29 June 2007

Look Out, Everyone!

Hours of fun may be found at Mister Kitty's Stupid Comics. The panel above, for instance, comes from 1989's Guardians of Justice & the O Force. Wonder why comics don't get more respect in our culture? Look at the sloppy, venal, and derivative work archived and mocked here.

If that's not enough, this month Fantagraphics will publish I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks. Fifteen crappy yet utterly unforgettable comics starring the likes of Stardust and Fantomah. Or, as Jules Feiffer has delicately blurbed, "It's a pleasure to see this first published edition of his puzzlingly effective work."

The volume also includes an interview with Fletcher Hanks, Jr. In this Lehigh alumni profile, he recalls his father as "the most no-good drunken bum you can find," a volatile, paranoid child abuser. Which, frankly, is not a surprise after you've seen his comics.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

My book about Fletcher Hanks is now available.

If you are unfamiliar with Hanks' work, I urge you to wander over to my website, go to the BONUS page and see the slideshow of a Fantomah story that does NOT appear in the book:

www.fletcherhanks.com

Thanks,
-Paul Karasik

J. L. Bell said...

I should have added this comment years ago, but the best thing about I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets is Paul Karasik’s comics-style afterword about tracking down information about Hanks and his family. I won't dispute there’s other stuff worth looking at, but that story is worth remembering.