The world of comics was radically different in 1939. No single artist proves this dictum than the largely-forgotten Fletcher Hanks. I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!, the first collection of Hanks' work, introduces a new generation to this artist's strange works.

Soon after the April, 1938 introduction of Superman in Action Comics #1, new publishers sprang up and needed content for the suddenly-popular comic books. Almost anyone who could draw landed a job in the burgeoning industry. During this mad scramble Fletcher Hanks, who obviously understood little about anatomy, began publishing stories in a variety of obscure publications such as Fantastic, Jungle, Fight, and Big Three Comics.

Hanks' fantastic stories usually feature the intergalactic protector Stardust or Fantomah, mysterious woman of the jungle. Both beings meted out justice and vengeance upon the guilty like some cosmically-powered Shadow, though these heroes went far beyond the punishments of that legendary cloaked avenger. Villains are frozen in space, dissected, poisoned, and transmogrified. The penalties inflicted matched the heinous and creative crimes committed, usually mass murder of millions for greed, by a variety of methods such as stopping the Earth's rotation, tsunami, suffocation, huge spiders, and "giant flaming hands." Each story in this collection concludes with some uniquely horrific act.

Of the fifteen Hanks stories, all but two feature both heroes. One starred Big Red McLane, King of the Northwoods, a lumberjack who defends loggers against the marauding Red River Boys. The other showcases the Venusian Interplanetary Secret Service agent Buzz Crandall of the Space Patrol as he struggles against the evil in the universe.

Often crude but always dynamic, Fletcher Hanks' art recalls his better known contemporary Basil Wolverton. Hanks' career spanned just three years, 1939-1941, after which he disappeared into obscurity.

Paul Karasik's illustrated afterword grants an inside look into the life of the mysterious Hanks. Karasik tracks down Fletcher Hanks, Jr. and uncovers some disturbing and fascinating information about the elder Hanks.

Complete with color-corrected art, this lush production falters only in the lack of background information about the stories and the artist himself. A fascinating and somewhat outlandish collection, I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! rescues Fletcher Hanks from the purgatory of forgotten creators and restores his rightful place among the pantheon of the bizarre.

(The review originally appeared on RevolutionSF.)
Link:http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=3637 ( )

As you may know, I love classic sci fi and adventure novels, and yet I always forget that I would also probably love their counterpart in 1930s/1940s boy and manhood, the classic comic book. Fletcher Hanks was a mysterious comic artist. He only worked for a few years in the late 1930s and early 1940s and then disappeared. When Paul Karasik found a man with the same (unusual) name, he looked him up and happened upon Hanks' elderly, estranged son. The story of Karasik's meeting with Hanks, Jr. and the answers to some of the mysteries surrounding Hanks is illustrated by Karasik and included as an afterward to this pretty damn exciting collection of the senior Hanks' work in the comic genre. First, take a quick minute to Google image search "Fletcher Hanks" so you can see what I'm talking about. Pretty great, right? Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle is my new life coach. Stardust, The Super Wizard needs to have a movie made about him right now. They are simple and exciting characters with clear motivations (stop evil!) and a rough, colorful drawing style that works perfectly with a cheaply printed comic book.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2016/03/i-shall-destroy-all-civilized-planets.html ] ( )

I wonderful example of true outsider art that somehow leaked through the channels of capitalism. Reminded me a lot of northern renaissance paintings. The ideological disjunctions are explained with Paul Karasik's graphic postscript. ( )

One review calls this "outsider comics". That's a pretty good description. I loved this - the artwork and stories are so odd, yet compelling, and the post script in which Paul Karasik tries to track down the cartoonist is interesting. ( )

Fletcher Hanks was the most amazing artist who ever lived. From his secret drawing table, in a penthouse on the other side of the moon, he shot hypno-comic rays into thousands of speechless readers, lifted their bodies, suspended, into space where he flung them into the sun, faster than the speed of light, so that they came out the other side, cooler, and in yesterday. This is not to mention his tales of the Queen in Africa, and the giant panthers, and the bombs over New York. He surely would have busted crime too, if he had the time. "To be continued, in the next issue"...what a diabolical plan! Stardust! ( )