Last year’s I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! reintroduced the work of highly idiosyncratic Golden Age comics creator Fletcher Hanks to the world, collecting 17 of the stories he wrote, drew and lettered during his three-year career into a subversively powerful work.
It was, to put it mildly, rather popular: It was the buzz book at several cons, won an Eisner, landed on plenty of Best Of lists and sold out of three printings and is now in its fourth.
And it was popular enough that editor Paul Karasik and publisher Fantagraphics have put together another, bigger volume. You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! will collect the remaining 31 Hanks stories and is set for June release.
But did Karasik use up all the really crazy stuff in the first volume? Let’s see what Fanta’s spring/summer catalog offers in terms of preview images…
Okay, there’s Stardust the Super-Wizard plowing into an emerald horde of rather bored-looking aliens in outerspace…
And we’ve got…um…these things…
And sentences like that.
Yes, yes I think this should be just as worthwhile as I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets!.
If you missed the first Hanks collection, you can read more about it and/or order a copy here (Or, in these trying economic times, check your local library). Also be sure to check out fletcherhanks.com, where you can read several complete strips.
December 20th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I remember asking Karasik at SDCC 07. At the time he wasn’t sure they would find enough material for a second volume. I’m so glad they did.
December 21st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I only had one complaint about the first book – not long enough! June seems so far away…
What a strange, strange little book that first one is…. go and buy it!
December 21st, 2008 at 4:14 pm
It’s stuff that is so out there.. that you don’t know whether or not it’s junk or art, it’s both beautiful and ugly at the same time. At the very least, Fletcher Hanks is an unique voice to be checked out.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Yes!!!!! I loved the first volume and i can’t wait for more. this is great news for sure!!!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I’d heard about Fantoma before (in a discussion of who should get the credit for creating the first female superhero), but I have to admit I bought the earlier book sight unseen just because I loved that title, “I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets”. Pretty hard to top that, as titles go.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:28 pm
They should be using “Good Lord! Leopard Women on Giant Saurians!” for the title. I like that better than the one they’ve chosen.