G33K!

There is a line between genius and madness. I’m not always sure where the line lies because it shifts from person to person and from savant to lunatic, but it’s always there. Picasso—genius or madman? Possibly a little of both; I’m not sure I’m qualified to say. The same with Salvador Dali—vague lines, both. Similarly, there was a hazy freakin’ line obscuring the division inside of Fletcher Hanks.


Most people aren’t familiar with Hanks’s comic work, produced mainly between 1939 and 1941. Indeed, until the editor of his new collection, I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets! (Fantagraphics), showed it to his estranged son, he had no idea his father had done anything like it. But lack of appreciation at the time did nothing to stem Hanks’s output, which included some of the hands-down weirdest comic-book adventures ever put to print.


For instance, who is “the super crime wiz who is busting spy mobs on a lot of planets”? This would be Stardust, the Super Wizard. What are his powers? Well, there are a lot: “His scientific use of rays has made him master of space and planetary forces… He uses new spectral rays that can make him invisible… [and] he wears a flexible star-metal skin controlled through rays from a distant sun.” On top of all this, he has a “crime-detecting laboratory on his private star.” Seriously—his own star.


And how does Stardust combat injustice? Let’s look at the diabolical organization that plots to destroy the United States from within. Rounding up the bad guys, Stardust uses his powers on them and “the leaders of less importance turn to icicles and melt away… The other leaders are transformed to monster rats… And from out of the Stardust flash a panther stalks… The rats flee in terror with the panther in pursuit. Through the streets of New York they speed. The rats rush out upon the docks and jump in the river… They set out to swim to safety… The panther disappears as another flash obscures its form… And in the panther’s place stands Stardust, gesturing to the river. The water begins to churn and a strong undercurrent draws the transformed fifth column leaders to the bottom. Stardust allows one rat to survive. As the rat rises to the surface, its head becomes the head of [boss] Yew Bee. Then Stardust whisks the grotesque form into the air.” And no, this isn’t the most bizarre punishment in the book.


So the jury is still out on Fletcher Hanks—madman or genius? The answer is the same as with Picasso or Dali: it doesn’t matter. We have re-found the brilliant works of this confounding drunk 65 years after the fact, and this is something to be thankful for.


NEWS:


- Tanya Anderson, the 42-year-old disabled single mom who was sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement has turned around (after the previous case was dismissed with prejudice) to slap the RIAA, Atlantic Recording, Priority Records, Capitol Records, UMG Recordings and BMG Music with a 13-count civil suit. I can totally picture the record execs back in high school: “Hey, lookit the crippled chick. Let’s screw with her! What’s she gonna do about it?! Wait a couple of decades and then come after us with the full force of the RICO and Computer Fraud and Abuse acts? Pfft! I’d like to see her try!”


- And finally, the dream that B-movie fans have been awaiting for three years has arrived. The reassembled, all-in-one edition of Kill Bill will appear on DVD this November. In addition, rumours have been circulating about the possibility of Kill Bills 3 and 4 going into production. It seems Christmas has arrived early this year, so thank the man with the long, white beard. No, not the skinny one—that’s Pai Mei; he’ll kill you.


JUST RELEASED:


Back in the ‘60s, Jimmy Olsen inadvertently transformed into all kinds of stuff: a giant turtle, a viking, a gorilla and a werewolf. And you can check out a bunch of the stories in the new collection The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen. If reading about the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch and Union Jack punching Nazis is more your speed, you’ll be happy with the Invaders Classic Vol. 1. And if you’re interested in Thor rebuilding Asgard in the middle of Oklahoma, then you should be picking up the first issue of the new Thor comic by J. Michael Straczynski. If all of those made you shake your head sadly, just sit down in front of the TV with either the first DVD of Beck (it’s an anime series about a musician, but not that musician—I guess they get to call it that because he can’t copyright his name. Anyway, it’s good) or Extras: The Complete Second Season because you can never have too much cringing in your sit-coms. And if you’re feeling nostalgic, get ready for Project Sylpheed (Xbox 360), the 21st century update to the classic ‘80s video game, Silpheed. I wasn’t lying, by the way: Thor, Oklahoma—WTF?