I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets

The postman arrived yesterday with a shipment from Amazon and I've dipped into one of the volumes I ordered by Fletcher Hanks, an opus titled, "I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets." This is one weird whiz-bang of a book so far.

The volume is a collection of comic book stories from the Golden Age of comics (pre-1950). Fletcher Hanks is the author and illustrator of the collected stories. There is little wasted dialogue or exposition or page space in these stories so far, they crackle with narrative energy. One thing happens, then another, then another, and it is up to the reader to connect the dots. There is little explanation for seemingly nonsensical developments but you are invited to witness without questioning, along for a wild and sometimes macabre ride.

The art is crude even by Golden Age standards, but compelling in its attention to detail, though the selection of which details to focus are leading me to some head-scratching. Comic books were a new medium and their development was chaotic, with anyone who could hold a pencil diving in to make a mark. Such was Fletcher Hanks apparently, armed with a pencil, a pen and a hothouse, vindictive imagination that favored poetic justice.

As most things do, this book so far reminds me of Dorchester, Mass. The Dot is home to artists and not all of them are the most formally trained and polished. Dot artists have a vision shaped by their surroundings and experiences and they are removed from how more conventional, professionally connected artists would portray things. Dot artists express themes particular to the locale. I'm not aware of any Dorchester-based comic strip artists, but if there are any, I suspect their work is viewed as Hanks' oeuvre is, as oddball, outre, strangely brilliant in its obsessions and admirable despite its insistent weirdness.

I'll try to post some more reviews on this remarkable body of minor work as I plow through it. A back cover blurb on the companion volume is by Jules Feiffer, no slouch when it comes to digesting comic books and articulating their relevance: "Hanks was a primitive, a puzzle, and a mystery..." If this statement doesn't likewise summarize Dorchester to the rest of Boston, nothing does. 'Nuff said.