I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!

by Fletcher Hanks

Other authorsPaul Karasik (Editor), Paul Karasik (Afterword), Fletcher Hanks (Artist)
Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

PN6727.H36

Publication

Fantagraphics (2007), 120 pages

Description

Collects comic book adventures by Fletcher Hanks, originally published between 1939 and 1941, featuring such heroes as Stardust the super wizard and Fantomah, mystery woman of the jungle.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Ganeshaka
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
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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!
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LibraryThing member librarianbryan
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.
LibraryThing member dr_zirk
This is something weird, wild, and wonderful, and further testament to why Fantagraphics Books is the most significant book publisher in existence. Along with fellow "outsider art" practitioners like Henry Darger, the works of Fletcher Hanks are impressive for their ability to re-interpret familiar
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memes from popular culture in ways that are both completely amateurish and vaguely amazing in their lack of pretense and their unabashed strangeness.

While some of the individual pieces in this volume are merely odd, the best adventures of the Super Wizard Stardust and Fantomah, the Mystery Woman of the Jungle, approach extremes of surrealism that are undeniably compelling. Better yet, these short, poorly-drawn adventure strips manage to salute and spoof the superhero genre at the same time, although one can't help suspect that the spoofing was entirely unintentional.

The comics of Fletcher Hanks are clearly not great art, but they are significant and entertaining cultural artifacts. Plus, let's face it, we'd all love to be able to travel through space at light speed in a "tubular spatial", just like the Super Wizard Stardust. Live the adventure!
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LibraryThing member goodinthestacks
"I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!" is a collection of comics by Fletcher Hanks, a comic artist and writer who was one of the original creators of the art. I bought this at a used book sale because I really thought the title was great.

Not knowing what to expect, I skimmed through the book
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that was filled with what looked like to meet crude, yet beautiful art. I didn't read anything fully until I came to the end.

There is an afterword so to say about who is Fletcher Hanks and what happened to him. This is also is comic form and tells the story of Mr. Hanks and I believe reading this first made me appreciate him and the comics more.

As for the comics by Mr. Hanks, I really enjoyed them, especially the ones featuring his character "Stardust" who is so great and powerful and seems to have any ability that he needs at his disposal.

Great read for any fan of comics.
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LibraryThing member kristenn
Very golden age, very weird. The epilogue really enhanced it. My favorite comics character is the Spectre, so the creatively gruesome fates of the villains weren't all that startling. He only had a couple basic ideas, but they were strong ones.
LibraryThing member piemouth
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.

Awards

Eisner Award (Nominee — 2008)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2007-06

Physical description

120 p.; 11 inches

ISBN

1560978392 / 9781560978398
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