Comic books in 'Complete Fletcher Hanks'

1st printing. Story and art by Fletcher Hanks. Fletcher Hanks worked for only a few years in the earliest days of the comic book industry (1939-1941). Because he worked in a gutter medium for second-rate publishers on third rate characters, his work has been largely forgotten. But among aficionados he is legendary. Hanks drew in a variety of genres depicting science-fiction saviors, white women of the jungle, and he-man loggers. This book collects 15 of his best stories in one volume followed by an Afterword which solves the mystery of "Whatever Happened to Fletcher Hanks", the mysterious cartoonist who created a hailstorm of tales of brutal retribution ... and then mysteriously vanished. Softcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 128 pages, full color. Cover price $19.95.

2nd and later printings. Story and art by Fletcher Hanks. Fletcher Hanks worked for only a few years in the earliest days of the comic book industry (1939-1941). Because he worked in a gutter medium for second-rate publishers on third rate characters, his work has been largely forgotten. But among aficionados he is legendary. Hanks drew in a variety of genres depicting science-fiction saviors, white women of the jungle, and he-man loggers. This book collects 15 of his best stories in one volume followed by an Afterword which solves the mystery of "Whatever Happened to Fletcher Hanks", the mysterious cartoonist who created a hailstorm of tales of brutal retribution ... and then mysteriously vanished. Softcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 128 pages, full color. Cover price $19.95.

1st printing. By Fletcher Hanks. Edited by Patrick Rosenkranz. 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! (now in its fourth printing) 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, this second volume You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation, collects all of the rest of Hanks 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, will comprise The Complete Fletcher Hanks! Softcover, 8 1/2-in. x 11-in., 232 pages, full color. Cover price $24.99.