Superhero Media: Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill them All!

I've mentioned Fletcher Hanks enough on this blog that I figured it was about time I discussed his complete works, collected in Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill them All!, a gorgeous hardback collection which includes biographical data and early works that have been recovered. Fletcher Hanks drew comics for a little over twelve months in 1940 and 1941, but unlike many creators working on comic production lines in the era, Hanks both wrote and drew his works, making them wholly his own creations. Although Hanks didn't create any icons of the industry, his unique idea of justice and heroism make his comics iconic and enthralling in their own rights. Hanks himself was not someone to be admired, he was a drunk and brutally beat his wife and children before abandoning them; he lived in New York City for years, doing some comic writing and scamming rich women before dying of exposure in the 1970s. For some, enjoying the works of such a person would be difficult, but my education in Literature and Psychology has taught me that essentially no one is admirable all of the time. 

Stan Lee stole credit from other creators, Steve Ditko was an avowed Objectivist, Frank Miller is still a racist, homophobic and a misogynist, that doesn't prevent me from enjoying their works. At least, with Fletcher Hanks, I know that he can no longer profit from his works and is no longer capable of hurting anyone. If there is a complaint about Hank's work outside of the ethical, it's that it can be repetitive, with characters like Space Smith getting repeated with different names several times over. For most fans of obscure comics, Hanks' best creations are Big Red McClaine, Fantomah and Stardust the Super Wizard, which are certainly his most prolific and unique. Fantomah, "Mystery Woman of the Jungle" is actually the first super-powered female in comics, beating out Wonder Woman by a couple of months and coming just after The Woman in Red, who has no powers, being very much a female take on The Spirit. Whatever the hero, what links all of Hanks' work is destruction being wrought by the villains, and the hero coming in like an avenging angel, punishing in brutal ways before returning from whence they came. Fantomah and Stardust do nothing to prevent crime, but are too willing to kill and punish the perpetrators. 

Whilst Fantomah does act as a protector of the jungle for the most part, Stardust comes across almost as a villain by modern standards, particularly in the Venom - Deadly Protector vein, in that Stardust certainly seems to think he's a hero, but the reaction of those he "protects" would be fear and terrorised obedience. Although he's often compared to Superman, Stardust has more in common with Eradicator or Hyperion, being a brutal, godlike being meting out punishment more so than any recognisable form of justice. Naturally, I need a Stardust miniature, thankfully, Attica miniatures have me covered, so once I'm working again, you can expect to see the Master of Interplanetary Science and Most Amazing Man who has ever lived gracing my table and being opposed by other heroes who disagree with his take on "justice". Like many comics of the era, there are some language and race issues in these stories, but they're not as bad as some early Disney cartoons, just a warning if you're sensitive to that sort of things. Personally, I think Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill them All! is an essential volume in any comics collection, but if you just want to check out a few comics, pretty much all of them can be found online at the Digital Comics Museum.