume is bursting at the seams with some of the weirdest shit ever to grace the four-color page. A bargain at $24.99, this belongs on the coffee table of every self-respecting lover of effed-up ess, comics obscura fanatics, and little kids, so this one is obviously HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
May 15, 2021
Paul Karasik's You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation has completed the task of collecting in book form all 51 of Fletcher Hanks' stories written and drawn for early '40s comic books - and what odd stories they are. Even taking into account that many of the better stories were published in Vol. 1, I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets, there's more than enough disturbing, outrageous and daring work here to entertain the most jaded comics reader - work full of anger, inadvertent humor, naïveté and creepiness. Most new Hanks converts flock to the outer space exploits of Stardust the Super Wizard and the unique weirdness of Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, but my favorite Hanks work features the exploits of lumberjack Big Red McLane. How many nefarious competing lumberjack companies can there be to keep generating new plots? Hanks himself seemed to realize the limits of his formula when he sent McLane into the big city for a boxing saga at the tail end of his run.
WWII begins to make its way into many of Hanks' series towards the end of the book, when his stories, with page designs more commonplace, began incorporating fifth column saboteurs and red-blooded American boys ready to thwart them.
Karasik also writes a fascinating forward displaying Hank's art school samples, includes Hanks' sad death certificate, and uses rare original Hanks artwork as endpapers. It's, all in all, a beautiful package, printed on non-glare paper and reproducing the original coloring. If you own the first volume, this second one's a must. If not - buy them both.
WWII begins to make its way into many of Hanks' series towards the end of the book, when his stories, with page designs more commonplace, began incorporating fifth column saboteurs and red-blooded American boys ready to thwart them.
Karasik also writes a fascinating forward displaying Hank's art school samples, includes Hanks' sad death certificate, and uses rare original Hanks artwork as endpapers. It's, all in all, a beautiful package, printed on non-glare paper and reproducing the original coloring. If you own the first volume, this second one's a must. If not - buy them both.
May 14, 2011
So entertainingly batshit.
September 25, 2011
"Not so fast there, smart guy! I don't like the way you do business, and I don't like your face!! I can't change your business methods, but- I can change your face!! And how!"
March 24, 2018
Before I finished the whole thing, I OD'd.
Fletcher Hanks is bizarre, but he's also kind of boring.
A little of this goes a long way:
Fletcher Hanks is bizarre, but he's also kind of boring.
A little of this goes a long way:
February 11, 2012
Cartoony, surreal, violent, larger than life and brilliant!
From all accounts, Fletcher Hanks did a lot of self medicating, was a deadbeat dad and husband and quite possibly insane, but despite that, or maybe because of that, he created some amazing comics.
The stories are formulaic and the art is cartoony, but all that is done while presenting some of the purest comic book stories you will ever read.
Nothing included in these stories is based in realism or explanation of super heroes, everything is geared to 'is it cool, exciting or fun', and on every single page the answer is 'Yes!'
The main stories feature:
Stardust: a wild mix of Superman with a little Flash Gordon thrown in.
Fantomeh: a jungle goddess that looks like a 40's bathing beauty, but can turn into a skull faced avenger if you mess with her jungle.
Red McLane: the bad ass lumberjack.
There is a mix of lesser characters, space heroes, fantasy swords men and one attempt at a spy story. They are all pure adventure stories filtered through this crazed genius brain.
Shame Hanks isn't more well known amongst comic fans and I'd be curious to see someone trying to bring these characters back. Though, whoever did it would want to change things for realism's sake and ruin them.
From all accounts, Fletcher Hanks did a lot of self medicating, was a deadbeat dad and husband and quite possibly insane, but despite that, or maybe because of that, he created some amazing comics.
The stories are formulaic and the art is cartoony, but all that is done while presenting some of the purest comic book stories you will ever read.
Nothing included in these stories is based in realism or explanation of super heroes, everything is geared to 'is it cool, exciting or fun', and on every single page the answer is 'Yes!'
The main stories feature:
Stardust: a wild mix of Superman with a little Flash Gordon thrown in.
Fantomeh: a jungle goddess that looks like a 40's bathing beauty, but can turn into a skull faced avenger if you mess with her jungle.
Red McLane: the bad ass lumberjack.
There is a mix of lesser characters, space heroes, fantasy swords men and one attempt at a spy story. They are all pure adventure stories filtered through this crazed genius brain.
Shame Hanks isn't more well known amongst comic fans and I'd be curious to see someone trying to bring these characters back. Though, whoever did it would want to change things for realism's sake and ruin them.
February 15, 2011
Fletcher Hanks is an unlikely genius. Beyond the apparent crudeness of his work (both in the drawing and the writing), there is a relentless energy. After finishing each comic in this volume, I was buzzing with excitement. It is the kind of work I wanted to show my friends (and did show my friends, who thumbed through the illustrations, pointing and laughing and "holy shitting"). It's sad that this is the last volume of Hanks' collected comics, but I can't recommend it enough. This and the first volume should be on the shelf of any fan, casual or otherwise, of pop culture. It is culture in its rawest form, original and unedited and, now that it is removed enough from its own era, untainted by context. These are comics from before anyone decided what exactly comics were. I hope more people discover Hanks' work and use that as an influence on what comics will become.
May 19, 2010
A work of true unadulterated genius, Hanks was born to write comics, to tell stories. He has no interest in what is the norm, no care for guidelines or regulations. He cares about one thing- makin' money to buy booze. The boozehound has killed the meticulous crew-cut boyscouts that created shit like superman and Archie and left their entrails all over the streets of LA. I would fucking die for a chance to look at that brain!
January 12, 2020
This was an intense read in more ways than one. Fletcher Hanks was a prolific comic book artist and writer whose peers included Will Eisner. However, unlike Eisner, Hanks dropped out of the medium early on in his career.
His comics are distinctly unique in their warm colour scheme and Wrath-of-God attitude. Hanks created a gallery of mysterious righteous heroes, my favourites including Fantomah the Mystery Woman of the Jungle (a levitating blonde bombshell with a skull for a face pronouncing doom by 'jungle fate') and 'Big Red' McClane, King of the North Woods (an entrepreneurial woodsman with a knack for knocking out agents from rival logging companies).
The artwork is especially striking: muscular and surprisingly violent for the 1940s. I was put in mind of a stiffer-limbed variation on Jack Kirby's early Marvel work. However, when it comes to villainous pouts, Hanks stands alone.
While I was first drawn to Fletcher Hanks from reading Morris's The League of Regrettable Superheroes, I had little idea of the writer's personal life. It turns out, for all his talent, Hanks was a fairly pathetic individual: a deadbeat father who once kicked his four-year-old son down the stairs and fled with his piggy bank to fund his alcoholism. Clearly the extreme morality of these tales did not reflect in the life of their creator.
Even so You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! proved a fascinating collection of lesser known Golden Age comic talent. I will seek out the first volume of this compilation, I Shall Destroy All the Civilised Planets!, to get a full picture of Hanks's work. Nevertheless I can only recommend this book to comic book historians with an interest in the darker side of the industry.
His comics are distinctly unique in their warm colour scheme and Wrath-of-God attitude. Hanks created a gallery of mysterious righteous heroes, my favourites including Fantomah the Mystery Woman of the Jungle (a levitating blonde bombshell with a skull for a face pronouncing doom by 'jungle fate') and 'Big Red' McClane, King of the North Woods (an entrepreneurial woodsman with a knack for knocking out agents from rival logging companies).
The artwork is especially striking: muscular and surprisingly violent for the 1940s. I was put in mind of a stiffer-limbed variation on Jack Kirby's early Marvel work. However, when it comes to villainous pouts, Hanks stands alone.
While I was first drawn to Fletcher Hanks from reading Morris's The League of Regrettable Superheroes, I had little idea of the writer's personal life. It turns out, for all his talent, Hanks was a fairly pathetic individual: a deadbeat father who once kicked his four-year-old son down the stairs and fled with his piggy bank to fund his alcoholism. Clearly the extreme morality of these tales did not reflect in the life of their creator.
Even so You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! proved a fascinating collection of lesser known Golden Age comic talent. I will seek out the first volume of this compilation, I Shall Destroy All the Civilised Planets!, to get a full picture of Hanks's work. Nevertheless I can only recommend this book to comic book historians with an interest in the darker side of the industry.
March 1, 2020
Segundo tomo dedicado a la obra de Fletcher Hanks:
YOU SHALL DIE BY YOUR OWN EVIL CREATION
Editado por y con introducción de Paul Karasik
IV INTRODUCTION: "I Shall Destroy, You Shall Die!" by Paul Karasik
01 FANTASTIC #1 (DEC 1939): "Captured by Skomah" featuring Space Smith
07 FANTASTIC #2 (JAN 1940): "Rip the Blood" featuring Stardust
13 JUNGLE #1 (JAN 1940): "The Slave Raiders" featuring Tabu
21 FANTASTIC #2 (JAN 1940): "The Martian Ogres" featuring Space Smith
27 FIGHT #1 (JAN 1940): "King of the North Woods" featuring Big Red McLane
32 JUNGLE #2 (FEB 1940): "The Elephants Graveyard" featuring Fantomah
39 FANTASTIC #3 (FEB 1940): "The Leopard Women of Venus" featuring Space Smith
45 PLANET #2 (FEB 1940): "The Dashing, Slashing Adventure of the
Great Solinoor Diamond" featuring Tiger Hart
50 FANTASTIC #4 (MAR 1940): "The Mad Giant" featuring Stardust
56 FANTASTIC #4 (MAR 1940): "The Thinker" featuring Space Smith
62 FIGHT #3 (MAR 1940): "The Timber Thieves" featuring Big Red McLane
67 JUNGLE #4 (APR 1940): "The Super-Gorillas" featuring Fantomah
74 FANTASTIC #5 (APR 1940): "The Hoppers" featuring Space Smith
80 FIGHT #4 (APR 1940): "The Lumber Hijackers" featuring Big Red McLane
85 DARING MYSTERY #4 (MAY 1940): "Mars Attacks" featuring Whirlwind Carter
93 JUNGLE #5 (MAY 1940) : "Mundoor and the Giant Reptiles" featuring Fantomah
100 FANTASTIC #6 (MAY 1940): "The Saboteurs" featuring Yank Wilson
106 FANTASTIC #6 (MAY 1940): "The Vacuumites" featuring Space Smith
112 FIGHT #5 (MAY 1940): "The Sinister Stranger" featuring Big Red McLane
117 DARING MYSTERY #5 (JUNE 1940): "Planet of Black-Light" featuring Whirlwind Carter 124 JUNGLE #6 (JUN 1940): "Phantom of the Tree-Tops" featuring Fantomah
131 FIGHT #6 (JUN 1940): "The Paper Racketeers" featuring Big Red McLane
136 FANTASTIC #8 (JUL 1940): "The Emerald Men of Asperus" featuring Stardust
142 FANTASTIC #8 (JUL 1940): "Planet Bloodu" featuring Space Smith
148 FIGHT #7 (JUL 1940): "Sledge Sloan Gang" featuring Big Red McLane
153 JUNGLE #8 (AUG 1940): "The Temple In the Mud Pit" featuring Fantomah
160 FIGHT #8 (AUG 1940): "The Monk's War Rockets" featuring Big Red McLane
165 FANTASTIC #10 (SEP 1940): "The Super Fiend" featuring Stardust
173 FIGHT #9 (SEP 1940): "Searching For Sally Breen" featuring Big Red McLane
178 JUNGLE #1 1 (NOV 1940): "The Scarlet Shadow" featuring Fantomah
185 FANTASTIC #12 (NOV 1940): "Kaos and the Vultures" featuring Stardust
193 JUNGLE #12 (DEC 1940): "The New Blitzers" featuring Fantomah
200 FANTASTIC #14 (JAN 1941): "The Sixth Columnists" featuring Stardust
208 JUNGLE #13 (JAN 1941): "The Tiger-Women of Wildmoon Mountain" featuring Fantomah 215 FANTASTIC #15 (FEB 1941): "The World Invaders" featuring Stardust
223 JUNGLE #14 (FEB 1941): "The Revenge of Zomax" featuring Fantomah
YOU SHALL DIE BY YOUR OWN EVIL CREATION
Editado por y con introducción de Paul Karasik
IV INTRODUCTION: "I Shall Destroy, You Shall Die!" by Paul Karasik
01 FANTASTIC #1 (DEC 1939): "Captured by Skomah" featuring Space Smith
07 FANTASTIC #2 (JAN 1940): "Rip the Blood" featuring Stardust
13 JUNGLE #1 (JAN 1940): "The Slave Raiders" featuring Tabu
21 FANTASTIC #2 (JAN 1940): "The Martian Ogres" featuring Space Smith
27 FIGHT #1 (JAN 1940): "King of the North Woods" featuring Big Red McLane
32 JUNGLE #2 (FEB 1940): "The Elephants Graveyard" featuring Fantomah
39 FANTASTIC #3 (FEB 1940): "The Leopard Women of Venus" featuring Space Smith
45 PLANET #2 (FEB 1940): "The Dashing, Slashing Adventure of the
Great Solinoor Diamond" featuring Tiger Hart
50 FANTASTIC #4 (MAR 1940): "The Mad Giant" featuring Stardust
56 FANTASTIC #4 (MAR 1940): "The Thinker" featuring Space Smith
62 FIGHT #3 (MAR 1940): "The Timber Thieves" featuring Big Red McLane
67 JUNGLE #4 (APR 1940): "The Super-Gorillas" featuring Fantomah
74 FANTASTIC #5 (APR 1940): "The Hoppers" featuring Space Smith
80 FIGHT #4 (APR 1940): "The Lumber Hijackers" featuring Big Red McLane
85 DARING MYSTERY #4 (MAY 1940): "Mars Attacks" featuring Whirlwind Carter
93 JUNGLE #5 (MAY 1940) : "Mundoor and the Giant Reptiles" featuring Fantomah
100 FANTASTIC #6 (MAY 1940): "The Saboteurs" featuring Yank Wilson
106 FANTASTIC #6 (MAY 1940): "The Vacuumites" featuring Space Smith
112 FIGHT #5 (MAY 1940): "The Sinister Stranger" featuring Big Red McLane
117 DARING MYSTERY #5 (JUNE 1940): "Planet of Black-Light" featuring Whirlwind Carter 124 JUNGLE #6 (JUN 1940): "Phantom of the Tree-Tops" featuring Fantomah
131 FIGHT #6 (JUN 1940): "The Paper Racketeers" featuring Big Red McLane
136 FANTASTIC #8 (JUL 1940): "The Emerald Men of Asperus" featuring Stardust
142 FANTASTIC #8 (JUL 1940): "Planet Bloodu" featuring Space Smith
148 FIGHT #7 (JUL 1940): "Sledge Sloan Gang" featuring Big Red McLane
153 JUNGLE #8 (AUG 1940): "The Temple In the Mud Pit" featuring Fantomah
160 FIGHT #8 (AUG 1940): "The Monk's War Rockets" featuring Big Red McLane
165 FANTASTIC #10 (SEP 1940): "The Super Fiend" featuring Stardust
173 FIGHT #9 (SEP 1940): "Searching For Sally Breen" featuring Big Red McLane
178 JUNGLE #1 1 (NOV 1940): "The Scarlet Shadow" featuring Fantomah
185 FANTASTIC #12 (NOV 1940): "Kaos and the Vultures" featuring Stardust
193 JUNGLE #12 (DEC 1940): "The New Blitzers" featuring Fantomah
200 FANTASTIC #14 (JAN 1941): "The Sixth Columnists" featuring Stardust
208 JUNGLE #13 (JAN 1941): "The Tiger-Women of Wildmoon Mountain" featuring Fantomah 215 FANTASTIC #15 (FEB 1941): "The World Invaders" featuring Stardust
223 JUNGLE #14 (FEB 1941): "The Revenge of Zomax" featuring Fantomah
December 26, 2024
These early superhero comics fall into the range of "so bad they're good category." I didn't think you could create a comic that fell into the category of The Room or Troll 2, but I have been proven wrong. There is no drama, no tension. The heroes are never in any danger. The basic formula is the same, a villain shows up does something terrible. The hero arrives and immediately puts it to right, usually without much effort.
What I found attractive was the ridiculous of it all. Superheroes by their nature are ridiculous, but these take it to another level. We have whole planets blown up. Massive armies being attacked by a cadre of flying lions. Loads of over-the-top action. One particular Fantomah story has a man who wants to kill all the jungle animals for revenge: apparently when hunting he was attacked by a lion, then smacked around by an elephant, then poisoned by a plague of gnats, then crushed by a snake, then captured by an ape that tortured him for months before he got away. Now he's back for revenge. That's what you find in this book.
And I loved it.
What I found attractive was the ridiculous of it all. Superheroes by their nature are ridiculous, but these take it to another level. We have whole planets blown up. Massive armies being attacked by a cadre of flying lions. Loads of over-the-top action. One particular Fantomah story has a man who wants to kill all the jungle animals for revenge: apparently when hunting he was attacked by a lion, then smacked around by an elephant, then poisoned by a plague of gnats, then crushed by a snake, then captured by an ape that tortured him for months before he got away. Now he's back for revenge. That's what you find in this book.
And I loved it.
November 22, 2017
I really enjoyed the introduction. This guy was kind of an unknown idiot savant when it came to writing gonzo comic stories. He was sort of the Daniel Johnston of the early 19th century comics world. Maybe that's an unfair comparison in that Johnston is a good person, but a little bit out of touch with reality. Whereas Fletcher Hanks was a terrible person that created stories completely out of touch with reality. Forget it, my comparison is stupid. Anyway, this stuff is really only meant for comics historians and those with some severe dissociative disorder. The Fantomah stories are, by far, the best.
July 5, 2024
Over the course of these two books, I have become completely enamored with the writing and artwork of Fletcher Hanks' so bad-that-it's-great comic books. These are so ridiculous and over the top that you can't help but love them. I have now read the man's complete works, and am a better human being for having done so. Also, the paper in this book smells fantastic. Take that, iPad!
April 20, 2018
Absolutely the best in colorful, earnest pulp fatally infected with insanity. Strangely wonderful in its manic pointlessness.
July 18, 2013
Fletcher Hanks has been called many things but I don't think "a good guy" has ever been one of them. He was an abusive father and husband and abandoned his wife and child, even stealing his son's piggy bank, and never was heard from again. He only wrote comic books from 1939-1941 and little else is known about him other than that he froze to death in 1976 on a park bench in New York City. His own son wasn't even aware that his father had made comic books until fairly recently.
So if you're looking for an author that can provide you with respectable morals Fletcher Hanks is not your man. If, however, you need help naming your next MMORPG character, Hanks' comics may be a fantastic source of inspiration; with comic characters with such names as "Yank Wilson", "Big Red McLane, King of the Northwoods", "Space Smith", "Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle", "Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service", or my personal favorite "The Super Wizard Stardust". The next Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft character I create may just take some inspiration from ole' Fletcher Hanks.
And, if you couldn't tell by aforementioned names, the comics of Fletcher Hanks were extremely cheesy and high in camp. The plots were simple, repetitive, and unoriginal. "So why should I read Fletcher Hanks?" you ask? "I don't play MMORPGs, so what's the appeal?" you wonder? Well, you see, Fletcher Hanks is widely regarded to be one of the first true auteurs of comics. That is, he not only wrote his own stories, but illustrated, lettered, inked them etc. as well, unlike many of his contemporaries, like Will Eisner, who worked on a single aspect of a comic.
The question of course is whether or not these comics were any good. They were. Yes they followed standard plotlines and featured hero-saves-the-day endings, but there's more there than that. Fletcher Hanks undoubtedly had quite the imagination. His mind conjured up grotesque creatures, strange super powers, and odd scenarios. Better yet, his illustrations fully realized what his writing imagined. The colors are so vibrant and flawlessly paletted that they almost contrast the grotesqueness. The style is weird; when I first picked this book up without knowing anything about it its style seemed like it was from the Golden Age of comics but with a certain amount of modern oddities added in. Fletcher Hanks' work can certainly not be confused with any others, which is impressive for a time when many comic illustrations looked identical to others (with obvious exceptions like Eisner, Cole, Banks, Briefer, Gould, et al). In the wake of Superman and Action Comics many comic books became very formulaic, not only in story and character, but in format and style as well. Fletcher Hanks somewhat defies these conventions. His plots are generic, yes, but his scenarios and worlds are unique. His characters are archetypes but their appearance and powers are their own. His style is as pulp as the next comic book of the era but with an added personal touch and completely original artwork. The format of his works are tame by today's standards but when compared to other comics of the day his panel layouts are quite convention-breaking. Not to mention Hanks' character Fantomah is considered to be the first superhero-heroine of comics books, predating Wonder Woman by nearly a year, though taking some obvious inspiration from the already existing non-superpowered Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
When we go back and read the old Superman comics, Dick Tracy comics, and Disney comics, we mostly enjoy them only for their silliness; we've seen the evolution of Superman and we've read the better Superman comics. Dick Tracy belongs to a genre that has only grown since then. Disney characters seem to only get better with every new movie they release. So sure, we can laugh at the dated plots and whatnot of Fletcher Hanks' comics, but they also contain a uniqueness and weirdness that has never been built upon. A charm that remains untapped. Fletcher Hanks himself is a mystery, but so are his characters, they've never existed beyond those few years in the Golden Age, they've never topped themselves. Whereas the market craved more caped crusaders, more hard-boiled detectives, more lovable company mascots, the market never demanded more Fletcher Hanks or more weirdness and uniqueness, and so we never got more. Which is why going back and reading these comics still seems fresh and interesting, despite their age which shows in some of the less important areas.
It's a worthwhile read not only for the historical value, but for the quality and joy of the work as well.
So if you're looking for an author that can provide you with respectable morals Fletcher Hanks is not your man. If, however, you need help naming your next MMORPG character, Hanks' comics may be a fantastic source of inspiration; with comic characters with such names as "Yank Wilson", "Big Red McLane, King of the Northwoods", "Space Smith", "Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle", "Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service", or my personal favorite "The Super Wizard Stardust". The next Guild Wars 2 or World of Warcraft character I create may just take some inspiration from ole' Fletcher Hanks.
And, if you couldn't tell by aforementioned names, the comics of Fletcher Hanks were extremely cheesy and high in camp. The plots were simple, repetitive, and unoriginal. "So why should I read Fletcher Hanks?" you ask? "I don't play MMORPGs, so what's the appeal?" you wonder? Well, you see, Fletcher Hanks is widely regarded to be one of the first true auteurs of comics. That is, he not only wrote his own stories, but illustrated, lettered, inked them etc. as well, unlike many of his contemporaries, like Will Eisner, who worked on a single aspect of a comic.
The question of course is whether or not these comics were any good. They were. Yes they followed standard plotlines and featured hero-saves-the-day endings, but there's more there than that. Fletcher Hanks undoubtedly had quite the imagination. His mind conjured up grotesque creatures, strange super powers, and odd scenarios. Better yet, his illustrations fully realized what his writing imagined. The colors are so vibrant and flawlessly paletted that they almost contrast the grotesqueness. The style is weird; when I first picked this book up without knowing anything about it its style seemed like it was from the Golden Age of comics but with a certain amount of modern oddities added in. Fletcher Hanks' work can certainly not be confused with any others, which is impressive for a time when many comic illustrations looked identical to others (with obvious exceptions like Eisner, Cole, Banks, Briefer, Gould, et al). In the wake of Superman and Action Comics many comic books became very formulaic, not only in story and character, but in format and style as well. Fletcher Hanks somewhat defies these conventions. His plots are generic, yes, but his scenarios and worlds are unique. His characters are archetypes but their appearance and powers are their own. His style is as pulp as the next comic book of the era but with an added personal touch and completely original artwork. The format of his works are tame by today's standards but when compared to other comics of the day his panel layouts are quite convention-breaking. Not to mention Hanks' character Fantomah is considered to be the first superhero-heroine of comics books, predating Wonder Woman by nearly a year, though taking some obvious inspiration from the already existing non-superpowered Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
When we go back and read the old Superman comics, Dick Tracy comics, and Disney comics, we mostly enjoy them only for their silliness; we've seen the evolution of Superman and we've read the better Superman comics. Dick Tracy belongs to a genre that has only grown since then. Disney characters seem to only get better with every new movie they release. So sure, we can laugh at the dated plots and whatnot of Fletcher Hanks' comics, but they also contain a uniqueness and weirdness that has never been built upon. A charm that remains untapped. Fletcher Hanks himself is a mystery, but so are his characters, they've never existed beyond those few years in the Golden Age, they've never topped themselves. Whereas the market craved more caped crusaders, more hard-boiled detectives, more lovable company mascots, the market never demanded more Fletcher Hanks or more weirdness and uniqueness, and so we never got more. Which is why going back and reading these comics still seems fresh and interesting, despite their age which shows in some of the less important areas.
It's a worthwhile read not only for the historical value, but for the quality and joy of the work as well.
June 22, 2016
You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! is an afterthought. You can tell because the title & cover image pack more of a punch than almost the entirety of the 200-odd pages that follow. The lack of a contextualizing postscript comic at the end drives the point home: this book's purpose is more or less archival.
In I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! Paul Karasik editorialized a biography out of a few anecdotes and the disturbed power of artist Fletcher Hanks' rudimentary drafting techniques. You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! exists solely to tie up loose ends. If I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! was a greatest hit album, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! is the b-sides and rarities, artistic flubs and unpopular singles. Less accessible. Narrative-less. Not an album, a collection. For completists only. Inessential reading for any pleasures other than its facility to the adoption of a critical stance. A book for the Comic Books are Burning in Hell guys, Tom Spurgeon-lites, and hard-core Fantagraphics regulars: the hipster-hypebeasts of comics.
Of course I own a copy.
In I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! Paul Karasik editorialized a biography out of a few anecdotes and the disturbed power of artist Fletcher Hanks' rudimentary drafting techniques. You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! exists solely to tie up loose ends. If I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! was a greatest hit album, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! is the b-sides and rarities, artistic flubs and unpopular singles. Less accessible. Narrative-less. Not an album, a collection. For completists only. Inessential reading for any pleasures other than its facility to the adoption of a critical stance. A book for the Comic Books are Burning in Hell guys, Tom Spurgeon-lites, and hard-core Fantagraphics regulars: the hipster-hypebeasts of comics.
Of course I own a copy.
June 14, 2014
I absolutely loved "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!"
But I found this a little tiresome.
Things that appear in almost every story:
Rays (especially of the "fusing" variety
The rays don't work so they have to fight "hand-to-hand"
Transmitting (generally used as a synonym for "flying")
The introduction kind of amplifies it by emphasizing what a bad person and explaining the arc of every story:
(1) Hero becomes aware villain is going to do something horrible.
(2) Villain does do something horrible.
(3) Hero then punishes villain in a very sever way that is kind of ironic. Villain never really has a chance to fight back.
Finally, the Red Mclane, Space Smith, Yank Wilson . . . Anything that isn't Fantomah or Sardust . . . .They really lack any and all pizzazz. There's just a lot of punching.
Well, really finally, the binding is very nice, but doesn't, you know, bind. The cover fell right off (the glue did not work) after minimal and normal use.
But I found this a little tiresome.
Things that appear in almost every story:
Rays (especially of the "fusing" variety
The rays don't work so they have to fight "hand-to-hand"
Transmitting (generally used as a synonym for "flying")
The introduction kind of amplifies it by emphasizing what a bad person and explaining the arc of every story:
(1) Hero becomes aware villain is going to do something horrible.
(2) Villain does do something horrible.
(3) Hero then punishes villain in a very sever way that is kind of ironic. Villain never really has a chance to fight back.
Finally, the Red Mclane, Space Smith, Yank Wilson . . . Anything that isn't Fantomah or Sardust . . . .They really lack any and all pizzazz. There's just a lot of punching.
Well, really finally, the binding is very nice, but doesn't, you know, bind. The cover fell right off (the glue did not work) after minimal and normal use.
July 3, 2013
As much as I enjoyed the first volume of Fletcher Hanks' work, I feel like they already used up most of the wild, out-there material by the time they decided to make a second. While there are still some extremely uncomfortable, Axe Cop-style insanities thrown at you (particularly in the second half of the collection), you'll see the same napkin-thin plot used again and again, the same phoned-in artwork, and after the first book I'd already gotten over the shock factor of it all. More interesting, I found, was the tragic biography of Hanks provided in the foreword; as I read along I couldn't help but wonder what kind of life this abusive comic jockey was leading as he scrawled out the adventures of "Space" Smith and Big "Red" McClane, and the epilogue just concluded the whole Fletcher Hanks experience perfectly.
February 14, 2010
I appreciate the inclusion of the introduction in this collection. After finishing I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets, I found myself unsatisfied in what I knew about the history of the collection and Fletcher Hanks himself.
These stories are amazing for their craziness. It's hard to read more than a couple one after another. I put the book down between comics in order to enjoy each one.
These stories are amazing for their craziness. It's hard to read more than a couple one after another. I put the book down between comics in order to enjoy each one.
February 22, 2015
Reading this collection of '40s comic work was like reading the notebook of a tortured artistic fourth grader, and I mean that as a compliment. The heroes here are invincible, calling up whatever power they need (my favorite was the guy who suddenly turned into a gorilla); worldwide threats that come up four panels from the end have been dealt with two panels later, and the floating - so many people floating. You don't step back in awe and wonder when you read this; you step back with a wary "Hey, wait a minute..."
July 5, 2016
Well, Fletcher Hanks was certainly......unique. "You shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation" is a book that only real comic fans will enjoy, and probably only weirdos like me. Hanks artwork is cartoony but surreal, I really dug it. And the stories are simple, weird and direct. The villain always gets his comeuppance, sometimes in gruesome detail. I liked all his characters, especially Stardust, the Super Wizard and Fantomah. An interesting glimpse at a singular creator and the golden age of comics.
Read
July 17, 2010The Fletcher Hanks Template: evil is detected from a remote location, civilization is threatened with unspeakable horrors, battles are fought between anatomically-surreal heroes and grotesque monsters, good celebrates an unsettlingly gruesome victory. "You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation" plays and replays that template with a revolving cast of characters to such an extent that it smacks of pathology. Fascinating.
September 11, 2014
Hanks was a comics oddity in the late 1930s/early 1940s in that he did it all, rather than following the more studio-oriented approach, making him a sort of early comics auteur. And he's a weird one; his stories are grotesque, virtually plotless power fantasies, sometimes amusing (usually unintentionally) but with bizarre and disturbing undertones. Not good comics, to be sure, but they do have a strange consistency and . . . interest factor, I guess.
September 15, 2013
Imagine Axe Cop, only instead of being written by an eight year old it was written by a crazy person who hates everything and is totally angry all the time. That's an accurate description of every single Fletcher Hanks comic ever, and it is every bit as glorious as it sounds. I am so happy that these comics exist, and I only wish there were more of them.
January 12, 2015
Being a (presumably) complete collection, rather than 'greatest hits', this bit o' Fletcher Hanks drags sometimes. Space Smith and Big Red McLane suck. But there's enough lingering fascination with the author to carry it.
October 1, 2009
More top-notch bizarro comics from the Fletcher Hanks archives.
August 7, 2010
not quite as outlandish as i hoped it would be...the guy's really angry, though!
March 16, 2010
Some of the weirdest comics I have read. An enjoyable read and an adventure in the bizarre mind of Fletcher Hanks.
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