Turn Loose Our Death Rays And Kill Them All!: The Complete Works Of Fletcher Hanks

A gigantic compendium that collects the complete stories written and drawn by the 1940s outsider superhero artist Fletcher Hanks.

Fletcher Hanks was arguably the first great comic book auteur: He wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered all of his own stories ― an unprecedented solo act in the 1940s comic book industry. Between 1939 and 1941 he created nearly 50 comics stories, all unified by a uniquely artistic vision ― primitive, bizarre, and singularly idiosyncratic. Whether it’s the superhero Stardust doling out ice cold slabs of poetic justice, or the jungle protectress Fantomah tearing evildoers from limb to ragged limb, contemporary readers will be stunned by the pop surrealism and unfiltered violent mayhem of Hanks’ work. This new paperback edition brings back into print all of Hanks’ previously published material and is the most complete collection of his work. Full-color illustrations throughout

Fletcher Hanks (1889–1976) is an artist who, under various pseudonyms, wrote, drew, penciled, and inked his entire body of comics work from 1939–1941. Some consider his Fantomah character to be the first female superhero. He was an abusive alcoholic who was found frozen to death on a park bench.

Paul Karasik is a cartoonist who appears in the New Yorker, the co-author (along with David Mazzucchelli) of the perennial graphic novel classic City of Glass, adapted from Paul Auster’s novel, and the co-author (with Marc Newgarden) of the ultimate deconstruction of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy, How to Read Nancy. He lives in Martha’s Vineyard.