That scene--where the gangster is going "Ow-w-w-w!" and "Stop it" when Stardust is shrinking his body but not his head, has always frightened me, because Hanks' son told Karasik Hanks used to abuse him(ie hitting) and, well...that dialogue sounds like a child being hurt. As a onetime bullying and abuse victim, it seems familiar. Another example of the psychodrama from hanks' messed up mind leaking onto the page.
"Oh no here comes Stardust to turn my feet into fish and force me for all of time to live in the ocean with fish feet!!! I never should have stolen that gold!!"
@@raycearcher5794 That's what you get for being a commie! A ginormous head! Yeah!! Now, go and think about what you've done. COMMIE: I can't move!... agony all my days!! STARDUST: Because crime does not pay.
stardust actually appears in league of extraordinary gentlemen, where he was a drunk that accidently wandered into his own freezing machine and froze himself
@@moyza_ It's talked about at one point in The Black Dossier, where Captain Universe (a Captain Marvel knock-off created by British comics creator Mick Anglo) tells Mina the story of Stardust, and how he froze to death in a chunk of Ice 9. Captain Universe is also shown to have taken over Stardust's base after the fact.
They also make a point that he has too many abs for a human so it looks like a weird attempt at making a strong person. I think it's in volume 3 when they talk about Mina being in a super team in the early 60s?
@@davidmelon9409 And weirder..... he is like a bizarro combo of segata sanshiro, spectre, kool aid man and the punisher but without a reason Does Stardust punishes people for fun? For the greater good? because he was bored? given how little we know about his creator, we might as well make our own lore how stardust was like flex mentallo: a comic book character given life by his own creator to pursue his creator's ideas of jsutice
Stardust strikes me as a vaguely lovecraftian superhero. No understandable reason for his actions, no rational explanation to how his powers function. He just is and serves one exact and terrible purpose that nothing can save you from.
I like Hanks because he IS so vindictive. "Stardust... I'm sorry for stealing that woman's handbag, please don't punish me too harshly!" "I sentence you to immortality!" "... that's... unexpected..." "And I'm throwing you into the Sun where you will burn forever!"
@@VorpalDerringer Having seen some Hanks stories, I was curious to hear Darth Perkins' answer, because his "hypothetical" punishment (being made immortal, then thrown into the Sun) is 100% Fletcher Hanks!
He stole his kids piggy bank, and all his villains are people who try to steal or otherwise illegitimately acquire wealth, who meet terrible fates. I don't think that Fletcher Hanks was drawing his wishes. I think that he was drawing his fears.
The best thing about being a comics fan is that after over 30 years in the fandom, I can still find a creator and a fascinating body of work I've never even heard of. Thanks for this one, really interesting stuff. I basically feel like when I first found out about R. Crumb or Jack Chick, to a lesser extent.
So you're comparing Robert Crumb, one of the greatest artists who has ever lived, with Jack Chick, not an artist at all, and Fletcher Hanks, known mostly for being so bad it's hilarious. Kinda fuck you.
@@Bonzulac C'mon now, whether you love or hate the message, you have to admit that Jack Chick is as much of an artist as beloved artists like Crumb, Mort Drucker, Don Martin, Al Jaffee, and even the legendary Jack Kirby. The art of Jack Chick, as much as I hate his religious proselytizing and dehumanizing messages, demonstrates a masterful grasp of line, weight, perspective, and form.
@@ClockworkWyrm Yah, I think Bonzi wants to be the Minister of Not-Art in the One Woke Order. Hanks has a kind of "outsider art" appeal, kind of awful, kind of unique. The stories though...why did they not find a writer for him?
A Stardust movie would single handedly grind the superhero movie boom to a halt. There'd just be no way to follow this up with your Batmans and Spidermans. The description of this comic sounds like it could be the best "so bad it's good" movie ever. Just him flying without looking where he's going is the shit lol! 😂😂😂
@@kingmclaughlin5988 Brilliant idea. Imagine the horror of being a ordinary human in Stardusts world. He is always out there watching and waiting to do something horrible to someone.
I can't help but imagine it as some sort of horror movie akin to Friday the 13th of Nightmare on Elm Street but with criminals as the main characters running from a brightly clad super powered Lex Luger.
Such a terrible person but even so his death is horrifying. He was obviously plagued by fears of death and solitude, and I guess it’s ironic a force of nature sort of came down and did him in in the end
Hanks' stories really stand out because they seem to pretty accurately show what someone with zero social skills and the inability to convey complex emotions in his work (and perhaps his life) can produce when not guided by an editorial hand. I think one could draw quite a few possible insights about the man himself and the struggles that he might have faced within himself. I just find some of the possible psychology that could be inferred from his work so very interesting. It's not difficult for me to see Fletcher Hank's work and draw a line to a life where he had a real difficulty relating to others, developing or maintaining intimate relationships, or correctly interpreting the social ques of people around him.
@@qty1315 I adore Darger's work as much as I am mystified and deeply concerned about it. The Realms of the Unreal is absolutely incredible. I got into outsider art in my mid 20's and my interest has only grown in the couple decades since. That's one of the reasons I appreciate Jim and Ed covering the black and white explosion because much of that is very much outsider art adjacent. You have people with no real formal training compelled to manifest their ideas and thoughts into the world with some of them choosing to do it with comics that feature Olympic sized swimming pools worth of the darkest blood you've ever seen. Sure Tim Vigil's is more refined than Darger's because of his familiarity with the form in which he was creating, but the work still has a very similar energy that I absolutely love. There is just something that translates to the page, canvas, or other medium when someone is possessed with that energy that they desperately need to get out into the world.
Some of the art is genuinely arresting, almost Robert Crumb or Bevis and Butthead at times. I really really dig some of the images. I need that book now. thank you for a great episode!
One thing I remember reading about him was a comment from someone who used to work with him, was that Hanks was like twice the age of all the other cartoonists in the studio.
I love the way he illustrates Stardust's face and head. Especially when limply flying through the sky the way he does. Just an empty-headed jacked noodle bopping around doing whatever.
Imagine a story where Stardust discovers a dead body and whimsically decides to avenge it, which draws him deeper and deeper into a large corporate coverup as he inexorably pursues the chain of guilt step by step with his borderline omniscient machines, to the horror of the perplexed conspirators.
I could see a modern version of Stardust being used as a kind of Homelander-esque evil Superman. In fact, it would probably work better than Homelander and the like, since you're building off of a superhero that actually has disturbing baggage and disturbing morals attached, rather than just "Superman but evil." As for Fantomah, I think a reimagining of her could just be as a female, superhero version of Colonel Kurtz. I'd read that.
Fantomah is a beauty that turns her face into a horrifying rageful one and deals out severe punishment, It's not hard to imagine Hanks' mother has something to do with this
Stardust actually has a fanmade webcomic that looks at a possible future where he's been gone for decades and returns to find that his presence had irrevocably changed Earth... and not always for the better. Check it out, it's called The Super Wizard Returns IIRC.
@@cjhepburn7406 He's the director/producer/author etc of hilariously bad movies that are all about some insanely powerful hacker or terrorist or angel or time travelling robot (always played by himself) who brutally murders millions of people as punishment for their greed. So the comparison absolutely works.
The great thing about this sort of unfiltered imaginative work is that everyone can get something different from it. I noticed he seemed to have a preoccupation with pipes / tubes / telescopes being close to people's heads, on their heads or against their eyes. I wonder where that came from? You mentioned his backgrounds where complex for the time; I agree. At 19:40 the forest and the face remind me of (and predate) surrealist Rene Magritte's famous forest series, including The Blank Signature and Les enfants trouvés. Again, the mystery of this work deepens. Thanks so much for this video; obviously, it got me thinking!
I would almost call it Dr Susse inspired with all the weird nobs and stuff on the machines. I find the story to feel very much like superjail, mean spirited and spiteful with a feeling there is something deep inside that I can't quite pick through.
@@notaraven superjail is masterfully hand animated, abrasive, absurdist, eye candy. This is actual derangement I know what you mean story wise though!!!
As ever, I'm amazed at your ability to summarise someone's life so completely and succinctly. You make something that must be pretty difficult look incredibly easy. I wish I had that superpower! Many thanks.
At this point it’s just easier to embrace the insanity. Just imagine a 60’s marvel style cartoon series staring Stardust. I don’t know if it would have had an incredibly catchy but stupid theme song or just some dude shouting STARDUST over a title card and that’s it.
Chris: "Almost everything I've said about Stardust, applies to Fantomah." Me: "Oh, does that mean Fantomah also took a damsel in distress to her lair? Looks like Fletcher was ahead of his time!"
10:16 Then Stardust releases a secret ray that brings in front of the spies, the skeletons of innocent people they have killed... "GAZE AT THEM, FOR AWHILE!" I love how hilariously mild this threat is. It's not "GAZE AT THEM FOREVER!" or "GAZE AT THEM FOR ALL ETERNITY!" It's just...a while. Because yeah, Stardust is all about making people gaze at skeletons, but he's not a monster or anything. These spies have places to be, and he isn't going to make inordinate demands of their time. I appreciate that.
Stardust sounds like a generic Spectre. They kinda kept his origins very vague, until they finally revealed his as the "wrath of God" that needs a human form now.
@@raycearcher5794 With the skull face, Fantomah is more like Ōgon Bat ("Golden Bat"; Japanese superhero who came even before Superman...and is even named "Phantoma" in an Australian dub of his 60s anime adaptation).
@@NovaSaber Fun Fact: here in Brazil, Ōgon Bat is called Fantomas, who is also the name of a famous French fictional villain and of a Mexican comic book character.
I didn't think I was a superhero guy (other than in a Chris Ware style) but holy pizookie, I ran over to ebay and bought a collection immediately, I absolutely LOVE these illustrations and the ridiculous absurdity of it all. Those floaty drawings he does, they're very pleasing, he creates great patterns and movement in his panels, very ahead of his time. Thanks for informing me about him
How to punish the guy who tried to steal the gold from Fort Knox: 1. Tell him "I will hand you over to the Golden Octopus. This is an ironic punishment." 2. Grab him, then head towards an island. Flood the island with a giant wave for some reason. 3. Lift the entire island out of the water. The one you just flooded. Now it is floating high and dry. 4. Take the villain into a cave inside the floating island. Remind him to get ready for the Golden Octopus. To be fair, he probably forgot about it at this point. I know I would have. 5. Flip the entire island upside down in mid-air, making it even less flooded than it was before, then drop it back into the ocean. Now the top half that was at one point needlessly flooded is completely and permanently underwater. 6. This causes the villain to be tossed out of the cave that he had been carefully placed into, and onto the new shoreline of the flipped-over island, apparently unhurt. 7. Golden Octopus finally shows up, picks up the guy and drags him to its lair, which presumably is not in the cave of the flipped-over flooded island, making steps 2 thru 6 completely pointless.
2:06 The segue from his mum buying him a comic book course, in to him marrying Margaret and having four children, it sounded like he'd married his mum 😲 This work reminds me of Basil Wolverton.
Hanks and his works kinda remind me of the story of Henry Darger and the Vivian Girls, in that it was basically a window into the mind of an individual who clearly had some serious trauma and fears influencing their art
Yesssss! Great to see you talk about Fantomah and Stardust the Super Wizard. Ever since I first saw a pic of Stardust squeezing a man's torso like a tube of toothpaste, I knew my life would never be the same.
The SpongeBob comic books actually parodied Stardust once. The annual issues were all superhero themed and the final story of the second annual was a parody of Stardust. In the story Patrick takes the role of the hero (and he's called Duststar) and he tries to punish Plankton for stealing the formula, but each time Plankton actually enjoys his punishment, so when Duststar gives up trying to torture him Plankton breaks down in tears.
Cool stuff. Despite some of the darker parts of Fletcher Hanks’ life, the weirdness of his comics has been a huge inspiration to me as an artist who also like to write my own stories. It helped me realize that not everything has to be technically correct, and by the book. Helped me think outside the box a bit more.
Stardust may be how Fletcher Hanks saw himself (complete with working alone and perhaps not being interested in talking to people), while the thugs could be how other people saw Hanks.
This is the kind of stuff I love to see from this channel. Weird old comics or bizarre storylines as well as artist or story features. Still miss Infotron though... :-)
You were SO close to giving us a "Oh hai, you caught me shuffling in sideways" Come on Chris bring those great intros back!! Anyway great and funny look at this guy..never heard of him
Thanks so much for that Chris - I actually had that copy of Raw magazine from years back - and I was always struck by the stardust strip - just bizarre and surreal - but fascinating. I wasn’t aware of the fantagraphics book - immediately ordered it last night after watching your piece and I’m reading it tonight! Thanks so much
After 9/11 some comic books tried to incorporate the event in some way to poor results. A Stardust The Super Wizard comic would actually be the best for it considering he would just overhear Osama Bin Ladens plans, not do anything, then come and punish him after it happened with some H.P. Lovecraft level horrors before giving him to the G-Men.
The expressions on these characters are just...Amazing. The guy being shrunken down to a head looks less like he's horrified at the cosmic nightmare enacting a hellish punishment upon him, and more like a kid being told he has to clean his room before he can go to the arcade.
I first learned of Hanks about six or seven years back, when Karasik published the two-part collections of his works, "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets" and "You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation". I was so intrigued by the bizarre works of Hanks, that I ended up doing a couple of pieces of them as well: Here's a brusk inking of Fantomah: www.deviantart.com/tomimt/art/Fantomahs-throne-280780845 A Leopard Woman from Venus: www.deviantart.com/tomimt/art/Leopard-woman-from-Venus-197130587 A 360-rendition of Stardust model: ruclips.net/video/pJ5Ah2jwfV4/видео.html A poster of Fantomah's faces: www.deviantart.com/tomimt/art/Fantomah-435422295
This might be the most fascinating creator you've highlighted. It is also a very illustrative story of why Superman became so iconis. It wasn't that he was "first" or "most powerful", but rather the way they created a compelling and interesting character with a good supporting cast and good storytelling in general. Or instead of Superman and Wonder Woman, we'd have movies with Stardust and Fantomah. (I still feel Fantomah deserves a live action movie 'cause wow!)
I remember having the time of my goddamn life learning about this comic on 2017 /co/ Stardust is so bizarre that it feels downright avant garde. And the story of Fletcher’s death is morbid as hell.
Oh man, how I love Fletcher Hanks. I came across some random panels a few years ago with no context (mainly the ones of Destructo's flying head) and got hooked on it. It's rare to see something so bizarre allowed to exist without any kind of filter.
Terrifying. Interesting similarity between Civilian Justice's Craig Weich and Fletcher Hanks, though. Both are self-published, writer-artists, who perhaps see themselves as "cool", merciless agents of vengeance and punishment. I guess some things never change in comics - some people just have to live out their violent, macho fantasies however they can.
"Why does Fantomah sound so familiar" - then I realized I read League or Regrettable Superheroes earlier this year. It's so much weirder to see her "in person".
The art is super fresh, and the stories even have a certain absurdist appeal to them. Whatever you feel about his life of apparent violence, irresponsibility and negativity, he is definitely not "the worst" auteur. Any artist who is genuinely different and weird in interesting ways deserves a certain respect as an artist. It's like some folk art that seems to give you insight into someone's head who is wired very, very differently. ;) I really like him.
Sorry I love Fletcher Hanks, his work is so weird it's good. I love the sadistic ways Stardust punishes villains like, "Oh you love gold do you? Well how about you get crushed forever by this giant GOLD octopus!!!"
Wow, what a coincidence! I just ordered "Turn Loose Our Death Rays" ! Hanks' art looks like a demented mix of Basil Wolverton and Chester Gould and i love it
Clearly Fletcher, a borderline imaginative genius i feel, was a real sadist in the true sense of the word, the art reminds me of Japanese manga and culture in many ways and de sade would love his tortures i'm sure, but his utter uniqueness is very fascinating, love that Fantomah is his critique of women etc the ugliness beneath a woman's beauty, pity a talent such as he was, never got to do more comics
I own a couple of original Golden Age Comics with Fletcher Hanks art mainly his Stardust stories in Fantastic Comics #4-#5, It’s interesting to see his art when it was published alongside giants such as Joe Simon & Lou Fine in the same comic. When I first saw his art I could tell there was something gonzo about it but also mind blowing about it as well.
Yeah, there's definitely some undiagnosed mental illness going on with that dude. What's even more terrifying is that even now in 2023 there are psychopaths walking around like that free as a bird who need to be put away ASAP.
8:42 Wish I had known back when this came out, but the 5th column actually refers to a group of people trying to undermine the government in sympathy with said government's current enemy, and it generally refers and has referred to multiple groups both real and imagined. Back during the second world war, it was commonly used in reference to secret Nazi agents sent here to recruit sympathizers and overthrow the government, which was a real initiative by the Nazis, but there was a lot of speculation and rumors about them that were less true, about how big they were, how deep their claws were in U.S. affairs. In all but name, the fifth column were the villains of the Rocketeer, and the term was used significantly to refer to the villains of All Through the Night. (a great old movie with Humphry Bogart, one or two racist parts, namely a character who is a really bad black stereotype, as you see in old films, but it's hardly the worst you can find, I recommend watching with that notable trigger warning in mind. Beleive it or not, the film in many ways, for the time, was rather progressive, but this was back in the 40's, so, you know how that is. Ultimately, if you wanna see old mobsters fight Nazis, it's a good watch) So when Fletcher Hanks wrote that faction into Stardust, he might've just been referring to a big conspiracy theory, which is very him I think.
The bizarre and violent ends the villains in these comics met reminds me of the Spectre stories in the 70s. I wonder if Hanks' stories served as an inspiration?
From what I can tell, "5th Column" was code for "communists'. In the British comic, Rogue Trooper, the title character was on the run from an evil cabal also called "The 5th Column".
@@WildBluntHickok I agree. You're both right, in a way. My guess is World War II era references to a fifth column were code for Fascists or Nazis. The term comes from Fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who boasted during the Spanish Civil War that he had 4 armed columns marching on Madrid and a fifth column of sympathizers within the city. After World War II, my guess is fifth column would have been code for communists, since a fear of communist infiltration was rampant.
"5th Columnists" Back during the Golden Age of comics was basically code for Nazis or Nazi spies and collaborators, It was mainly used prior to the American entry into WW2 from 1938 to pre Pearl Harbor 1941 in comics ranging from Superman & Batman and others. Once Captain America punched Hitler on the first cover of his own comic, and especially when America got into the war after Pearl Harbor that code name was pretty much dropped.
The grumpy gangster's head flying through space and saying "have mercy" is absolutely hilarious
That scene--where the gangster is going "Ow-w-w-w!" and "Stop it" when Stardust is shrinking his body but not his head, has always frightened me, because Hanks' son told Karasik Hanks used to abuse him(ie hitting) and, well...that dialogue sounds like a child being hurt. As a onetime bullying and abuse victim, it seems familiar.
Another example of the psychodrama from hanks' messed up mind leaking onto the page.
It's both funny and weirdly disturbing at the same time.
The fact that the guy's face is just grumpy instead of terrified the whole time really sells the comedy.
He doesn't even look terrified, just angry.
I love how inconsistent the size of Stardust is. Sometimes he's 6 feet tall, sometimes he's 10 feet tall.
Sometimes he has a forehead, sometimes he has a fivehead
And most times, Stardust's head is alarmingly small for his over-developed body. It's like seeing the head of a child on the Hulk's body.
Glaringly inconsistent artwork must be one of Stardust's many super powers.
confirmed shrink/grow powers
It's so brilliant
"Oh no here comes Stardust to turn my feet into fish and force me for all of time to live in the ocean with fish feet!!! I never should have stolen that gold!!"
He may have been a asshole weirdo but he certainly had a impressive imagination.
Stardust made my head gigantic! How I regret my life of communism!
@@raycearcher5794 That's what you get for being a commie! A ginormous head! Yeah!! Now, go and think about what you've done.
COMMIE: I can't move!... agony all my days!!
STARDUST: Because crime does not pay.
stardust actually appears in league of extraordinary gentlemen, where he was a drunk that accidently wandered into his own freezing machine and froze himself
I was thinking of Alan Moore's marvel man/miracle man in the sense that stardust might be open to a modern interpretation by someone like Moore.
It's some time since I read the League, do you know which issue it happened?
@@moyza_ It's talked about at one point in The Black Dossier, where Captain Universe (a Captain Marvel knock-off created by British comics creator Mick Anglo) tells Mina the story of Stardust, and how he froze to death in a chunk of Ice 9. Captain Universe is also shown to have taken over Stardust's base after the fact.
@@petehill7280 I'll look up! Thanks for your time!
They also make a point that he has too many abs for a human so it looks like a weird attempt at making a strong person. I think it's in volume 3 when they talk about Mina being in a super team in the early 60s?
He left his family and died alone…I guess that his characters having no supporting cast was based on his life
As hard as they may try, storytellers can't help but insert themselves at least a little in their stories.
That's kinda sad :(
@@antonydrossos5719 They write what they know.
It's sad but also poetic in a way
i think hes great, he invented smartphones.
Stardust is the scariest character in comics.
I don’t know if he’s the most powerful character, but he’s absolutely the most terrifying.
He's basically DC's The Spectre, minus the self-awareness.
@@davidmelon9409 And weirder..... he is like a bizarro combo of segata sanshiro, spectre, kool aid man and the punisher but without a reason
Does Stardust punishes people for fun? For the greater good? because he was bored?
given how little we know about his creator, we might as well make our own lore how stardust was like flex mentallo: a comic book character given life by his own creator to pursue his creator's ideas of jsutice
Innocent or guilty, we must live in fear whenever Stardust is around.
Who knows what he considers a unforgivable crime at the moment we encounter him.
Enough to make Dr. Manhattan shake in his (non-existent) boots?
Stardust strikes me as a vaguely lovecraftian superhero. No understandable reason for his actions, no rational explanation to how his powers function. He just is and serves one exact and terrible purpose that nothing can save you from.
I like Hanks because he IS so vindictive.
"Stardust... I'm sorry for stealing that woman's handbag, please don't punish me too harshly!"
"I sentence you to immortality!"
"... that's... unexpected..."
"And I'm throwing you into the Sun where you will burn forever!"
Makes the punisher sound tame D:
Is that is an actual example?
@@VorpalDerringer No. But an actual example is Stardust turning criminals into mice and having them chased by cats for all eternity.
Hanks had issues.
@@go-away-5555 I think this guy wanted to outdo the Specter when it came to punishment.
@@VorpalDerringer Having seen some Hanks stories, I was curious to hear Darth Perkins' answer, because his "hypothetical" punishment (being made immortal, then thrown into the Sun) is 100% Fletcher Hanks!
He stole his kids piggy bank, and all his villains are people who try to steal or otherwise illegitimately acquire wealth, who meet terrible fates. I don't think that Fletcher Hanks was drawing his wishes. I think that he was drawing his fears.
Or his guilt.
This stuff looks like something I would imagine somebody would make to mock the Golden Age of Comics... it is kind of beautiful...
So many cursed images in Stardust alone. I’ve always heard about this book but never gazed into the long abyss of this rabbit hole
The best thing about being a comics fan is that after over 30 years in the fandom, I can still find a creator and a fascinating body of work I've never even heard of. Thanks for this one, really interesting stuff. I basically feel like when I first found out about R. Crumb or Jack Chick, to a lesser extent.
So you're comparing Robert Crumb, one of the greatest artists who has ever lived, with Jack Chick, not an artist at all, and Fletcher Hanks, known mostly for being so bad it's hilarious. Kinda fuck you.
@@Bonzulac Don't try to map the atlas of clouds in a human heart if you have no imagination.
@@Bonzulac Fletcher Hanks' comics are great.
@@Bonzulac C'mon now, whether you love or hate the message, you have to admit that Jack Chick is as much of an artist as beloved artists like Crumb, Mort Drucker, Don Martin, Al Jaffee, and even the legendary Jack Kirby. The art of Jack Chick, as much as I hate his religious proselytizing and dehumanizing messages, demonstrates a masterful grasp of line, weight, perspective, and form.
@@ClockworkWyrm Yah, I think Bonzi wants to be the Minister of Not-Art in the One Woke Order. Hanks has a kind of "outsider art" appeal, kind of awful, kind of unique. The stories though...why did they not find a writer for him?
A Stardust movie would single handedly grind the superhero movie boom to a halt. There'd just be no way to follow this up with your Batmans and Spidermans. The description of this comic sounds like it could be the best "so bad it's good" movie ever. Just him flying without looking where he's going is the shit lol! 😂😂😂
There is only one way to top that: a Fantomah movie.
*A stardust HORROR movie
@@kingmclaughlin5988 Brilliant idea. Imagine the horror of being a ordinary human in Stardusts world. He is always out there watching and waiting to do something horrible to someone.
@@rojaws1183 And then crossover stardust v fantomah dawn of sanity
@@rojaws1183 kinda gives me Laughing Salesmen vibes
we need a stardust movie thats completely comic book accurate.
It will be cult horror classic, that all people watch only once and just before taking psychotherapy for eternity
Yes
Complete with a Stardust who always st.ands straight up with his arms stiff and straight by his side.
I can't help but imagine it as some sort of horror movie akin to Friday the 13th of Nightmare on Elm Street but with criminals as the main characters running from a brightly clad super powered Lex Luger.
More yes
Such a terrible person but even so his death is horrifying. He was obviously plagued by fears of death and solitude, and I guess it’s ironic a force of nature sort of came down and did him in in the end
Hanks' stories really stand out because they seem to pretty accurately show what someone with zero social skills and the inability to convey complex emotions in his work (and perhaps his life) can produce when not guided by an editorial hand. I think one could draw quite a few possible insights about the man himself and the struggles that he might have faced within himself. I just find some of the possible psychology that could be inferred from his work so very interesting. It's not difficult for me to see Fletcher Hank's work and draw a line to a life where he had a real difficulty relating to others, developing or maintaining intimate relationships, or correctly interpreting the social ques of people around him.
That's the appeal of outsider art. Just look at Henry Darger.
@@qty1315 I adore Darger's work as much as I am mystified and deeply concerned about it. The Realms of the Unreal is absolutely incredible. I got into outsider art in my mid 20's and my interest has only grown in the couple decades since.
That's one of the reasons I appreciate Jim and Ed covering the black and white explosion because much of that is very much outsider art adjacent. You have people with no real formal training compelled to manifest their ideas and thoughts into the world with some of them choosing to do it with comics that feature Olympic sized swimming pools worth of the darkest blood you've ever seen. Sure Tim Vigil's is more refined than Darger's because of his familiarity with the form in which he was creating, but the work still has a very similar energy that I absolutely love. There is just something that translates to the page, canvas, or other medium when someone is possessed with that energy that they desperately need to get out into the world.
He seemed to suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder.
it's like a histrionic narcissist's intrepretation of hero comics.
"Fletcher Hanks was an asshole..."
- Chris Piers quoting everyone who ever knew him, apparently.
Some of the art is genuinely arresting, almost Robert Crumb or Bevis and Butthead at times. I really really dig some of the images. I need that book now. thank you for a great episode!
Book is expensive sadly.
@@Clay3613 true, its about £30 here in the UK, but it looks like a lovely edition. I think the WTF artwork is worth it.
I agree, the first thing I thought when I saw the artwork is that Robert Crumb must have been a fan. Definitely could see an influence.
One thing I remember reading about him was a comment from someone who used to work with him, was that Hanks was like twice the age of all the other cartoonists in the studio.
I love the way he illustrates Stardust's face and head. Especially when limply flying through the sky the way he does. Just an empty-headed jacked noodle bopping around doing whatever.
😂😂😂😂Amazing stuff to be unearthed way down here in the comments section😂
It's funny how most of the characters are smaller than stardust arm alone
Imagine a story where Stardust discovers a dead body and whimsically decides to avenge it, which draws him deeper and deeper into a large corporate coverup as he inexorably pursues the chain of guilt step by step with his borderline omniscient machines, to the horror of the perplexed conspirators.
As long as he stays equally vindictive and violent in his punishments.
Didn't Marvel already do that with the Nomad mini-series back in the 1980's?
I could see a modern version of Stardust being used as a kind of Homelander-esque evil Superman. In fact, it would probably work better than Homelander and the like, since you're building off of a superhero that actually has disturbing baggage and disturbing morals attached, rather than just "Superman but evil."
As for Fantomah, I think a reimagining of her could just be as a female, superhero version of Colonel Kurtz. I'd read that.
This guy is a genius. Each panel is beautifully composed and the ideas are just so bizarre. They're like mini pop art images. Fantastic.
Fantomah is a beauty that turns her face into a horrifying rageful one and deals out severe punishment, It's not hard to imagine Hanks' mother has something to do with this
You kinda have to love his insane non-sequitur stories and gonzo art, whatever the guy was like in his life. Great stuff.
The levitating people drawings are pretty neat, too!
Great episode.
Stardust actually has a fanmade webcomic that looks at a possible future where he's been gone for decades and returns to find that his presence had irrevocably changed Earth... and not always for the better. Check it out, it's called The Super Wizard Returns IIRC.
Hearing Chris name drop Neil Breen has made my week.
Who's Neil Breen?
@@cjhepburn7406 A filmmaker
@@EndlessLaymon arguably
@@cjhepburn7406 He's the director/producer/author etc of hilariously bad movies that are all about some insanely powerful hacker or terrorist or angel or time travelling robot (always played by himself) who brutally murders millions of people as punishment for their greed. So the comparison absolutely works.
The great thing about this sort of unfiltered imaginative work is that everyone can get something different from it. I noticed he seemed to have a preoccupation with pipes / tubes / telescopes being close to people's heads, on their heads or against their eyes. I wonder where that came from? You mentioned his backgrounds where complex for the time; I agree. At 19:40 the forest and the face remind me of (and predate) surrealist Rene Magritte's famous forest series, including The Blank Signature and Les enfants trouvés. Again, the mystery of this work deepens. Thanks so much for this video; obviously, it got me thinking!
I would almost call it Dr Susse inspired with all the weird nobs and stuff on the machines.
I find the story to feel very much like superjail, mean spirited and spiteful with a feeling there is something deep inside that I can't quite pick through.
@@notaraven superjail is masterfully hand animated, abrasive, absurdist, eye candy. This is actual derangement I know what you mean story wise though!!!
@@notaraven Stardust could make a good character in Superjail.
i have two books collecting this man's amazing works. I love it and cannot stop recommending his works to people. Fletcher is such a weird study.
It's incredible there is no confirmed photograph of him even though he lived up to the 1970s.
I'm glad you covered this guy, I find him absolutely fascinating.
Hey it's the train guy, you into comics?
As ever, I'm amazed at your ability to summarise someone's life so completely and succinctly. You make something that must be pretty difficult look incredibly easy. I wish I had that superpower!
Many thanks.
At this point it’s just easier to embrace the insanity. Just imagine a 60’s marvel style cartoon series staring Stardust. I don’t know if it would have had an incredibly catchy but stupid theme song or just some dude shouting STARDUST over a title card and that’s it.
Second option
FUUL STOP
XD
If this is what baseline Stardust The Super Wizard is, then imagine what the grim and gritty reboot would be like.
@@TerrenceNowicki he’d get his powers from magic space coke, or ‘stardust’ that he had to snort.
@@russellharrell2747 Zack Snyder's Stardust The Super Wizard
Chris: "Almost everything I've said about Stardust, applies to Fantomah."
Me: "Oh, does that mean Fantomah also took a damsel in distress to her lair? Looks like Fletcher was ahead of his time!"
if she did, she also probably just ignored her too LOL
10:16 Then Stardust releases a secret ray that brings in front of the spies, the skeletons of innocent people they have killed...
"GAZE AT THEM, FOR AWHILE!"
I love how hilariously mild this threat is. It's not "GAZE AT THEM FOREVER!" or "GAZE AT THEM FOR ALL ETERNITY!" It's just...a while. Because yeah, Stardust is all about making people gaze at skeletons, but he's not a monster or anything. These spies have places to be, and he isn't going to make inordinate demands of their time. I appreciate that.
We need a Fletcher Hanks cinematic universe where every movie abruptly goes to credits at the end
Stardust sounds like a generic Spectre. They kinda kept his origins very vague, until they finally revealed his as the "wrath of God" that needs a human form now.
Fantomah is more like the Spectre. Stardust is more like Dick Tracy but also Jesus but also a sadistic bodybuilding murderer
@@raycearcher5794 With the skull face, Fantomah is more like Ōgon Bat ("Golden Bat"; Japanese superhero who came even before Superman...and is even named "Phantoma" in an Australian dub of his 60s anime adaptation).
@@NovaSaber Fun Fact: here in Brazil, Ōgon Bat is called Fantomas, who is also the name of a famous French fictional villain and of a Mexican comic book character.
@@GabrielRodrigues-zn9zl And Fantomas is the inspiration for Grant Morrison's Fantomex, in X-Men comics.
I like these characters, they really have memorable designs and characteristics. Fantoma looks awesome
I didn't think I was a superhero guy (other than in a Chris Ware style) but holy pizookie, I ran over to ebay and bought a collection immediately, I absolutely LOVE these illustrations and the ridiculous absurdity of it all. Those floaty drawings he does, they're very pleasing, he creates great patterns and movement in his panels, very ahead of his time. Thanks for informing me about him
How to punish the guy who tried to steal the gold from Fort Knox:
1. Tell him "I will hand you over to the Golden Octopus. This is an ironic punishment."
2. Grab him, then head towards an island. Flood the island with a giant wave for some reason.
3. Lift the entire island out of the water. The one you just flooded. Now it is floating high and dry.
4. Take the villain into a cave inside the floating island. Remind him to get ready for the Golden Octopus. To be fair, he probably forgot about it at this point. I know I would have.
5. Flip the entire island upside down in mid-air, making it even less flooded than it was before, then drop it back into the ocean. Now the top half that was at one point needlessly flooded is completely and permanently underwater.
6. This causes the villain to be tossed out of the cave that he had been carefully placed into, and onto the new shoreline of the flipped-over island, apparently unhurt.
7. Golden Octopus finally shows up, picks up the guy and drags him to its lair, which presumably is not in the cave of the flipped-over flooded island, making steps 2 thru 6 completely pointless.
Shrinking someone down to their head and throwing them into space is pretty damn hilarious
There certainly is a charm to the bad old days, the Wild West of comics, when any loonbat could get studio backing.
An era that has enduring wacky concepts rather the groaners of today’s era of comics.
It was a cash grab and factory farming of comic artists. It remind me Lou the business guy behind the boy bands in the 90s.
@@rayvenkman2087
To be fair there were some groaners in that era too, but most of them are lost to time entirely.
2:06 The segue from his mum buying him a comic book course, in to him marrying Margaret and having four children, it sounded like he'd married his mum 😲
This work reminds me of Basil Wolverton.
Hanks and his works kinda remind me of the story of Henry Darger and the Vivian Girls, in that it was basically a window into the mind of an individual who clearly had some serious trauma and fears influencing their art
Yesssss! Great to see you talk about Fantomah and Stardust the Super Wizard. Ever since I first saw a pic of Stardust squeezing a man's torso like a tube of toothpaste, I knew my life would never be the same.
The SpongeBob comic books actually parodied Stardust once. The annual issues were all superhero themed and the final story of the second annual was a parody of Stardust. In the story Patrick takes the role of the hero (and he's called Duststar) and he tries to punish Plankton for stealing the formula, but each time Plankton actually enjoys his punishment, so when Duststar gives up trying to torture him Plankton breaks down in tears.
@emptyglass7867 why do you think he stays with Karen
This story was horrible and shocking and I was rivetted to every moment of it!
I cant imagine what happened to this guy.
Thanks Chris!
Watching your videos about the golden age inspires me to draw comics no matter how crazy it may be after what I’ve seen. Awesome video Chris!!
Stardust is more unnerving than Jonny the homicidal maniac. He feels like he was written by a complete sociopath
This stuff is SO unsettling, really gives me the creeps. Never seen anything more unintentionally creepy.
Always love these crazy stories from the Golden Age!
Cool stuff. Despite some of the darker parts of Fletcher Hanks’ life, the weirdness of his comics has been a huge inspiration to me as an artist who also like to write my own stories. It helped me realize that not everything has to be technically correct, and by the book. Helped me think outside the box a bit more.
I wish I had a big comic books studio to back my petty revenge fantasies.
I mean, these days we got the internet so have at it
Hey, Zack Snyder got Warner Bros to back his petty revenge fantasies and got to use DC characters to do it, sky's the limit
Stardust may be how Fletcher Hanks saw himself (complete with working alone and perhaps not being interested in talking to people), while the thugs could be how other people saw Hanks.
Stardust visually strikes me as an inspiration for the Marvelman/Miracleman costume. Interesting video, thanks Chris!
This is the kind of stuff I love to see from this channel. Weird old comics or bizarre storylines as well as artist or story features. Still miss Infotron though... :-)
poor Fletcher, he died the death he was most afraid of, unknown and alone.
I've been waiting many a year for this episode.
You were SO close to giving us a "Oh hai, you caught me shuffling in sideways" Come on Chris bring those great intros back!! Anyway great and funny look at this guy..never heard of him
Thanks so much for that Chris - I actually had that copy of Raw magazine from years back - and I was always struck by the stardust strip - just bizarre and surreal - but fascinating.
I wasn’t aware of the fantagraphics book - immediately ordered it last night after watching your piece and I’m reading it tonight!
Thanks so much
After 9/11 some comic books tried to incorporate the event in some way to poor results. A Stardust The Super Wizard comic would actually be the best for it considering he would just overhear Osama Bin Ladens plans, not do anything, then come and punish him after it happened with some H.P. Lovecraft level horrors before giving him to the G-Men.
Man, I just love Fantagraphics' books. They're just the best.
Chris, you have to talk about Richard Sala one of these days!
Stardust The Super-Wizard written, directed by, and starring Neil Breen: this needs to happen.
That would be tailor made for me.
"It's ugly, but it's unlike anything else."
Why does that describe me so well?
The expressions on these characters are just...Amazing. The guy being shrunken down to a head looks less like he's horrified at the cosmic nightmare enacting a hellish punishment upon him, and more like a kid being told he has to clean his room before he can go to the arcade.
I first learned of Hanks about six or seven years back, when Karasik published the two-part collections of his works, "I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets" and "You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation".
I was so intrigued by the bizarre works of Hanks, that I ended up doing a couple of pieces of them as well:
Here's a brusk inking of Fantomah: www.deviantart.com/tomimt/art/Fantomahs-throne-280780845
A Leopard Woman from Venus: www.deviantart.com/tomimt/art/Leopard-woman-from-Venus-197130587
A 360-rendition of Stardust model: ruclips.net/video/pJ5Ah2jwfV4/видео.html
A poster of Fantomah's faces: www.deviantart.com/tomimt/art/Fantomah-435422295
Fletcher Hanks
The Original "Punisher"
This might be the most fascinating creator you've highlighted. It is also a very illustrative story of why Superman became so iconis. It wasn't that he was "first" or "most powerful", but rather the way they created a compelling and interesting character with a good supporting cast and good storytelling in general. Or instead of Superman and Wonder Woman, we'd have movies with Stardust and Fantomah. (I still feel Fantomah deserves a live action movie 'cause wow!)
Fletcher Hanks makes HP Lovecraft look like a winner
Wow that bio was all over the place! Definitely an interesting story and some characters Id never heard of before. Kudos.
I remember having the time of my goddamn life learning about this comic on 2017 /co/
Stardust is so bizarre that it feels downright avant garde. And the story of Fletcher’s death is morbid as hell.
Stardust also has the power to fit "slant-eye" in a sentence, and make it look effortless!
Oh man, how I love Fletcher Hanks. I came across some random panels a few years ago with no context (mainly the ones of Destructo's flying head) and got hooked on it. It's rare to see something so bizarre allowed to exist without any kind of filter.
I'm really loving these deep dives on specific, lesser known artists. Thank you Chris !
Terrifying. Interesting similarity between Civilian Justice's Craig Weich and Fletcher Hanks, though. Both are self-published, writer-artists, who perhaps see themselves as "cool", merciless agents of vengeance and punishment. I guess some things never change in comics - some people just have to live out their violent, macho fantasies however they can.
I love how much insight I get into comics from this channel, especially the classics. Never change Chris 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾
I love the multiple pairs of eyebrows on some of these villains
His stories sound more like folklore than than superhero comics.
Acid-blocking dust? This dude keeps Pocket Baking Soda because Pocket Sand isn't useful enough!
"Why does Fantomah sound so familiar" - then I realized I read League or Regrettable Superheroes earlier this year. It's so much weirder to see her "in person".
I Recognize Her From That Book Too.
There's a famous band called that as well (not sure if the spelling is the same). Can't remember what genre they play in.
She also appeared in Hack n' Slash.
The art is super fresh, and the stories even have a certain absurdist appeal to them. Whatever you feel about his life of apparent violence, irresponsibility and negativity, he is definitely not "the worst" auteur. Any artist who is genuinely different and weird in interesting ways deserves a certain respect as an artist. It's like some folk art that seems to give you insight into someone's head who is wired very, very differently. ;) I really like him.
Absolutely fascinating. The story just builds and builds.
Sorry I love Fletcher Hanks, his work is so weird it's good. I love the sadistic ways Stardust punishes villains like, "Oh you love gold do you? Well how about you get crushed forever by this giant GOLD octopus!!!"
Wow, what a coincidence! I just ordered "Turn Loose Our Death Rays" ! Hanks' art looks like a demented mix of Basil Wolverton and Chester Gould and i love it
Or if Henry Darger got a job at a golden age studio
Stardust has real strong "the boys" energy.
stardust reminded me of a story i worked on in the past....
Me and the boys traumatized boys of 40s
Okay, those head absorbing Aliens are super terrifying, not gonna lie.
Clearly Fletcher, a borderline imaginative genius i feel, was a real sadist in the true sense of the word, the art reminds me of Japanese manga and culture in many ways and de sade would love his tortures i'm sure, but his utter uniqueness is very fascinating, love that Fantomah is his critique of women etc the ugliness beneath a woman's beauty, pity a talent such as he was, never got to do more comics
Heck yes, I'm really glad you went with Fletcher Hanks. Hooray for new ComicTropes 🙌
I own a couple of original Golden Age Comics with Fletcher Hanks art mainly his Stardust stories in
Fantastic Comics #4-#5,
It’s interesting to see his art when it was published alongside giants such as
Joe Simon & Lou Fine in the same comic.
When I first saw his art I could tell there was something gonzo about it but also mind blowing about it as well.
Thank you, Chris.
Something too weird for Cocaine, what an original mad artist.
Yeah, there's definitely some undiagnosed mental illness going on with that dude. What's even more terrifying is that even now in 2023 there are psychopaths walking around like that free as a bird who need to be put away ASAP.
This video introduced me to Hanks, and he has since become my singular favorite comic artist.
8:42 Wish I had known back when this came out, but the 5th column actually refers to a group of people trying to undermine the government in sympathy with said government's current enemy, and it generally refers and has referred to multiple groups both real and imagined. Back during the second world war, it was commonly used in reference to secret Nazi agents sent here to recruit sympathizers and overthrow the government, which was a real initiative by the Nazis, but there was a lot of speculation and rumors about them that were less true, about how big they were, how deep their claws were in U.S. affairs. In all but name, the fifth column were the villains of the Rocketeer, and the term was used significantly to refer to the villains of All Through the Night. (a great old movie with Humphry Bogart, one or two racist parts, namely a character who is a really bad black stereotype, as you see in old films, but it's hardly the worst you can find, I recommend watching with that notable trigger warning in mind. Beleive it or not, the film in many ways, for the time, was rather progressive, but this was back in the 40's, so, you know how that is. Ultimately, if you wanna see old mobsters fight Nazis, it's a good watch) So when Fletcher Hanks wrote that faction into Stardust, he might've just been referring to a big conspiracy theory, which is very him I think.
5:09 that piece is just glorious. Well done.
I own the book. Great stuff! There's something wonderfully weird in almost every page :)
Wow. What kind of wild creativity. I wonder what kind of comics, he would draw today?
The bizarre and violent ends the villains in these comics met reminds me of the Spectre stories in the 70s. I wonder if Hanks' stories served as an inspiration?
As always a great episode. I really enjoy these looks into different comic creators.
From what I can tell, "5th Column" was code for "communists'. In the British comic, Rogue Trooper, the title character was on the run from an evil cabal also called "The 5th Column".
It was also what they caled nazi infiltrators in WWII when warning the public to keep an eye out for spies.
@@WildBluntHickok I agree. You're both right, in a way.
My guess is World War II era references to a fifth column were code for Fascists or Nazis. The term comes from Fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who boasted during the Spanish Civil War that he had 4 armed columns marching on Madrid and a fifth column of sympathizers within the city.
After World War II, my guess is fifth column would have been code for communists, since a fear of communist infiltration was rampant.
@@MightyAvengingLeo That is very interesting, how a term can change its meaning within a few years
"5th Columnists" Back during the Golden Age of comics was basically code for Nazis or Nazi spies and collaborators, It was mainly used prior to the American entry into WW2 from
1938 to pre Pearl Harbor 1941 in comics ranging from Superman & Batman and others.
Once Captain America punched Hitler on the first cover of his own comic,
and especially when America got into the war after Pearl Harbor that code name was pretty much dropped.